Any pointers you can throw me on doing an open house for my broker's listing would be appreciated. The house is listed for $600K+ and I really would like to make a great impression on any unrepresented buyers who show up . . .

Bring a book! Open houses can be very discouraging, but sometimes they really pay off. Make sure you have a sign in sheet to capture buyers' e-mail and phone numbers. Sometimes I hand out a 2 sided flyer of the listing with at least 3 photos on each side, (make sure to use nice, glossy paper). Make it different from the "usual flyers" on the in the area.

Another great idea, but costly, is to make a "listing card". This is basically a tent card with a picture of the home on the front. In the inside is a breif description of the home, and on the back is your business card. These cards impress both your sellers and potential buyers.

Good Luck! Let us know how it goes for you.

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Dylan Darling
Search for Bend Oregon real estate. | Bend real estate blog |Bend OR homes for sale.

Oh yea, post your open house on your website and on craigs list.

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Dylan Darling
Search for Bend Oregon real estate. | Bend real estate blog |Bend OR homes for sale.

1) Turn on a stereo if there's one available or bring small radio....volume low. Little jazz or blues in back ground breaks that dead silence when buyers walk through.

2) Ask them to fill out a simple open house register. Tell them the seller's just want to know who saw their house.

3) Have a flier with home info and your contact info...plus your cards next to them on counter. This way your giving them something when they walk-in.

4) Tell them to give you some feedback on the home pluses and minuses before they leave....gets them talking.

5) Don't ask if they are working with an agent, instead ask if they have to sell a house before they buy their next one. If they say "yes, our house is listed", then obviously there working with an agent.

6) You have to find a way to break the ice in the first 30-60 seconds as they are forming their opinions of the house and you as an agent. Just saying hello, welcome to the open house, feel free to roam around, isn't enough...

There's a lot more you can do...but that will get you going. I do open houses almost every weekend, unless I'm heading out of town on vacation. Good luck on your next open house.

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Jerry Campbell, CRS, GRI
Muljat Group
Bellingham, WA 98225
Professional REALTOR for 15 years
BA WWU Management of Information Systems
Bellingham Real Estate | Bellingham Homes For Sale | Whatcom County Real Estate

The radio is a great idea. Also, ask the sellers if they have wireless internet access. If so, have your website up and running for potenitial buyers to check out. Sometimes you'll be able to talk buyers into looking at homes on MLS with you at the Open House.

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Dylan Darling
Search for Bend Oregon real estate. | Bend real estate blog |Bend OR homes for sale.

I did a presentation of the house in PowerPoint and brought my laptop to the Open House. The presentation was running in the loop in the kitchen with soft music and the visitors were very impressed. They were just standing in the kitchen, admiring the kitchen and watching the slide show. Both, the sellers and visitors liked it and it doesn't cost you a penny.

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Russell Volk, REALTOR®
Mid-Atlantic Real Estate
Feasterville, PA
Bucks County Real Estate | Newtown, PA Real Estate | Doylestown, PA Real Estate.

How about having your mortgage person sit the open house with you so that you can answer financing questions on the spot too!

How about sending out a postcard ahead of time to invite the neighbors or if you're up for it and it's not inappropriate, knock on the doors of the closest 20 or 30 neighbors and hand them a flyer and personally invite them to come to the open house. Let them know that often people who live in the neighborhood know someone who might want to live in the area and they can invite them as well.

You can serve something, water or coffee, or cookies, but stay away from things that kids can make a mess with.

If there is a room that you can turn on a video without it being a distraction AND still visible to the parents as they look, often that helps occupy the kids. Bring a spouse to help monitor the room if you like.

I've done bits and pieces of all of these at one time or another. Sometimes all of the above!

Oh yeah, put your open house RIDER out early...like Tuesday for a weekend event OPEN SATURDAY 1-4 or whatever...that builds anticipation and traffic.

Don't forget to put the open house in your MLS or have your broker do it if it's his listing and it's an option available to you.

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Superior Real Estate Services for Katy Texas and surrounding areas.

Katy Texas Real Estate
Katy Texas Events Blog

I actually did an Open House on Sunday during a big and very important football game. The game started at 1pm. The seller had a big screen tv in the family room. When I placed my ad on craiglist, I actually advertised that you can watch the game on a big tv during the open house. I served cookies, chips and sodas. The game was on and bunch of guys with their wifes showed up. They would walk through the house and while their wifes would talk to me, they guys were sitting on a couch and watching the big game.

Many of these wifes told me that if I didn't advertise the game in my ad, their husbands would not attend the open house. Snacks cost me $40 bucks. The house didn't sell during the open house, but I got 2 buyers out of it. One of them closed within 3 months, the other one, I'm still working with. Go figure.

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Russell Volk, REALTOR®
Mid-Atlantic Real Estate
Feasterville, PA
Bucks County Real Estate | Newtown, PA Real Estate | Doylestown, PA Real Estate.

Use Vflyer (www.vflyer.com) to create an open house notice you can email to other Realtors. It is professional and really captures the readers attention. Best of all it is free and you should be able to get an electronic flyer finished in 20 - 30 minutes.

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Mike Blaney
http://www.inboxfx.com for email stationery
http://www.mikeblaney.com for marketing ideas
North Vancouver, BC, Canada
604-618-5512
800-568-8338

Only problem with VFLyer is it's directed to AGENTS, I think he would like to attract UNREPRESENTED buyers!

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Superior Real Estate Services for Katy Texas and surrounding areas.

Katy Texas Real Estate
Katy Texas Events Blog