Attention Real Estate Agents: Do you have a unique home that you are going to be listing in the coming months?
Here is a unique marketing idea, Kids Help Phone, a national toll free help line for kids runs an event every year called “Homes for the Holidays“. The idea is they get 4 or 5 beautiful homes to agree to have their houses toured at Christmas time. Designers and Decorators then customize those homes so that they are perfect for the event. Then they sell tickets for $20 – $50/person to tour the home.
Why not use this to your advantage? If you have a house that you will be listing before next Christmas, why not apply to Kids Help Phone to have it included in the homes for the holidays? (assuming your clients agree) What a great way to have a few hundred visitors to a paid open house, all while supporting a great charity.
Here are the cities in Canada that run this type of event (Vancouver, Calgary, Lethbridge, Edmonton and St. John’s) plus I’m sure other charities across North America have something similar.
12/12/2007 at 2:42 am
Let me first say that I do like the idea and especially the purpose for it. I am, however, a bit sceptical about my clients letting kids tour their homes during Christmas. Let’s be rational here fo r a moment: these people want to sell their homes. They can be quite desperate if they put a For Sale sign in front of their house in the holiday season. And while they may be attracted to the idea of having top designers costumize their property, their upmost goal is to sell the house as quickly as they can instead of letting children in, as opposed to potential buyers.
12/12/2007 at 6:19 am
Hi Jay,
I don’t think there are too many kids coming through. The Vancouver version is $35/head so it is usually adults. I did not attend this year, but have attended the last few before and always found it to be quite interesting. I asked if they have ever had any of the houses for sale and they were not aware of any so I figured it would be a good idea. Something different that not everyone can do.
12/12/2007 at 1:15 pm
I think it is a great idea-and I too really doubt there would be any kids there viewing….and they needn’t necessarily be desperate as we have had multiple offers on our 2 opens in Dec so I think it could only help get even more people in to a place! since you are saying they only do a few, it might be that it would be hard to be selected unless it was the right house…….they also may not want a house for sale but it would be worth checking into (does anyone know what happened with the amazing Christmas bears house that used to be decorated every year-at around 5th or 6th and Trimble)
thx
plh
12/20/2007 at 3:08 am
You are right, it was me who did not get it right: somehow I thought these tours were designed for kids. I am sorry for losing my marbles… I can agree with Patricia, it would really be worth checking into these houses.