When Strutt & Parker recently opened the doors of nearly 150 houses simultaneously the results were overwhelmingly positive. In fact the Open House Day was such a success in Kent that its is to be repeated in offices across the country.

"In recent time we have seen many sellers dispirited about the opportunity of making a sale in the present market, but the Open Day demonstrates clearly that there are buyers out there," said Edward Church of the firm’s Canterbury office.

"We registered over 400 new buyers looking for houses across Kent in advance of the day, and a great many of them chose to turn out on a rainy day to look for the house of their dreams."

There were so many buyers looking that more than 600 individual viewings were arranged in just the one day, and subsequently over 35 offers have been received, and 12 houses have gone under offer.

Vendors were delighted with the quality of the buyers, with one saying: "We were sitting around at 11am wondering if anyone would turn out. At about 11.20am the bell went and we scarcely had time for a cup of tea until 2.30pm.

"Eleven lots of people came round and, as far as we could tell, all were actively looking to buy something."

The houses were spread across the county, from St Margaret’s Bay in the east, through Bridge, Bethersden, Woodchurch and Bicknor in the middle of the county, to Halstead, Otford and Sevenoaks in the west. They varied in price from £200,000 to nearly £2 million.

In addition to the results of the day itself, the firm is now well placed with an extensive database of applicants and a great deal of market intelligence.

"We have been able to draw a great many conclusions about the state of the market from the intelligence gained on the day," said Mr Church.

"For instance, why did one house attract seven times as many viewings as its near neighbour, when both offered very similar accommodation in the same street? Equally, some houses achieved many more viewings than others, and by studying the statistics we have been able to work out why this might be."

"Today’s market place is not an easy place to sell houses.

"But there is no doubt that there are plenty of buyers out there, and they can be tempted to buy with a carefully considered sales strategy and a realistic guide price," he added.

For more details on Strutt and Parker contact 01227 451123.