I have to admit that I used to be one of those agents who said that real estate open houses are a waste of time because they just draw nosy neighbors and random people who happen to stumble past the open house signs. Since neither of these groups are buyer candidates, open houses just didn’t seem worth the time.
I still strongly believe that the occasional buyer who hears about an open house and stops by to take a look would have scheduled an appointment anyway if the online information looked promising.
A New Perspective
An agent in my office recently convinced me that there is another reason to hold an open house. Those nosy neighbors just might have a friend who would be interested in moving into the subdivision. This agent talked about knocking on the doors of neighbors to invite them to the open house.
She recently had a successful open house filled with neighbors when some real buyers walked through the door. The crowded property gave the buyers a sense of urgency. She ended up with a contract and sold the home.
I decided to give it a try for my Ballwin condo’s open house scheduled this Sunday, 9/13/09, from 12-2 pm.
Take a look at the video below explaining my twist on knocking on neighbor’s doors.
And yes, I know I should tone down the hand gestures. This is my very first video post, so I was a tad nervous. I promise to post more videos and they will hopefully get better over time.
PDF Possibly Related Posts:
- 20 Tips for FSBO Sellers
- How to Find the Buyer for Any House
- Ask Your Agent About Sign Callers Before You Sign a Listing Agreement
- Agent Open Houses – A Thing of the Past
Email This Post
{ 1 trackback }
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Karen, This ID totally rocks! Wish I’d have thought about this when we sold our home years ago.
Your idea would work in other areas as well, beyond selling homes.
Cheers to the video as well. It made it more real.
Awesome! You did a fantastic job and I love the idea too! I know it is nervous to make the first one, but it gets easier (I already made a 2nd one of me and posted it today). Good job!
Great job Karen. I can’t believe we actually got to talk to over half of the people in that community! I was nervous to go at first but it ended up being really fun!!!
I’ll walk a neighborhood again with you any time!
Great article (and video) on ‘thinking outside the box” about open houses. I would be excited to have you as my Realtor if I lived in St. Louis! I’ll be sharing your video with all of my agents… maybe get them thinking laterally for once
Congrats on the carnival win last week!