Open House Thursday

Hats off to some of our area realty associations who are taking the Open House to a whole new level -- and day!

In September, October and November of last year, the North Area Realty Association (NAREA) began hosting open houses on the third Thursday of the month. The Greater Worthington Area Realty Association also tried a couple weekday open house events.

This year, they are working together and the Bexley-Eastmoor-Berwick and Midtown Area Realty Associations are also on board.

These groups are all hosting open houses in their areas on the third Thursday of the month, 5:00 -- 7:00 p.m. from March through October (following daylight savings time.) There was an estimated 200 open houses during the first event on Thursday, March 15.

"The whole idea was to offer an alternative to get people into properties," said Jamie Sutton, event coordinator for the Worthington group which had about 40 members participate in the March 15th event. "The more people you get into houses, the more houses you're likely to sell."

"We had 58 members host open houses for the first one," said Betsy McCloskey, who is chairing the event for the Midtown group. "Afterwards, members said it was well attended and everyone had good things to say about it."

Opening Doors with Open Houses - In Contract April 2007
Open House Tips
Open House - Safety Tips

To get involved with Open House Thursday, contact the area realty association representative for the area where your listing is located:

North Area – Shari Carroll (614) 571-8878
Greater Worthington – Jamie Sutton(614) 880-9345
Midtown – Betsy McCloskey (614) 324-8050
Bexley-Eastmoor-Berwick – Janet Zettler (614) 258-1844.

Will Moloney started the program for the Clintonville group last year. "I heard about it from Gerry O'Neil who heard that REALTORS® in Indianapolis were doing open houses on week nights," said Will. "The next week, I was in Indianapolis and gathered the information I needed."

Each group advertises their area's open houses with a combination of local publication ads, posters and hand-outs as well as quite a few strategically placed open house signs on well traveled routes.

The power seems to be in numbers as almost everyone mentioned that this program is working better for the higher number of open houses located close to the central business district of the area or the `main drag' so to speak, rather than homes located further out or in adjacent suburbs.

However, one agent, after experiencing marginal traffic in her burb last year, coordinated with several other agents in the same neighborhood this year and increased traffic significantly.

But the event sign is credited with really helping tie the group's efforts together. The simple black and yellow rider slips over the for sale sign similar to a beauty pageant banner. All groups are now using this same rider which they agree helps to draw greater attention to the event as well as demonstrating to the public that REALTORS® are really working together to sell homes.

"And that's what it's all about -- true cooperation," commented Shari Carroll, President of the NAREA. "There's been so much negative attention associatedwith the housing market right now. This is one very visible way we can show our strength as an industry by working together to do something really positive for our sellers. And, from what I've seen, buyers love the idea, also!"