I ran two open houses in the Capital District this weekend for a couple of my colleagues so I spent a lot of time thinking about how to attract buyers to these. I would appreciate any comments or tips on your success stories. Thanks.
1) Provide "packets" of material (instead of seperate individual sheets) stapled together with your business card attached.
2) Signs, signs, signs.................and more signs. Some have said they are more affective than newspaper ads???
3) Provide bottled water on a hot afternoon along with a nice sweet treat.
4) Make sure all the paddle fans are on (low speed) in addition to all the lights. Yes, even the ones in closets. I also switch the Central AC fan to on.
5) Give the potential client something more than what they came for (I handed out information on the $7,500 first time home buyers tax credit). Many of them, who already had representation, said they hadn't heard about the program. I politely informed them that I am a great agent and would love to help them if they need anything else.
6) Hide a little of the clutter. Move the kitchen trash can to the garage or back porch, etc.....
7) In a vacant house. Make sure to turn all the faucets on for a minute to allow some of the air pockets to escape. You don't want a potential buyer to do this or they may think something is wrong with the water supply.
8) Turn on some soft music. Not too loud though!!! Why do you think they play elevator music in the grocery store? Because they studied various genre and it was proven that people slow down and fill up their basket more when soft, slow music is on.
Well, I hope this information helps..............again, your feedback and ideas would be appreciated.
Serving Clifton Park NY and the entire Albany NY Capital Region
Lewis Beynon, REALTOR
Prime Property Solutions, LLC
(518)281-3951 LewisB@nycap.rr.com
Great tips for Realtors. I like this stuff because I can share it with my Realtor clients.
Lewis - a couple of other things that we do to attract buyers to the open house -
1. We make sure to run a Craig's List ad on the open house; it's free and in our area we get a lot of buyers looking at Craig's List.
2. We also make sure that we announce the open house on every website we can - our KW website in one of the focus boxes; Realtor.com; Postlets.com; and our Metrolist service.
3. I also try to post a blog on it especially if it is a new listing.
But you are right...signs, signs and more signs...that draws more buyers than anything else!
Practice your 'open ended' questions.
Great tips Lewis. I've had good luck advertising via postcard to 300 - 400 neighboring homes. People love to see inside thier neighbor's homes and having a packed house helps create a buzz even if many are just sight seeing.
Give them community information. Why not create a pocket open house book passout? Invite the neighbors by knocking on the door and give them something of good quality that'll sink into their mindset so that when they are thinking about selling, they just might call you!
Thanks for the tips Lewis. I just held an open house this weekend and am thinking about having another next week. I will surely use some of thest tips. Thanks again.
Great tips. We usually like to have two realtors at our open houses to give the incoming traffic as much exposure as possible. This also keeps the home safe.
Even advertise in local papers, A beautiful home inside, take a moment and stop in. Internet is everything today, but our team finds we get people because they saw the ad. We also do fresh flowers and food. They seem to stay a little longer and we find new clients.....
Good information. I usually forget the water in vacant homes. Thanks for reminding me.