Open houses make sense, but not the way most real estate agents hold them: four-hour marathons from 10am to 2pm or 1pm to 5pm, where you sit, silent and alone, your heartbeat accelerating as a car drives by, hoping they’ll stop, park, and come inside…then your sigh of disappointment as the car continues on its way.

The sellers, at your suggestion, have absented themselves for four hours, and now they return, expectant, hopeful, and you smile brightly as you give them your update: one couple, looking for something with a bigger backyard, and one neighbor who it turns out is just nosy.

The cost? Newspaper ad(s), four hours+ of your time on a Sunday, the dashed hopes of your clients, and the prospect of doing this all over again next Sunday or the Sunday after that.

You’ve probably heard this quote: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

There must be a better way.

There is!

The most effective way to hold an open house is to get everyone who’s interested to come to the house at the same time, for a very limited amount of time. Say, 2pm, and for just two hours. Now you’ve got people’s attention because this isn’t like (yawn) other open houses where they can drop in anytime if they get around to it. You’re on the calendar with a definite date and time: “Come on, honey, that open house starts at 2pm.”

How do you do this? Once you’ve listed the house, and it’s staged and ready to show, instead of sending the standard (yawn) “Just Listed!” postcard to the nearby 100 or 300 houses, send a postcard with this headline on the front:

Do You Know What Your Neighbors At 123 Main Street Did Last Night?

And text similar to this on the back:

“Your neighbors at 123 Main Street have decided to sell their home, and they listed it with (your name) of (your company).

“Now that they’ve made the decision to sell, they need your help to do it. This four-bedroom, three-bath home is listed for only $289,000. The owners have put a lot of work into the home over the last several years – it shows like a model! The property is beautifully landscaped, with mature trees and a generous backyard.

“There will be a preview open house this Sunday afternoon from 2 to 4pm, and you’re invited to stop by. If you know anyone who’s thinking of buying a home in the Kentwood area, be sure to tell them about the open house this weekend.

“In the meantime, your neighbors would appreciate it if you kept your eyes and ears open for a buyer for their home.”

Use your listing’s address rather than 123 Main Street, and include your name, company name and telephone number in very small print at the bottom of the postcard. You can include a photo of the house on your postcard, but do not include a photo of yourself.

By limiting the open house to just two hours on one day, more people will show up all at once, creating a flurry of potential buyers showing interest in the same property at the same time. The principle at work here is scarcity, as described by Robert Cialdini in his book Influence: “People are most attracted to scarce resources when they compete with others for them.”

I know of agents who used this strategy and ended up with multiple offers, sometimes selling the house before it was listed in the MLS.

So, let’s envision what your next open house will look like. Will you keep doing the same old thing (yawn) over and over again with the same old results?

Your next open house: Will you sit in it – or sell it?