In this extreme sellers’ market, the Open House Event is a marketing tool that should not be taken lightly and/or eliminated. Now, more than ever, the open house is a method of creating urgency, if you consider attaining top dollar for your seller clients of “great importance” and a critical part of proper seller representation.
Pricing properly and securing a sale price in excess of list price is our goal. It’s the dream of every homeowner, when they think about selling.
We incorporate into our pre-listing presentation the process we use to create that urgency. We like to list the property and submit it into MLS on a Wed, if we are able to, and start showings at the FIRST OPEN HOUSE EVENT on Saturday.
The key to success with this method is to price the property properly. If a property is worth $410k, the property should be listed at $404,900 and potential buyers will be found at that open house BEFORE the advertised time frame!
Our open house events are NEVER longer than 1.5 hours…..NEVER. On occasion, we have many open house events to cover, and we might offer a ONE HOUR viewing for first showings.
There are some homes we list where agents will call us and beg for a showing before the open house or the agent wants to submit an offer “sight unseen.” No Thanks!! Everyone is treated equally and fairly. No Showings Prior To The Open House Event, and that’s carved in stone.
The key to success with showings that begin at the Open House event is to PRICE IT RIGHT!!! If it’s priced properly without an open house event, you’ll never know how high that final sale price could have been. The first one who sneaks in and makes an offer of $100 over list price with a clean deal will get the deal. The last open house we did with showings beginning that day resulted in $10,000 over list price. That would never have happened without creating an urgency!
Creating an urgency when marketing a listing requires “time devoted to marketing on sites that attract buyers, their agents and potential future sellers.” The actual time span of the Open House should be minimal not time consuming for the listing agent. Potential buyers who are “Serious Buyers” will be there on time and ready to submit an offer. When every visitor sees the group of people, all offers will be over list price. Most will far exceed the list price.
We love Open House Events, and homeowners understand the importance of proper pricing in order to secure “top dollar” for their home.
Just a thought for the moment, with three Open House Events happening this weekend for our three new listings!!!!
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