ALTHOUGH DUSTIN AND Brittney Wright are preparing to move to Claremore, they have built up a lot of memories at their 1,600-square-foot home at 1314 S. Sandusky Ave.
“I’ve got an emotional connection to the house,” Dustin said. “I met my wife there, I proposed to her, I had my kid there. I think it’s got a lot of personality and it flows well, so I hope people who visit pick up on that.”
The Wrights are putting their Tulsa home’s personality on display this weekend as part of Realtor Nationwide Open House Weekend. More than 480 homes are listed in Saturday’s World of Homes section of the Tulsa World.
The event, which runs Saturday and Sunday, is organized by the National Association of Realtors. Joe Pryor, president of the Oklahoma Association of Realtors, said 350,000 open houses were held across the country during last year’s event, and expectations are even higher this year.
NAR estimated 45 percent of home buyers use open houses as part of their search criteria.
“Open houses are something we’ve always done,” Pryor said. “Even though we’re in an electronic age, transactions still start when people meet face to face. They give people the freedom to do things on their own, even before you select a Realtor.”
Axay Parekh, a broker with Keller Williams who represents the Wright family, said having so many open houses at the same time brings out more browsers for each house.
“On average, this event doubles the number of people per house compared to regular open houses,” he said.
Pryor said Nationwide Open House Weekend is also a good opportunity for the association to promote the concept of home ownership and demonstrate the renewed strength of the market.
“This event is about telling people the market is recovered, things will keep getting better, and we’ve got a stable economy,” he said.
Tulsa-area home sales during the first two months of this year were nearly 9 percent higher than the comparable period of 2012, making it the best January and February for sales since 2008.
Kasey Bell, another broker with Keller Williams, said the average home on the market is taking 7.4 months to sell, a big improvement from 10.65 months in February 2012.
That means the area is no longer a strong buyer’s market, Bell said.
“If a buyer is interested in buying, they need to move quickly, since properties are selling,” she said.
Parekh said preparing a property for an open house typically isn’t difficult, but that increased competition has required sellers to stage their homes the moment it hits the market.
“If you’ve done your job ahead of time, your house will be in great shape for an open house,” he said.
That doesn’t stop some homeowners from baking cookies or lighting candles for open houses to help the homes make a stronger impression.
Richard and Lizbeth Clark have spent this week doing some light cleaning at the 3,633-square-foot home they’re selling at 6811 S Birmingham Ave.
Lizbeth said she hopes getting potential buyers into the dwelling will give them ideas for modifying it into their personal dream home.
“We’re looking forward to getting some people through,” she said. “I’d like to see some families so Bill could show them what could really be done with this.”
Home staging tips
Clean house: Don’t skimp on any room, and pay attention to details like window coverings, light switch covers and baseboards.
Reduce clutter and personal items: Buyers want to picture themselves in a house, and pictures and personal knickknacks can make that difficult.
Rethink the furniture: Scale back the number of pieces and arrange what’s left to create a flow that guides browsers from one room to another.
Don’t forget the entrance: Mow the lawn, add a pot of flowers if you don’t have any planted and turn on the sprinklers before showings to make the lawn sparkle.
Source: National Association of Realtors
Robert Evatt 918-581-8447
robert.evatt@tulsaworld.com
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