See a complete list of open houses in the Friday print edition of the Herald

Despite a chance of rain and snow this weekend, real estate agents are hoping for a healthy turnout of potential home buyers.

Local agents have coordinated their efforts for the National Open House Day on Saturday, April 28, with more than 50 listings in and near Austin.

“We combined with other offices to strategically place the open houses so people can walk [from house to house],” said Mary Lindgren, Realtor with Fuhrman Real Estate.

Lindgren said there is a cluster of seven houses on Fourth Street Southwest alone.

“With this many open houses, we assume there will be a lot of people out looking,” said Jerry Wolesky, manager at Fawver Agency.

While Wolesky said it’s hard to predict the turnout, he said the inclement weather may actually help, as people probably won’t be out golfing or doing yardwork.

Wolesky and Lindgren agree that the housing market may be showing signs of recovery, and Lindgren added that they’ve sold roughly two dozen homes in April so far, their best month of the year.

This is the second year local realtors have participated in the national event, but Lindgren said the 2011 event was the same weekend as the Austin High School graduation, so turnout wasn’t as high as they hoped. This year should be different, she said.

“There are some amazing houses on the market right now,” she said. “People are still holding back a bit before they give us a call.”

Hopefully that will change, she said.

Participating real estate agents include Fawver, Furhman, Sterling Real Estate — which has over 17 listings — Blecker Realty, and Steichen.