More Open House Strategies From My Readers!

Here are a couple of other Open House strategies from my readers:

If you have referrals for their areas, please contact them.

from Natalie Langford, Shenandoah Valley, VA www.LangfordHomeSales.com

"It's a good idea to come up with a stack of similar listings to hand out to prospective buyers. They can then drive around and check out the homes and call you if they're interested in them. If not, maybe they'll still be interested in the one they viewed at the open house."

from Lee Marlin, North Atlanta, GA www.LeeMarlin.com

Here are some additional items of value for your Free Consumer Info Table:

- local area maps

- Newcomer magazines that help people relocating to the area

- Schools reports - public and private and how they rate

- Reports such as eNeighborhooods that show area demographics

- Newspaper/magazine articles about the economic / business climate of the area

- CMA comparative information showing why the home is a superior value

- Utility usage report for a full year - helpful to know what to expect in utility bills

- Condensed vendor list for lawn services, plumbers, electricians, mortgage companies

2) Tour of Homes Open House

- Arrange for several agents to pool their resources to hold a multi-home open house in the same area. Provide a prize drawing to the visitor or visitors who visit all, let's say, 4 open houses in the same general area. Each home could be open for the entire time frame.

- All the agents stimulate traffic for each other's listings.

- Any ads / directionals are coordinated so that prospective buyers know about all 4 homes(some people refine this by holding the homes open sequentially, i.e., - home 1 from 1:00 - 1:30,- home 2 from 1:45 - 2:15- home 3 from 2:30 - 3:00 - home 4 from 3:15 - 3:45.

Each home is open for 30 minutes with 15 minutes for a maximum travel time between homes. The benefits of having a number of people in each time for a short time is that it gives the buyers the "auction effect" - buyers think that someone else may buy the home they want - prompting the buyers to act faster and make an offer. Sellers get the impression of far greater traffic since it is concentrated during a short period of time. Seller also like that they get their turn and the visits are over. Agents like these since buyer turnouts are higher. Hint: Have someone help you with the open house since you could be mobbed. Provide multiple ways to collect information onhow to contact the visitors for followup.

Hints:- provide a flyer to the buyer with the times and route to take to see all 4 homes and be eligible for the prize.- ask area businesses and service providers to underwrite the Tour of Homes with their own prizes, coupons - painter, plumber, furniture, lawn service, closing attorney discount, mortgage company that waives some of the mortgage fees, etc.- have mortgage lender(s) provide refreshments, be on hand for financing questions, start the financial pre-qualification process.