Real Estate Open House Ideas
Real Estate Coach Tom Ferry got this “Mega Open House” thing trending, and it’s awesome!
I can’t take any credit for this, I just want to share it because it gets me pumped up! Hopefully, you’ve been to a Tom Ferry conference or ten, so you’ve already stolen all of his real estate open house ideas, so you already know all about the mega open house and how it works. If not, here you go!
On the Monday before the Open House, you’ll post a video of yourself, standing outside the house. You say that it’s a brand new listing, mention some of its great features, and give home’s details. Give the date and times of the open house (Saturday from 1pm to 4pm), and say that you expect the Open House to be packed and the home to sell super fast. Put this video EVERYWHERE – Facebook pages and groups that relate to the community, on your Facebook page, YouTube, all your other social media, and email it out to your database. Also, advertise the open house everywhere you can: Craigslist, Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, RealBird, your MLS, and anywhere else you can think of.
On Tuesday, you need to have two different flyers printed up for the Open House. Design a branded flyer, clean and simple: a photo or two, with all the home’s details and the price, and of course all of your contact information. Print about 50 of those. Then, add text to the flyer: “EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW – NEIGHBORS ONLY! Come have wine & (insert food here) with us while taking a look at this home before it goes on the open market. Saturday at Noon!” Print as many of these as you need to give one to every single home in the neighborhood. Notice that the neighbors only event is only one hour prior to the open house start time? That’s by design.
Note: some people prefer to invite the neighbors to a “Farewell Party” for the sellers of the listing, and that means that your sellers will need to be present. That’s fine and it’s totally up to you, but we have found that things go more smoothly when the sellers can go spend a relaxing family day elsewhere. I think this depends on how close-knit the neighborhood is, because if a Realtor invited me to a farewell party for one of the people in my neighborhood that I don’t know, I would feel awkward attending.
On Wednesday, get about 50 Open House signs and put them in your car. Yes, I said 50! Order finger-food style catering for 50 people, and pick up 8 bottles of wine: 3 red and 5 white. Don’t forget the napkins and plastic wine glasses! As an alternative, if the home is located on a cul-de-sac or somewhere rural, having a popular local food truck there is a great idea!
On Thursday, you will knock on every single door in the neighborhood. If nobody’s home, leave the flyer that has the “Neighbors Only” part. If someone answers, invite them to the “Neighbors Only Exclusive Preview”, and don’t forget to mention that there’s food and wine! Bonus: make a list of the homes in the neighborhood that are previously expired listings, and be prepared to guide the conversation in your favor when you knock on their door.
On Friday, put out as many open house signs as you can. Put them everywhere. They should have the address, day and time clearly stated.
Saturday morning, do another round of social media blasts, and eat a breakfast of champions to prepare for an awesome day! What will happen is that you’ll have 15, 20, maybe even 50 neighbors show up for the “Neighbor’s Only Exclusive Preview” at Noon. They are mostly there to compare their house to this one and eat your food. That’s okay. If any of them are thinking of selling, they are definitely thinking that you are the best Realtor ever right now. What happens next is neat: buyers start showing up for your open house at 1pm, and there are probably still a bunch of the neighbors there mulling around, chatting. This subconsciously creates the idea in the mind of the buyers that this house is very desirable, and psychology tells us that this will make them want it before they even walk through the front door.
On the day of the event, it’s important to manage your time while mingling with guests, and don’t try to talk every neighbor into selling their home. Be polite and friendly, no listing presentations, and in fact if someone wants to talk to you about selling their home, simply take their phone number, set an appointment with them, and give them your card. Don’t get sucked into having a 30-minute conversation with one person about their home when you should be getting face time with everyone there.
That’s it! That’s the mega open house. I have seen it in action and it’s pretty awesome, and I can’t believe nobody put all these real estate open house ideas together in this way a long time ago.
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