The Ideal Open House in Sussex County NJ - Lightning can Strike!

Open Houses at homes for sale in Sussex County NJ have averaged 2.5 parties for quite some time. A party might be 1 person, a couple or family of 5 - one potential "home buying" unit. Our Opens are for 4 hours and I mine quite seriously. Lots of advance publicity, newspaper ad with a photo, tons of signs with balloons.

No rhyme or reason - sometimes I still get skunked. Yep, no visitors at all. Discouraging for both me and the owners of the home for sale in Sussex County. At one of my very initial Open Houses in Sussex County (Branchville to be precise), I had a woman visit who was quite interested. We looked at many other homes before she purchased the one where we met. This lovely lady is a local real estate attorney and we've referred business to one another ever since. In fact, she recommended me to the seller of the Franklin NJ ranch home where I did an Open House on Sunday, August 9.

The Sussex County NJ real-estate gods must have been smiling down on me that day. Due to begin at 1:00 p.m., I arrived at 19 Scott Road in Franklin NJ 45 minutes early. Wanted to turn on the lights, open windows, arrange flyers, set up a beverage station, etc. A car followed me up the driveway, so I gladly gave the couple a leisurely tour of this home for sale. They departed shortly before 1:00 - but 3 other parties pulled up immediately!

Now I'm a very good and very experienced real estate agent. (Also very modest!) No way, however, can I give each potential buyer of a home in Sussex County the attention he or she deserves when an Open House is so busy. My husband Chip is also a real estate agent, so I called him to come help. Hadn't even finished showing Chip the home when the next few parties arrived!

We had 14 parties at this Open House in Franklin NJ, several of whom were seriously interested in it.

The best news, however, is that one couple returned as I was closing up my Open House to say they needed to buy the home! The seller accepted their offer 24 hours later - having considered it and a second that was submitted on Monday. We're now Under Contract and have completed the home inspection.

I'm now getting ready to help the buyers rent or sell their current home in Stockholm NJ. Plus I'm helping several of those other Open House visitors find the right home. Textbook example of the power of an Open House!