This past weekend I attended quite a few open houses with a couple of friends. I took a few notes and decided to post them here. Here they are in rough draft… just my thoughts on what I saw. Some good, some bad, but thought that it might help agents that are setting up open houses.
* disclaimer: many of the agents were Ubertor clients so their open houses are not included in this feedback as it is a little different when you know the person walking around*
– We got our list of open houses by doing address searches on an agents website, from realtylink.org and Craigslist.org
– The first open house we went to that was to start at 12:00 actually started at 12:10.
– I saw open house signs out front of the condo with just Sutton’s name on them. No agent name, no phone number. At the door of the building, no feature sheet, no buzzer number – nothing. We waited for about 10 minutes, then left as nobody showed up.
– At the front door of the condo there was the feature sheet with a cell phone number to call to get the agent to come down. What if you did not have a cell phone with you? how would you reach the agent to gain access to the building?
– Only 1 agents made an effort to shake hands, introduce himself and give us all a business card.
– Call backs? The people I was with have 5 or 6 calls into agents that never returned the calls. If it is sold, let people know.
– It was a super hot day. The sun was out and lots of these condos were really hot. Why not serve lemon aid at your open house? or Popsicles? or even better branded bottles of water with your name and contact info on it?
– Talk about other listings in the area that are similar to their open house. We are comparing them anyways, the agent might as well discuss them and talk about the pros and cons.
– No one asked what we were looking for, or interested in. They just answered our questions and showed us around the condo.
– What about offering little “booties” that people can put over top of their shoes instead of taking them off? (not that they would fit my shoes)
Not sure if that helps… but just some feedback.
6/6/2007 at 7:29 pm
Very interesting that you would mention the lemonaid I was considering this for my
open on Sun. at the house with a sunny south facing deck. Didn’t get around to organizing
it, but maybe next time. Booties and branded water both good ideas too. Any idea who does
water like that? I try to shake hands with those that visit my open house but with some
people you have to fight for eye contact, nevermind a handshake or heaven forbid “building
rapport”.
Interesting post.
6/6/2007 at 8:31 pm
Try this for water – http://www.glaswater.com
Good Luck.
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6/14/2007 at 1:55 pm
Thanks for your open house feedback notes! Love the idea of serving popsicles on a hot day and a contact for water bottles. Very helpful. Well done…smile.