DOES YOUR OPEN HOUSE BRING RESULTS?
Posted in Real Estate Agent Mastermind Group By Julie Jones, Friday, October 10, 2008.How is your open house traffic in these challenging times? As the Internet gains momentum and videos become the popular option to preview properties, what is the future for open houses?
Typically, the main open house traffic is on Sunday afternoons from 2 pm until late afternoon. Increased gas prices and reduced leisure time may also be impacting the traditional open house habit. What are real estate professionals experiencing in other areas?
When featuring our ultra-luxury real estate listings as open houses in Fort Lauderdale, we usually make the event memorable to attract buyers. At an afternoon soiree, we engage a quartet, cater the event with gourmet food, and offer a valet service for visitors.
An event such as this attracts up to forty visitors, and usually draws at least one serious buyer which results in a sale. I have my team of buyers agents present to point out the unique features of the residence which gives the agents an opportunity to build a relationship with potential prospects.
While I am dedicated to continue marketing my luxury portfolio to meet my expectations and those of my sellers, my question to you is this: What are your thoughts on holding open houses and if they work for you, how often do you hold them?
Sincerely,
Julie Jones
julie@premierestateproperties.com
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Submitted by Richard Soto on October 16, 2008 - 5:39pm.
I never hold open houses, unless our seller thinks it will actually work, which IMHO they are a waste of time.
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Submitted by Ken Smith on October 17, 2008 - 8:51am.
Open houses have proven to be a waste of time over the past few years. We used to get traffic and would bring in some buyer leads (none that ever bought the house we held open). But it seems that less and less people waste their time driving around looking at homes. They look online to get a feel for things and then set appointments for the homes they really want to see.
Ken Smith - Barrington, Illinois
Suburban House Hunters Team
Submitted by Toby Boyce on October 17, 2008 - 9:02am.
I love open houses. They are a great way to meet people around the community. Do they always lead to new leads and buyers? No. But, the work that leads up to them will lead to new people in my database and the allure of future biz.
I have agents around here that say they are worthless, and if you are only doing them to "placate" someone, they are. If you are doing them as an event and part of your marketing efforts -- they can get you new biz -- even if zero people show up.
Submitted by Cheryl Bower, Realtor, GRI, ABR on October 17, 2008 - 9:29am.
I'm in agreement with Toby; opens can be a great way to meet future clients.
I work from S.F. to the Peninsula, areas which have hot pocket neighborhoods and limited inventory. My opens typically have at least 10-12 groups and with hot listings up to 30+ groups (which results in me just doing crowd control and not having an opportunity to connect with individuals).
I recently had a listing appointment as a result of meeting a neighbor at an open!
Cheryl A. Bower
Realtor , GRI, ABR
Cashin Company Realtors
Cell 415.999.3450
Cheryl@cbower.com
www.cbower.com
Blog: http://lifeineabu.blogspot.com/
Submitted by Robert Thorn on October 17, 2008 - 9:53am.
I’ve been “sitting” Show house or open house continually since the beginning of the year. It’s traditionally, widely practiced in South Africa and my philosophy on the custom is as follows:
a) To showcase the property and solicit Offers to Purchase.
b) To generate an opportunity to add leads in the form of potential buyers and sellers to the database.
c) As an opportunity for “brand marketing”.
d) To endeavour to establish a genuine rapport with prospects by a professional attitude of friendly, knowledgeable helpfulness, thereby building a sound basis for any future relationships, and becoming known as the “area specialist”.
Rob Thorn
Umdloti Beach
KwaZulu-Natal
South Africa