Do Open Houses Really Work?

In the 1980's and 90's, Open Houses were the way to sell a house. It was also the time when your Realtor could place a lock box on the door, place a sign in the yard and place an ad about the upcoming open house in the paper and just like the movie, "The Field of Dreams," they would come. Buyers would search through a "for sale" booklet they had picked up at somewhere in the community or would rush outside to pick up the Sunday paper from their lawn. Over breakfast or lunch, potential buyers dusted off key-map, read through the enticing advertisements and within a few hours a weekend open house tour was planned.

Open Houses attract many people you would normally not allow in your home such as the crazy cat lady who had been chomping at the bit to get invited inside to see how you have decorated your home. She was eager to know if she still reigned the "Better Homes & Garden Queen" or if you had stripped the title from her without her even knowing it.

Over the course of the last 10 to 15 years, Open Houses have slowly faded out as the way to view a home over the weekend. So, why is this?

1. Technology has advanced.
2. Gas has tripled in price.
3. No one wants to let the crazy cat lady inside their home.
4. People have just become too busy to look at houses the old fashioned way.

With advances in technology such as multiple listing service (MLS) client email notifications and virtual tours now potential buyers can take a sneak peek inside a home without wasting an expensive tank of gas. Buyers agents have the capability of setting a search in MLS based on their clients criteria and listings are sent immediately when the home enters the market. This allows the prospect to view information, photos and possibly a virtual tour of your home without even leaving work, the house and even without getting out of their pajamas if they so desire. Buyers can get a glimpse of the layout from a virtual tours since many created today show panoramic images (either 180 or 360 views) or have the ability to speak about what is shown in the photo giving a buyer a better understanding of the layout and why this home would be a good fit. This process allows the buyer to see all available inventory and narrowing possibilities down to the final list before they hop in a car only to find they wasted their time and money by walking into homes that would never be a match based on their criteria.

When gasoline under $1.00 more people took leisure trips, but now that it is nearing the $3 mark - those days are over! As yourself this question:

Would you drive around all day wasting time and money...
when technology makes it possible to view homes online?

Having technology at our fingertips allows us to hop into the car and spend our time and money wisely by only looking at homes meet our criteria the most. Most people I know, pack their schedules so full each day of the week there is little or no time to waste during the week, let alone a weekend. Weekends are when many are fulfilling chores that were impossible to accomplish during the week, are keeping up with their children because their schedules are just as hectic as theirs or they are enjoying their well deserved time off of work.

Whether you believe it or not, every person that lives near you, wonders what your home looks like inside. They wonder what type of furnishings you have. They wonder how your layout compares to theirs. If you are not already friends with these people, do you want them walking through your home? I believe this is a yes and no question. No, for obvious reasons. But yes, because they may know a friend, family member or colleague that is interested in buying a home in their neighborhood - possibly a home like yours.

1. How to effectively hold an modern open house?
2. How to ensure your traffic is targeting buyers, not lookers or crazy neighbors?
3. How to target the busy bodies of the world to allow them to see your house?


First of all, I uphold an ethical commitment to be honest with you, so I'll be the first one to tell you an open house is NOT designed to sell your house. It is designed for your Realtor to generate buyer leads and to make you happy because you see your agent is working hard trying to sell your home. I believe open houses are a waste of everyone's time, unless they done CORRECTLY. How to hold an open house CORRECTLY is a matter of opinion and here my opinion.

In order for an open house to be effective in capturing a buyer, it needs to be...more creative than ALL other marketing done to sell your home!



A modern twist to a conventional open house would be following:

Hold a Realtor Open House
Most Realtors may or may not but your home on a Realtor Tour after the home is listed. The ones that do will either put your home on tour within the first week it is on the market or will wait until your home has been a few weeks and will utilize the tour to find out why your home has not received an offer. I find this unacceptable and so should you. I believe other Realtors should be the first people alerted your home is coming to the market. They should be the first set of foot traffic inside your home to preview for their potential buyers. This is beneficial for two reasons: 1. Your home will more than likely be sold to a buyer represented by another Realtor and we want they clients to be first clients to view as soon as the house enters the market. 2. This open house will allow us to tweak any minor issues other Realtors may view as issues to potential buyers - including staging and price.

Hold a Neighbor Open House
After the Realtor Open House and after all tweaks have been made... it is time to invite the neighbors. This should be scheduled the a day or two prior to the house going on the market. Neighbors should be invited with personalized invitations asking them to bring their friends, family or colleagues who have expressed interest in living in their neighborhood to get a sneak peak of the house before it enters the market.

If an offer has not been received by the following weekend, it is time to

Schedule an Open House Tour
If your Realtor has multiple homes in the neighborhood for sale, ask them to hold a Open House Tour. The tour will allow buyers to show up at the house for a select period of time (usually no more than 30 minutes) to view before they move onto the next house. This creates a huge buzz, especially when buyers know they have to be there at a specific time to view and a really bigger buzz when they hear others make buying comments about the home they also really want to buy. Have you ever been fearful when you know there is only one item for sale that you like and there are 10 people interested in the same item? I know, I have!

Follow-Up Open House Showings
If a buyer wants to make a second showing appointment to view your home, it is possible they are giving it additional thought because they are serious buyer and not a looker!

These modern twists to a conventional way to hold open houses makes sure your time isn't wasted, you have serious buyers walking through the door and allows your Realtor to weed out the buyers from the lookers.

Are you ready to sell your Austin Texas home?

Circle C Ranch in Austin Texas - a master planned community

When moving to the Austin area you'll have many decisions to make, including the most important of all, which should be where you or your family will live. Austin has many great neighborhoods to choose from so choosing may be a difficult task. Where you end up calling home will depend on several factors such as where your employer is located and the daily commute time you are comfortable with, the neighboring areas such as parks, retail centers (shopping, dining, everyday services, etc) and more than likely the local schools if you have children or will have children in the future.

If you find yourself in the market to purchase a home in Southwest Austin, I suggest - Circle C Ranch. The community has the prestige that attract families, newlyweds, single professionals and retirees. Circle C Ranch was developed in the mid 80's and is still growing like weeds today. The community is nestled in Southwest Austin, 10 miles south of downtown Austin via MoPac Blvd. With pricing beginning in the mid-200's and stretching upward to the mid $700's and the options of several different floor plans to satisfy any taste, I'm sure you'll find a property that fits your budget and needs. With easy access to major freeways such as MoPac, Ben White, Highway 290, and Highway 71, traveling to your destination will be a breeze. Major employers such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Freescale Semiconductor, and Intel are all nearby.

Residents have the pleasure of enjoying area amenities such as an Olympic sized pool, a tennis center, Grey Rock Golf Club, the Circle C Child Development Center, the Circle C Grill (with dinner special home deliver), the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the Veloway (3.1 mile bike and roller blade only path). These are many reasons why many make Circle C Ranch home. The activity options do not end there. Circle C Ranch is aligned by 545 acres of park space known as the Circle C Ranch Metropolitan Park on Slaughter Creek. There you'll find almost six miles of trails surrounding a disc golf course, two basketball courts, two volleyball court, seven soccer fields, a playground area and several picnic tables to enjoy your next family picnic.

In 2006, retail businesses began opening their doors in the Escarpment Village shopping center providng residents an opportunity to have shopping and eateries nearby. HEB Grocery, Waterloo Ice House, Santa Rita Tex Mex, Starbucks are just a few of the retail businesses and restaurants that occupy space in the Escarpment Village shopping center at the entrance to Circle C Ranch. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (a dinner and movie experience) and The Highball (a diner featuring bowling and karaoke to keep you occupied while waiting for movie time) are slated for opening sometime late 2010 or early 2011 in Circle C.

Circle C Ranch embraces family living therefore the community houses two elementary schools - Kiker and Clayton Elementary and a third unnamed school will open next fall in the Meridian community, one middle school - Gorzycki Middle School and shares Bowie High School with several other neighboring communities in the Southwest area. During the initial development of Circle C Ranch, the developer earmarked land for a high school. Today, the school is not yet in the works, but with the tremendous growth due to a family friendly lifestyle - I'm confident within the next few years... we will hear of a new high school opening in the community.

Are you ready to call Circle C Ranch home?

Not Your Momma's Pimento Cheese - Jack Allen's Kitchen - Austin Texas

Being a resident of Southwest Austin definitely has it perks... lush, green landscaping, greenbelts as far as the eye can see, lakes and rivers with very limited retail development. The downside of the Southwest living perk is the lack of development. Well that lasted until.... recently (2006), when the number of commercial space - including dining options have doubled each year. So anytime we are blessed with a new local restaurant either with my husband, a few girlfriends or by myself.... we or I check out the latest and greatest.

Unfortunately, I wasn't too excited to dine at one of our most recent transplants... Jack Allen's Kitchen. I'm sure the scrunch in my nose occured because it had been the home to two restaurants who failed within the past few years. One that I had frequented on two occasions and recall the room temperature to be quite chilly and the food not worthy of the price. The second attempt never made our "must eat at list" more than likely due to the bad taste from the original failed restaurant.

A few freinds, colleagues, and even several of my clients have all told me about their GREAT experiences at Jack Allen's Kitchen. Each one spoke of the amazing food, the warm decor, the delightful ambiance and the incredible staff. I still wasn't sure that I wanted to take my chances with the idea I may be let down and be limited to the few GOOD restaurants we do have in Southwest Austin. After many attempts of arm twisting, I agreed to join a friend for a happy hour at Jack Allen's Kitchen in Oak Hill (Austin, Texas) this last night. Boy - was I blown away!!!! I'm not sure if I'm more upset at myself for never checking the place out myself or that many Austinites have been enjoying JAK delicacies for nearly six months without me. Generally, I'm usually the first person to know what is going in where and who will be moving in there, etc - but this time I definitely took the back seat.

When I arrived, I found my friend at a cocktail table in the bar area waiting at a table with a scoop of an unknown orange substance with a few chips on each side of an appetizer plate. I know what it looked like, but I had to ask to be for sure. Yes..... it was Pimento Cheese! I've never been a fan of pimento cheese, obviously because my mother put it on everything should could find. Apparently, my friend had the same initial, "I'm not a big fan of it either" feeling, but she claimed this stuff was AMAZING. So I gave in and tried a small amount.

OH MY, I could have eaten 10 different servings of JAK's Pimento Cheese. This is NOT your momma's pimento cheese.

Obviously the pimento cheese was a hit and I was finally convinced I needed to check out the entire menu. Unfortunately, we only made it beyond the drink and appetizer menu hence the words "happy hour." As I ran over the menu, I eyed the following as definitely options I needed to try - the Spinach Gorgonzola Ravioli, the Bacon Wrapped Texas Quail, the Barbacoa Stackers. The Spinach Gorgonzola Ravioli will have to wait until the next trip. Since I've been trying REALLY HARD to train for a race, I decided I wouldn't have a drink this evening but that didn't last long when I glanced over the drink menu. All our waitress had to say was strawberry mojito and I was in - nothing like peer pressure, huh! Their watermelon martini tasted just like a watermelon jolly rancher. Both drinks were standouts in my book. All evening I was eying one of their signature drinks, a Dirty Okra Martini. This will be a wait until next trip too, but I will definitely have to try this one!!

Tax Credit Came to an End, but NOT for SOME Military Personnel

The federal tax credit is coming to an end. I'm discovering more and more buyers are coming out of the woodwork, as I anticipated. Within the last few weeks more homes have entered the market for sale in Austin, Texas than have over the last two months. I assume many of these homeowners have been waiting to get in front of the largest buyer pool at the peak of the purchase period - which happens to be the last two weeks before the federal tax credit deadline.

As the tax credit drew to a close for majority, qualified service members who have been on active duty outside the U.S. will have until April 30, 2011 to to purchase a home to take advantage of the federal tax credit.

A qualified service member is a member of the uniformed services of the U. S. military, a member of the Foreign Service of the U.S., or an employee of the intelligence community. To qualify for the extension, the qualified service member must have been on active duty OUTSIDE of the United Sates for at least 90 days during the period beginning after December 31, 2008 and ending before May 1, 2010. The tax credit extension applies to sales with a binding sales contract in pace on or before April 30, 2011 and must close by June 30, 2011.

If you meet the criteria for the federal tax credit extension and live in the Austin contact me to get started with your home purchase.

Square Cow Moovers - The BEST Austin Texas Moving Company

I am member of the Austin Board of Realtors - Professional Development and Education Committee and recently met a gentleman by the name of Wade Lombard with Square Cow Moovers. He was asked to provide lunch for our committee of 100 and give a short synopsis of what his company was all about.

I've heard several companies say how great they are and give me trickets to entice me to utilize their services, but Wade did exactly the opposite. He came to the meeting telling us about his company, how they've modeled their company and what wouldn't happen if I sent a client his direction.

Since the meeting, I've referred three clients to Wade Lombard with Square Cow Moovers and two out of the three have utilized his services. One decided to use a family friend to eliminate the moving cost burden from her budget. Wade personally calls or emails me to thank me for the referral whether or not the client has agreed to utilize Square Cow Moovers. Each time Wade Lombard or one of his partners have met with one of my clients, I always receive a phone call from the client thanking me for the referral of Square Cow Moovers. Their prices are affordable and actually have under cut their competitors without undercutting their service. The service doesn't stop there. After my client is completely moved into their new home, I hear from Wade another time. He is calling to follow up to hear my clients thoughts about their moving experience.

Does your preferred mover give your clients this level of service? If not, I HIGHLY suggest giving Wade Lombard a call. Visit Square Cow Moovers to obtain contact information. I urge you to send one client to them for their moving needs and I can GUARANTEE you'll send all future clients to Square Cow Moovers too! They can even move your out of city or state clients!!!

I love this Square Cow Mooving video they put together.

Austin Ranks #1 - Small Business Vitality Rankings

Austin, Texas ranked #1 in 2010 (up three spots from #4 in 2009) in the Small Business Vitality Rankings for the 100 Largest Metro areas in the U.S.





was ranked:

#1 city in America for small business creation - Portfolio

#1 large city in America for jobs - Forbes

#1 (tie with Washington, D.C.) city best surviving the recession - Forbes

#8 best place to launch a business - CNN Money

The number of small business in Austin increased by 6% between 2006 and 2007, compared to the national average of 1.4%

90% of companies in Austin have fewer than 10 employees
75% of all Austin jobs are with companies that employ fewer than 100 people

Why I Call Austin Texas Home

This video sums up why I love Austin and choose to call Austin, Texas home and you should too!