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The Open House Can Help Buyers Remember Your Property

By
Real Estate Agent with Canadian Real Estate Online

Open houses, long considered the backbone of real estate marketing, are not as glamourous since the advent of the internet and MLS listings.  Is all the effort that is required for an open house a good allocation of time and energy? Remember that up to 48 percent of the home purchasers use the phrase open house in their internet queries. Since examination shows that this time-honored strategy remains the most impactful method to get a property, be sure and take advantage of it. 

 

Preparations should start well in advance to coordinate your on-line and printed handouts, since simply sticking an Open House notice on the front lawn may not create the results you need.  Knowing which features are most important to potential buyers will create a different open house strategy for a Brampton real estate agent versus other realtors in other cities. Study the area and determine the best places to put up directional signs to funnel in traffic from the major roads and side streets. A few days before the open house, boost up the interest by handing out flyers to the surrounding homes in the neighborhood. Be sure there is an announcement on the front page of your website and place ads in the local paper.  Take advantage of all your publications channels by devising quick and simple methods to guide the public to your existing open house listings. 

 

Now that open house day has arrived, it is important to make the most of the opportunity. Be friendly and informative, and try to meet visitors at the door instead of making them look for you. Do not pre-judge anyone who come through the door by their clothing or race, you never know what angle the shopper may have. Most real estate sectors like the Burlington Ontario real estate market will be made up of different kinds of buyers from mixed backgrounds and salary levels so every potential buyer needs to be taken into account.  Some home shoppers may not be interested in your house but hoping to discover a professional agent to represent their home.  Instead of attacking them with typical sales questions listen carefully to what they tell you and respond with specific questions that indicate you are listening to their needs.

 

You have more than probably learned in real estate courses that a listing has to stick in the mind of buyers in order to have the best chance of selling. To ensure your visitors think of you and your listing -- since they may visit more than one in one day -- be sure and give them easy-to-carry material summarizing the home and throw in something just from you. For example, put together a genuinely useful handout that will answer many of the questions they might not have asked you about the area and the process of house shopping. In this handout you may also include information about listings that are in the same price bracket, even if they are not represented by your agency, so the buyers can make their own comparisons. You could also add maps of the area and, of course, online links to pictures and details on the web. Keep in mind that the efforts you put into an open house may not materialize right away, so even if you do not experience any returns right away, the process may still have a ripple effect. 

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