NAR's 2006 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers indicates 47% of all buyers used open houses as a source in their home search process. This figure suggests the value of open houses.

• 10 Tips for a successful open house
• How to increase your income with open houses
• Hosting a safe open house

1. Plan ahead by properly advertising your open house. Now that more than 80% of homebuyers are on the internet searching for a home, internet marketing is the best way to go. OpenHouseGuide.com provides the platform for advertising your open house online to a national audience at a fraction of the cost of conventional newspaper advertising.
2. Make professional, full-color flyers. These represent you and how you work. Even if you are not the listing agent, be sure to have your own personalized flyers available to hand to every group that comes to the open house.
3. Signage. Be sure to use plenty of signs to make your open house easy to find. If buyers get lost trying to find you, they will probably give up and move on.
4. Have buyers sign in. Having a sign-in book will help you capture prospects that you can follow up with later to convert into buyers.
5. Be sure when you arrive at the open house, be a few minutes early so you can open all the windows and turn on all the lights. This will make the house bright and inviting.
6. Turn on light instrumental music if possible. Make sure it is not overpowering and is appealing to everyone.
7. Air freshener is always a good thing to carry in your car in case the house has a bad smell. Sometimes without knowing it, sellers will cook something that has a strong odor the night before the open house and it will make the house uninviting to the prospective buyer.
8. Be friendly and courteous to everyone coming in. First impressions are everything. You are representing the seller who has made sure their house has a great first impression, be sure you compliment their efforts.
9. Follow-up with all the buyers from the open house the same evening. If you wait several days, they may not remember you. Remember that they may have seen a dozen houses that day, be the one they remember by touching base with them that evening. Also send them a hand written thank you note for attending the open house. It's one more touch and will help solidify their memory of you.
10. Follow up with the agent or seller of the open house right after the open house. If you are holding the property open for another agent, they will want to know right away how it went so they can update their seller. If it is your listing, be sure to call your seller right away with a report on how many people came in and their feedback. They will know you are on top of getting their house sold.

Open houses are a great way to increase your income. You meet both buyers and sellers at open houses. Here are some tools to help turn those prospects into clients.

To increase your income, you must double your effort. Holding an open house only on Sundays is not sufficient. Hold a weekday lunch hour or weekday evening open house to find those extra prospects. People that are serious about buying drive neighborhoods on their lunch hour or on their way home from work. The number of self-employed people in this country is rising steadily, as well as the number of working mothers with flex schedules. Also, many out-of-area relocation prospects prefer house-hunting in the middle of the week, instead of on busy weekends.

Make sure the house is in an excellent location, and doesn't require more than 3 or 4 signs to direct them to you.

Take advantage of a listing you or someone in your office has that is vacant or has working owners who are gone all day.

Make it a point to add at least one to two additional open houses to your schedule per week. You may decide to substitute one weekend open house for two open houses during the week, but test the traffic before you do this.

Try to Plan ahead

Maintaining interior cleanliness and a manicured landscape will guarantee better open house results. The messy, cluttered house is not inviting to a prospective buyer. If you don't have listings of your own, or are relatively new in the business, volunteer to hold open houses for peak performers who have many listings to service.

If you are able to plan ahead, send out postcards to 500 or 1,000 homeowners in the area. Your title company can supply you with the labels to send them out. Invite the neighborhood homeowners to your open house. Not only will it introduce you to them, it will show them how hard you are working to sell the house.

If you don't have enough time for postcards, you can also walk the neighborhood a day or two before and hand out flyers.

Allow for spontaneity

Perhaps you're showing or listing appointment cancels at the last minute on a Thursday morning. This is a great opportunity to hold open a vacant house or contact a seller and see if they mind if you hold it open. Make the cancelled appointment time productive. Be sure it is for a house that is in a great location and is always in good shape and go for it! If it is owner occupied, call the seller and ask if it's ok to hold it open. They will be happy to see how hard you are working to sell their home. If it is vacant, be sure to send your sellers a note to let them know that you held their house open on that day and you are a doing everything you can to serve them. They'll love you for it!

Make good use of your time

Bring your cell phone and in between visitors, make prospecting calls. Increasing your income means that you make the most of every moment of the day.

Have a lender on hand

Call a lender that you work with and let them know you are holding an open house. Let them know where you are going to be and see what their schedule is for that day. It will give you a valuable resource for buyers who walk through the door. You can offer to them to have the lender come to the house or have them talk to the lender on the phone immediately and set up an appointment for them to meet directly. Let them know that you have resources available to you and you are there to serve them.

Follow up fast

Do not delay following up on hot prospects. If you were able to get a name and address logged in your sign-in book, get the handwritten thank-you note in the mail that evening. Call them on Tuesday to set up the following weekend showing appointment. Improving your follow-up time will help in increasing your income.

An open house can provide an excellent opportunity for you to get more exposure for a property. Unfortunately, that exposure can sometimes attract the wrong kind of attention.

Team up

If you can, bring a colleague, friend, or family member with you to the open house. Their presence may deter someone seeking to do you harm.

Get your bearings

Come early and look around the property to identify escape routes. Make sure you can get to your car quickly and that your car is not parked in a spot that can be easily blocked. Unlock deadbolts so you will be able to exit the house swiftly in an emergency.

Meet the neighbors

Introduce yourself to the neighbors and tell them you will be hosting an open house. This will make them more attune to any problems that may arise and also provides somewhere you can go for help.

Be prepared

Stay alert for suspicious activity. Keep your car keys and phone with you. As with other showings, do not lead clients into rooms let them go first while you remain at the doorway. Do not enter attics, basements, and other rooms where a would-be attacker could trap you.

Stay in touch

Especially if you are alone at the open house, maintain frequent contact with a colleague or friend by phone. Call when you arrive, every so often during the open house, and when you leave, let them know when you expect to be home or back at the office.