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How to get people to show up...
I've held plenty of Open Houses for my own listings as well as for other agents. I'll never forget the first Open House; boy, was I nervous. The listing agent had put an ad in the paper and she handed me two directional signs, saying "If you sell it, you get 25%". I was soooo excited! When I arrived, I found a stack of her cards on the dining table and that was it. No brochures, no candy dish, no refreshments, nothing. Nobody showed up.
Some listings aren't suitable for Open Houses but if they are - I actually sit down and start planning. I try to come up with a theme for each Open House (ideally this is also the theme I'm using to advertise the listing aside from the Open House). Many agents in my area say "Open Houses just don't work in Highlands County" and this is true to a certain extend. Some areas are too "rural" to draw enough people. However, there are areas with plenty of garage sales on weekends, areas where people take walks, ride their bikes.
Next weekend we'll hold an Open House for one of our converted FSBO's. The home is vacant, has never been lived in.
Darrin has identified 90 +/- potential buyers in the neighborhood. They will receive a written invitation, hand signed and hand addressed. Because they neighborhood is casual, the invitation reads something like this: Open House, Date, Time, "We have refreshments for YOU and we'd love to have YOU to stop by!" We print 4 of these one a page of textured paper with 4 directional maps on the backside. We use a precision cutter to cut the page into 4 sections. Each invitation is glued into a
5x8 blank card with our business card attached. We address them by hand. We want the invitations to appear personal, so they get opened. We make sure to invite all FSBO's in the neighborhood to make sure they know what we do in order to market a property.
We do not place ads in the paper. Nobody reads the paper to search for Open Houses. We use as many directionals as possible. It might look tacky but we use plenty of balloons and streamers for the signs. After all, the signs are supposed to get attention.
We send the seller an invitation along with a map showing where we have placed directionals and which neighborhoods we have targeted with invitations. We want the sellers to know what we do and why.
80% of our Open House visitors come because they received an invitation. 20% follow the directionals. I've had one guy tell me "I'm not even thinking about buying but I couldn't escape your directionals!"
How do you advertise your Open Houses? I realize that every market is different and what works for us might not work for you....
So, let's hear it:
Copyright Darrin & Andrea Mills 2008 "How Do You Hold Open House?"
If you would like to hold an Open House for you, just give us a buzz 863.514.3861 or email us:
andrea@millsrealestate.net
This article was originally posted on http://sebring.activerain.com/
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