Years ago, back in the recession, we did these mega open houses — we called them “Sold in a Week.” We were able to sell homes really, really quickly by doing these huge open houses and getting hundreds of people through them. I’ll share with you some of the things we did in these mega open houses which you can leverage on a smaller scale and help your own events be effective. ● Plan the Open House ASAP The first thing we would do is schedule the open house as quickly as we possibly could after launching a listing. If we listed the home on Monday, maybe we would put it on the MLS on Friday, and then we’d do the open house that first weekend if possible. We did this because you can get that first rush of buyers and maybe capture some of those buyers yourself. Whenever we got the open house off the ground, we would try to bring in all the nosy neighbors. You want the nosy neighbors because you want to be their friend and, hopefully, get their future listing. This open house is the perfect opportunity for you to help them and provide value to them. If it's a brand-new listing, you can get that early excitement and you could potentially get some really good sellers through the door, and hopefully win some new listings. ● Use as Many Signs as Possible Another thing that can make an open house really popular is signs. I know, I know: this isn't a new idea. But I feel like, a lot of times, people tend to forget how important signs are. For me, personally, I would do as many signs as I could get away with. I know every city and area has different ordinances when it comes to signs. Some won't let you put them up at all, and some set strict limits. Back in 2008, when we were doing those mega open houses, we would schedule multiple homes at the same time on the same weekend, and we would stick up 200-600 signs. I know that sounds nuts, but it really ramped up the excitement for the event. The crazy thing is that all those signs and all of that excitement from the hundreds of people would have a strange effect. All the real buyers would be mixed with the “tire kickers” and think that they were also real buyers, and it spiked the price of the home. We would sell 30% to 50% of the homes during the weekend that we did the mega open house. So believe me when I say that open houses are a really good way to get leads and sell homes. And this wasn't even a hot market! It was during the recession, a horrible time to be selling homes. So when it comes to signs, I would do as many as you can get away with. Put up “just listed” flyers, mail out postcards, hang up door hangers — just go crazy. If you do decide to mail the
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