In Your Face About Open Houses - Part 2

(Click HERE to read "In Your Face About Open Houses - Part 1.) It’s Saturday (or maybe Sunday?) afternoon. You’re picking up your business cards and flyers. You’re turning off lights and locking the door. You’re grabbing your directional signs. There. You’re finally driving home from another open house. And the thought in your mind (maybe) is: “Why do I keep doing these when nobody comes (for the most part)?” And it’s a legitimate question that real estate professionals ask. Especially in a market where money’s tight and time is precious, you want to maximize the things that work and leave behind the things that don’t. Right? And what might you do to attract more traffic to your open house the next time? Here are a couple of ideas:

1. Invite the neighbors. Go door-to-door and invite those who live in the surrounding neighborhood to the open house. This will give you an opportunity to gain more contacts and get the word out. Have some refreshments available. Include a raffle for a dinner or movie tickets. Most of all, be prepared to explain the reasoning behind why the home is listed at the price that it is. Be ready also to share insight on other homes in the neighborhood. Neighbors will be interested in hearing what you have to say. Portray yourself as the expert. After all, you are (or should be). Always focus on the positive (at least there were a few lifeboats on the Titanic). Sure, the market is challenging, but property is selling if it’s priced right.

2. Make a video. Make a video of your house. It’s easily done with Windows Movie Maker that’s installed on most Windows operating systems. It doesn’t have to be long. You can even use stills. Add some audio, burn it to a CD and then hand it out to anyone and everyone you can think of. (CD-Rs are really not that expensive.) And maybe they can’t come to the open house, but that’s okay. They’ll see it in the video. You can even upload it to YouTube and embed it on your website or blog. If there’s enough of an outcry, I can teach a class on how to do this.

The bottom line is you want your open house to be a success. Maybe it’s time to think outside the box and do something new to make it happen.