Late last week, some of the West + Main team were in the office, and Managing Broker Alex Swanson was preparing a new listing to go Active.
He was DREADING the next few days - and knew that as soon as the property went Active, agents would be scrambling to secure a 15-minute showing reservation for their Buyers. Then, when those filled up (likely within a few minutes) he’d start getting calls from agents trying to squeeze/bribe/threaten their way in…and the rest of the weekend would be filled with non-stop calls: questions about the property, requests for information about the status, about how many offers were in, and complaints about agents who weren’t adhering to the showing schedule…sigh.
We were thinking, there has to be a better way.
So, we tried something new...instead of a limited number of 15-minute showing times on Saturday, we hosted a first-come, first-served all-day Open House for this fresh listing in Hutchinson Heights to make sure that everyone who wanted to had a chance to tour it.
We said….”Bring your agent, or just come on by...please remember your mask + gloves as we follow all Covid protocol, and be first in line to see this wonderful home. The door will be open at 9, and we can’t wait to see you!”
We’re happy to report, it was a success!
We had 2 agents on each 2-hour shift, one inside managing flow and sanitizing, the other outside signing people in for Covid contract tracing. (We always require 2 people at Open House's for safety reasons anyway.)
Directing folks in the front door, out the side door, one group inside at a time - it worked very smoothly, way more people had an opportunity to tour the property than if there were limited, non-overlapping 15-minute showings. Plus West + Main agents had the opportunity to meet all of the awesome buyers (and sometimes their agents if they are with them).
We asked our Open House agents:
How was the vibe? Was everyone nice? Did people have to wait long to get in?
”We didn’t have anyone waiting a long time to come in. Groups on average were staying about 10 minutes. All the agents that came through were very nice.”
”I think earlier advertising def would have helped to get even more people through! The longest we had people wait was maybe 10 minutes, but we were setting expectations early on with timing. Not one agent complained about not being able to schedule a showing. And I just had my second sign call from my (OH signs) and that NEVER happens when I do OH's for 2-3 hours.”
”We were only asked by one agent why we were doing it this way, but once we explained why we were holding an open all day she was all for it!”
”We’ve had two groups wait outside for maybe 5 minutes max. And yes groups are staying inside for 10 minutes or less. Just kind of showing themselves around and then taking off!”
From Alex: “Not as many whiny calls from agents as expected-actually mostly positive feedback that it was a great approach to buyer access!”
If you all had been bringing buyers through, would you have been happy/satisfied with this setup?
”100% Especially if you have several showings in the morning on one side of town and then another one on the other side of town (due to scheduling conflicts and being able to get the time slot that we want) I would have been fine sending my buyers to the all day open house out of convenience. Not more stressful at all.”
”I personally like this setup. It takes so much pressure off. Your buyers can walk through at their convenience, and not have to worry about not being able to see a home they really like because of time constraints, or fear that they won’t be able to see it at because of showing unavailability.”
Offers started coming in early Saturday afternoon, and a full-day of regularly scheduled 15-minute reserved showing times were available all day on Sunday.
Pro Tips:
+ Start marketing the Open House early in the week so that people can plan ahead.
+ Have 2 sign-in sheets: 1 for unrepresented Buyers, and one for Realtors who are there with their clients (this is important for contract tracing and for follow-up and announcements, since they aren’t entered in ShowingTime - but…bonus…you can email them for free!)
+ Expect more buyers with their Realtors in the morning, and unrepresented folks later in the day.
+ If you have a really hot listing, think about how you’ll keep people happy while they are in line…bottled water, small packaged snacks, etc would be a nice touch.
We will definitely be offering this option to West + Main clients who are listing their homes going forward, as we think it solves a lot of what are common problems, especially lately, with record-low inventory and constantly increasing demand:
+ Less reliance on ShowingTime - if the system goes down due to heavy usage, no problem!
+ Less stressful for everyone - guaranteed chance to see the home even if you didn’t stay up until midnight to try and get a time slot as soon as it went Active.
+ More Open House opportunities for agents in a safe and well-managed environment.
+ Access for everyone - from a Fair Housing viewpoint, this system absolutely makes sense in the most transparent way…everyone is welcome, no one gets to jump the line.
Imagine if this becomes common practice across our markets…as a Buyer Agent, you’ll be able to just have a list of Open Houses to visit - or to send your clients to…with plenty of time to stop for a leisurely coffee/bathroom break without the stress of missing your silly 15-minute window. As a Listing Agent, you’ll be able to expose the property to the greatest number of interested parties in a safe + secure manner.
Sounds dreamy, right? It’s worth a try!
Let us know if you have questions or want to collaborate!
