When I came back into Philadelphia from an out-of-state Thanksgiving vacation on Saturday, the taxi dropped me off in Northern Liberties. When I got out of the cab, I saw an open house sign in front of a condo complex I am familiar with. I was a bit shocked ! An open house on Thanksgiving weekend ? On a Saturday ?
The agent was standing outside. My first immediate thought was "you poor soul... why are you doing this ?". I told 
Stephanie I was going to ask her if the seller was making her do this or if it was her own choice. Then I realized, either way it was her own choice. Even if the seller did ask for it, she just have easily could have said no.
Why would someone choose to spend their Thanksgiving weekend doing an open house ?
Would you as an agent host an open house on Thanksgiving weekend ? What is your work strategy during the holidays ? Take advantage of the free time to work or take a break ?
As a seller, would you want your agent hosting an open house during this time frame ?
I strongly encourage open houses as we do them when the timing is right and when they are bringing in traffic. They are also an excellent way to meet with some new buyers.
I would recommend to the seller for the open house to be on a weekend where the traffic would be the highest, either in the beginning of the listing or combine it with a price reduction. In Northern Liberties, most open houses are on Sunday so I would also suggest to do it on that day since there would be the benefit of picking up residual traffic from buyers visiting other properties.
What would you do ? Would you do an open house on Thanksgiving weekend ?
Please share your thoughts in a comment below !
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Personally, I wouldn't hold one on Thanksgiving. However, maybe it was someone without a family in town and the unit was vacant. Maybe they figured they would rather work and hope for a customer than just sit at home. I guess it depends on the situation.
We did two open houses yesterday back-to-back and had a lot of traffic, a lot! Both of the sellers had asked us to do them this weekend and both listings have been on the market for awhile already. The sellers were very pleased. ~Rita
I'm curious if you asked the agent how it was going? Sometimes what seems like the worst time might actually be the best.
No, I wouldn't personally do one over a holiday weekend. Not because I don't want to work, but because people are already so busy I think it would be a wasted opportunity.
Because things seem to slow a bit naturally over the holidays, I like to take time then to assess the past year, plan for the next year, contact former clients, plot mailing and emailing strategies and web updates, etc...That way when January 1 hits, I'll feel ahead of the game.
Will look forward to seeing what others say too. Thanks for the post!
Couple years ago I had hosted open house over the Thanksgiving weekend, did not even have a single soul came stop by. Since then I decided not to host unless there is an expection where I have to host it I will do on a Sunday.
Why not do it? I figure if there are going to be more people than average or different people in your area its a great time to snag some buyers. People travelling that weekend typically have ties to their destination. Move closing to the family, get back to their roots....etc.
Ted - Good point. It does depend on the situation. You are right, if this was free time that you would rather work, then yes, why not do it is a good point. However, I do think the time of this agent could have been spent more wisely doing other types of lead generating activities. She really could not do any other work during this time as she needed to be outside of the main condo door to monitor the traffic since that was a common door. Unlike being in a cozy house and doing some computer work if the traffic is slow.
Rita - That is great ! I know in your area that you have had a lot of success with open houses. We have had good success with them as well. It is interesting how certain areas are strong for open house traffic and others are not. Of course there is the whole other point of how important it is the market the open house properly as well which I did not touch on in this blog. I have seen some great ideas here in the Rain in the past. We try to be creative as we can as well to maximize traffic during that timeframe.
Nancy - Knowing the condo complex so well as I have sold several units in there, I would be surprised if the traffic was heavy. My intuition would be very few, if not zero. I probably should have asked how it was going, but I guess I was feeling too bad for her to ask. But who knows ? Maybe I am wrong ! I do like your strategy in terms of your work activities during this time frame. I think it is a great time to reflect, set goals and begin to be pro-active with those goals. During this past weekend, I spoke with several clients on the phone, did a little blogging (obviously) and read some great reading material, specifically David Allen's "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" which is a great read ! And already paying dividends !
Sure, why not?
When it comes to the Thanksgiving holiday family comes first in my book. Besides Christmas it's the only other time of the year that I take a step back from my real estate business other than checking my email and messages.
Rita - We definitely learn from our experiences, which is why we recommend to sellers to rely on our experience in terms of helping them get their house sold. Internet Marketing and blogging have dramatically increased the exposure for our clients' listings. It is like having an open house 24/7, 365 days a year.
I wouldn't hold an open house on Thanksgiving weekend here in Lewisburg WV, since it is a small town. But, in the bigger cities...I probably would.
Stephanie: We were closed on Thursday and Friday. However, our displays were open on Saturday and Sunday and we had average traffic with minimal staffing. The traffic seemed to come in two varieties - serious purchasers and friends/family in the area. Overall, it was worth being open. However, we always have to balance staff burnout with the level of quality leads produced over a holiday weekend. I suspect we will scale back displays hours over the Christmas/New Years holidays - given that we haven't sold a single home from a showing over these two holiday periods.
Christopher and Stephanie:
I guess it up to the work habits and agenda of the agent. I like to see the super busy agent take a rest and do only specific duties on these week ends. Rifle out more sure ways of making a sale that have better odds.
Richard
David - I can see your point there. I do think for the most part that house shopping may be the last thing on someone's mind during that weekend and perhaps if that agent really wants to work, there may be other activities that will have a higher reward. But you never know I guess when there is that right person at the right time who is only in town that weekend !
Alix - Being a mortgage lender, I guess the better question would be would you agree to host the open house with the Realtor during Thanksgiving weekend ? I would think it would be easy to say "sure, why not" when you are not the one doing the hosting of the open house : ) .
Donna - I hear you !! Is good to set priorities and boundries. I remember one Memorial weekend we went so above and beyond to help out a buyer, showing properties, writing up a deal and meeting with the agent over that weekend. Only to have the buyer get cold feet a week later. Since then, we have been very selective and cautious in terms of our work activities over holiday weekends ! That time is precious !!
Rebecca - That makes sense. Even in the big cities, the open houses can still be done at a more strategic time. In our area. there are more on Sundays then Saturdays. And of course it is smart to schedule around the Philadelphia Eagles as well : )
The long weekend can bring in many visitors, and not all of them are tired from cooking. Some may finally have the time off to begin thinking about homebuying. Thanksgiving Day - no, Thanksgiving weekend, sure.
No, but I did show property! There weren't a lot of buyers but the ones that were out were serious!
family first...business second
if for some reason i wasnt doing something with the family...sure i would do it...say we were celebrating another weekend or something...
i dont care if it guranteed me a sale....if that was the day with family...id say no
Sean Dawes
In my area, I doubt if there would be much traffic on the holiday weekend. I also think that it is good to carve out special times for our families. We often forget the impact that our schedules have on those around us. We think we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, but perhaps we are not considering the effect on our loved ones.
99% of the time, no. I'd never say never, but that 1% exception would have to be the confluence of extremely favorable and very exceptional circumstances.
I don't do public open houses any more unless the client asks me to. In a seller's market, it made sense and I did them all the time for both the seller and myself. I sold some homes that way (not many) and signed on new buyers. The Internet is the most powerful vehicle for marketing a home and getting new buyers, so I focus my time on that now. The few open houses that I do end up doing allow potential buyers and sellers who want to meet me face-to-face without the formality of an appointment. I recognize the value of them, but the value is limited.