This home at 2465 East Broad Street will be one of a dozen or so open during March's Third Thursday open house event in the Bexley area.

A few years back, some of the Realtor associations inside I-270 had an idea  about Open Houses.  Holding an open house on a day other than Sunday wasn’t a new idea but all agents, working together across brokerages to promote an additional opportunity to showcase listings was new. It wasn’t an idea that orginated from the local Board of Realtors, but in the field.

Fast forward to a week from tomorrow, the third Thursday in March, and the only open houses will be in one zip code -43209- Bexley, Berwick and Eastmoor.  In fact, the last I saw, there were 25+ homes (listed below but still time for others) in Bexley and Eastmoor open.

It didn’t stick in Clintonville, it didn’t stick in the Short North or in German Village or Upper Arlington. Why has the idea not only survived but thrived in the Bexley, Berwick and Eastmoor area?

• It’s a smallish area, approximately 9.3 square miles.
• Between Broad Street, Main Street, Livingston Avenue and James Road, a large amount of cars pass by the Open House signs every month.
• Affiliates of the local real estate association help to underwrite a full page ad in the Bexley News the week prior which details the homes to be held open.
• In Bexley, a relatively small number of agents have many of the active listings at any one time and they urge the homeowners to participate.
• I believe that the last informal tally I heard indicated that 12 homes sold in 2009 where the buyer first saw the home on a Thursday in Bexley, Berwick or Eastmoor. Success begets more chances.

From last count, these are some of the homes that will be Open Thursday March 18 from aprox. 5-7 PM.