Extreme Open Houses

Typically, during a seller’s market, buyers are very competitive with each other, touring every home they can and therefore open houses are very crowded – but not during summer. With the lack of attention on real estate, agents have to get creative and come up with even more incentive to get people to their open houses.

In June, one realtor hosted a Frozen themed open house to attract families. On a similar note, a kid’s carnival open house was hosted for a $23.5 million penthouse on Madison Square park last May. Not only does the theme draw in families and brokers with children but it gives the elite listing a competitive market edge.

Brokers of luxury listings lean toward marketing to a smaller group or throwing events instead of open houses. Only 3.7% of homes priced $5 million or higher hosted open houses. Rather than traditional open houses agents throw events aimed around a theme or activity such as wine tasting or a carnival to attract more buyers. These “extreme open houses” may become more frequent. What kind of “open house” even would you want to attend?