Do your weekend plans include exploring a new-to-you neighborhood by dining at a restaurant popular with locals, shopping at a store recommended by someone friendly and strolling around a few blocks, just to check out the scene? Sounds like you’re attending an open house.
Real estate agents, who have traversed the ups and downs of open houses as either a marketing opportunity to distinguish a home when shoppers have a large selection or an unnecessary effort during bidding wars, have landed on a welcoming way to make seeing a property for sale feel like a getaway. Roll in a stop at an open house as part of an afternoon of sightseeing the area’s highlights.
Open houses, when people can tour without making a commitment, are one of the top fact-finding sources relied on by serious home shoppers, according to the National Association of Realtors’s 2024 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends.
Real estate agents can attract potential buyers by hosting a party-like open house. Ty Brown of Keller Williams’ luxury Millennial Group division sets up jazz music and appetizers for people to see that “the home is perfect for events,” she told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Other agents hold raffles for discounts to retailers or services.
Portland broker Betsy Menefee emails notices of open houses that include what she calls “Betsy’s Best Bets,” her favorite shops and other must-see places. In her latest missive, she praised the plant-based G-Love “reverse steakhouse” for its mixed seed crunchy avocado, Honeycrisp apple salad and Whip-a-licious passion fruit dessert.
The email ends with: “Finally, for my friends I’ve run into over the past few days while wearing my new shoes from Charlotte Stone, yes, plenty of well deserved oohs and ahhs — happy to share the link charlotte-stone.com.”
In between local events and other information is a note about her listing of “a really lovely condominium in the coveted Westover Terrace complex” at 622 N.W. Westover Terrace “with a spacious one-level floor plan ... just blocks to Zupan’s market, NW 23rd Avenue restaurants and shops. $998,000.”
People on Menefee’s list, about 500 west-side agents, clients and friends, were also invited to 3142 S.W. Fairview Blvd. in Portland’s Arlington Heights. “This darling cottage ... is just blocks from Hoyt Arboretum and the Wildwood Trail. $890,000,” she wrote of the listing she shares with Tamra Dimmick, also of Windermere Realty Trust.
“I know my neighborhoods,” Menefee told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “This is the city where I was born and raised and I love. I focus on restaurants and shops, and include interesting open houses at the end, even if it’s not one of my open houses.”
People can also sign up on at betsyrickles.com to receive reports on home sales in specific neighborhoods.
Her goal: To be more than a salesperson. When she started in the business years ago, she was told “you want people to think of real estate when they see your name, but you’re not always trying to sell them a home.”
An open house is a chance for people to walk through a property without an appointment, with or without their real estate agent. The tours are more casual than a one-on-one showing.
Menefee said her Betsy’s Best Bets draws people in who are serious or curious. At last Saturday’s open house, a woman said she just wanted to look inside, but then she mentioned she was impressed with the views. “She wasn’t going to buy that condo,” said Menefee, “but she experienced something new.”
— Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072
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