| Page 2 of 3 < > |
How do you make an open house stand out? Sometimes agents go to extremes, but the glitz doesn't always help.
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
In September, Rome held a large barbecue, complete with a huge smoker filled with sizzling meat, at a listing in Finksburg, Md. The event worked because the large house, with 5,000 square feet of living space, boasts a big back yard. Rome was able to highlight just how many people could fit and eat comfortably in the outdoor space.
The event attracted 15 guests, which Rome said is good for an open house in the area, northwest of Baltimore. The house has not yet sold, but the open house brought in several potential buyers, Rome said. Events such as the barbecue are also ways to spread positive word about properties, she said, as guests tell their friends and neighbors about the home they've just seen.
"It gave exposure to a house that may not have had a tremendous amount of exposure," Rome said. "There was nothing wrong with the house. It just hasn't found the right buyer yet. In a situation like this, you have to get creative to bring buyers and sellers together."
A year ago, Rome held another flashy open house, this time throwing a "champagne and popcorn" bash for a listing in Baltimore. The event, as its name suggested, featured both treats and was unusual enough to attract more than 50 attendees.
Rome has since sold the property. She credits this open house, too, for building interest in a listing that hadn't been receiving attention.
To bring people to the event, Rome said, she called other real estate agents so that they would bring their clients. She also heavily advertised the event on her Web site. Rome is a user of ActiveRain, an online networking site populated by real estate professionals; she advertised the open house on that site extensively.
"In this market, you can't do what every other agent already does," Rome said. "You can't put a sign in the ground, put the listing on the MLS [multiple listing service] and then pray. That's not enough in this market. You have too much competition for your listings today."
Tatiana Hunter, the former owner of the Baltimore home that hosted the champagne-and-popcorn open house, said she was pleased to work with a real estate agent who wasn't afraid to try something different.
Today, Hunter lives and works in Cedar Crest, N.M., where she runs her own pottery business. She said she still has fond memories of the sales event.
"I was fortunate to have an agent with imagination and a well-developed sense of fun," she said. "Our intent was to bring in potential buyers, of course, but then there is always that indefinable ripple effect that an imaginatively conceived event will cause."
Hunter admitted that the open house, because of its unusual theme, may have pulled in guests who were more curious about her home than they were serious about buying it. But even this is a benefit, she said.
"In retail, it is impossible to know who will tell who," she said. "That 'string-of-pearls' effect is often engaged in an open house. The open house was tremendously successful."
