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Written by rosalind renshaw

An estate agency has launched which plans to market all its properties only by using the open house method.


Simon Rawlings started Warwickshire Open Homes, based in Leamington Spa, in January and believes he is the only UK agent to sell solely by open house events.


He said: “I see selling at an open house as a far better way of providing the vendor with a service that is simple and efficient. We arrange and accompany 100% of the viewings. which all take place on one day This is not only incredibly convenient for our vendors, but from an agent’s perspective it’s a far better use of our time, meaning we can be more proactive in making the event a success.”


Rawlings has his first open house before Easter and has six viewers booked so far.


He said: “We promote the open house for three to four weeks leading up to the event. That time is used by the vendor to get the property looking its best for the day of the open house.


“After the open house, buyers are then given the chance to submit a fully substantiated written offer within five working days. We aim to provide our vendors with multiple offers which gives them the choice of the one that best suits their circumstances. We find a written offer allows certain buyers to play to their strengths, and gives everyone a fair chance.


“It frustrates me when I see adverts for properties that have sold in 24 hours! How can that agent possibly know that they have achieved the best possible price for their clients?


“I have sold properties at an open house many times – about 5% of my listings when I was with a previous agent – with many achieving 10-15% above the asking price. I honestly believe that a successful open house will always achieve the best possible price and provide a competitive edge in any market.”


He says that pricing is absolutely critical: “The number of viewings on each open house is very much determined by its saleability and price. It’s important that our clients see the benefit in using an ‘Offers Over’ price to stimulate interest. For example, if a vendor is looking at achieving £175,000 we would ideally like to conduct an open house at ‘Offers Over £150,000’. 


“I have run open houses before when only one person has showed, which meant only one thing – the price was wrong! The last one I ran had an asking price of ‘Offers Over £350,000’ and had 34 people attend on the day and sold for £410,000.


 “We normally have the property open for two hours, and nearly always on a Saturday. I have seen agents run them over the whole day but all this simply dilutes the urgency that we always aim to create. If we run them over two hours there is a strong likelihood that buyers will see other interested parties in the property at the same time and begin to consider the thought of losing out to another buyer. This sets the scene and creates competition among buyers.”


Rawlings has no high street presence: “The revenue we save by having a serviced office is passed on to our clients.


“We can still meet our clients as we do have an office – it’s just out of town. With the number of inquiries from the high street dwindling to 11%, I am sure we are going to see many more agents go this way.”

Comments

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    Simon - whilst I am pleased for your self-reported success this far, I must wonder how sustainable your business is if you have only two properties under your wing at present. Unless, that is, you have others you are not letting on about - but then that would defeat the object and not give the unrivalled service you proclaim... You might want to have a look at your website - one or two annoyances, such as blue wordings being hyperlinks back up to the top of the page you are already reading. Annoying for me - so think what potential vendors/purchasers make of it. Good luck. I look forward to reading more of your successes. Anyone going that extra mile gets my vote!

    • 31 March 2010 12:16 PM
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    OPEN HOUSE UPDATE - On Saturday we had 11 people attend our event and we are already in receipt of two offers with the deadline for Friday 5pm. Would we have had those offers if we hadn't have created a competitve environment and a sense of ugency about the property? My vendor is overwhelmed by the response and is delighted at how easy and stressfree the process has been so far. Looking forward to meeting with my client on Friday to deliver what I hope will be good news.

    • 31 March 2010 09:27 AM
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    Web site has 2 properties on, proving popular then!

    • 22 March 2010 12:53 PM
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    Ha ha ha, thanks for getting rid of those Monday morning blues. How long have you been in estate agency, we were doing this back in the 80's and works fine when you have a buyer for the property, but are they giving the best market value? It fails misrably when you don't have that buyer in a buying position or who will give the best market value the week or month after! Have you served your client?

    • 22 March 2010 10:02 AM
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    This is not a new idea!In Scotland they have had open viewings for years.It's a great idea, creates lots of interest and generally leads to a closing date with sealed bids. I have sold several homes this way. Stop all the negativity (Bob) about posessions being stolen. Have a friend with you at the time if you are that concerned!

    • 20 March 2010 15:33 PM
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    We use buyer enquiry range open days which is effectively the same thing. We ensure all viewings are booked in advance for half hour intervals so that we don't compromise the vendors security. It works a treat.

    • 19 March 2010 16:17 PM
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    Always intrested in new ideas but this seems a bit lazy to me, no offence ment.

    • 19 March 2010 13:08 PM
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    All agents work in different ways. Some stack em high sell em cheap, others work on smaller stock but give personal service. They can all work, and this is another method. Hope you make a success Simon.

    • 19 March 2010 11:40 AM
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    Good luck Mr Simon , but two swallows doth not a summer make.

    • 19 March 2010 11:30 AM
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    We are raising awareness of open house's which, for most, is still a relativly new concept. Our marketing is far superior to most traditional agents with full page adverts dedicated to each property in the local property pages as well as premium marketing on rightmove as standard. From experience I know that a successful open house will result in the best price but our aim is to give our vendors the choice of which offer suits their circumstances best. The nature of the business is to offer an alternative 'bespoke' approach with very high standards – quality, not quantity...

    • 19 March 2010 11:27 AM
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    Simon seems to think open house gets the best possible price . Not necessarily because you are only aiming generally at local buyers available on that day . It is no substitute for flexible viewings, but a good addition for marketing . Must admit I live in Warwickshire and have never heard of his company. Looked at his website and with only 2 houses marketed , if open since January I think it will soon be bye bye Mr Simon

    • 19 March 2010 11:06 AM
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    I'm very pro-open houses, but their main benefit is the overwhelming exposure an agents gets from blitzing the area with "open house" boards one day a week. See my RAT (Rawlings Agency Tip) on the subject.

    • 19 March 2010 10:47 AM
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    we had been doing open house for a few years and it works a treat in a good market, we shelved it when the market went belly up and went back to just getting people through as many doors as we could.

    • 19 March 2010 10:31 AM
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    Hi Rob, Great to hear that you are pushing the Open House method. I would be interested to hear how you are getting on.

    • 19 March 2010 10:17 AM
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    We are currently pushing hard on open house viewings on a Sat for two hours. For security we only push vacant props forward at this stage. We use it as a two step process, to get our name out and about with the marketing and using the auction aspect of marketing the property at the lowest possible price to create as much interest. Only if we know the vendor has the ability to agree a price in that region. It's early days but we're loving it.

    • 19 March 2010 10:04 AM
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    Bob, we always sit down with the vendor and explain the potential risks this entails. Although I have NEVER experienced anything like you mention, we ALWAYS advise the client to remove or lock away any valuables. Surely this is common sense even when using the traditional method.

    • 19 March 2010 10:01 AM
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    Great! Have an open house and potentially get some of your stuff nicked! Maybe an empty house it would work but not your average furnished property. Sorry I think its flawed with too many risks for the client!

    • 19 March 2010 09:56 AM
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    This is the standard method used in Sydney, with great results. But there is a different culture there. Simon Rawlings is right that it is critical to get the vendor to agree to an "Offers Over" starting price that will attract as many people as possible. The common objection to this method is that some applicants may not be able to make the open house time. This is a great way to filter out the timewasters, because serious buyers will move anything in their schedule to see the house. I think the biggest challenge is overcoming the ingrained British cultural adversity to change, but it will be great to see it succeed. All the best Simon!

    • 19 March 2010 09:53 AM
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    Interesting comments. It is a bold step but one that we believe in. Why should Countrywide be an issue? Their 'campaign' was done to stimulate the number of enquiries they were getting and did not / do not run their Open House's in the same manner as us.

    • 19 March 2010 09:39 AM
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    Open house, lol, I wonder if he asked countrywide what they think of that.

    • 19 March 2010 09:16 AM
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    A brave man. But at least he is trying.
    If he is successful others will follow.
    It works well in the US.
    Good luck.

    • 19 March 2010 08:45 AM
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