This past Sunday we had the pleasure of hosting an Open House for a fellow REALTOR®. Although we have busy schedules, whenever possible we try to take every opportunity to host open houses. This particular property had been on the market less than a week. The traffic to newly listed properties can be quite advantageous. Therefore, this ideally is the PERFECT time to hold an open house. Although the buying foot traffic was a little lackluster (we’ll get to that later), the property’s eye appeal did not disappoint! Despite the owners still currently living in the home, it was staged perfectly. The home’s interior design could have been taken directly out of a Better Homes & Gardens magazine. One of the most valuable tips that an agent can give a seller still residing in their home as they’re try to sell, is to give prospective buyers viewing the property the same feeling as a hotel room. When you stay at a hotel you know someone stayed in your room, possibly hours before you did, you just don’t want to see any signs of it. It was clear the owners had really put a lot effort and attention to detail into their home and decor. They put even more effort into making sure everything was perfect for the open house. The furnishing contained neutral decor with pops of color, vintage coca cola bottles, an old record player, hanging mini Polaroid wedding photos, a shadow box containing a dried bridal bouquet, and even a nursery decorated with lovely strands of hanging flower garlands. It truly was Pinterest heaven. Their sense of style did not go unnoticed. The open house attendees were wowed by not only the open floor plan but also the decor and the color scheme of the home. The owners truly made our job to showcase their home effortless.
Now that we’ve covered the high points, we can get into some of the lows of the weekend. Normally when hosting an open house, we have a marketing strategy we like to follow. Naturally, this includes social media marketing, which we did. The next phase of our marketing plan is to put out open house signs on Friday before rush hour, when everyone is heading home from work. This is a great way to increase open house traffic. However, due to an inclement weather forecast on Saturday, we decided to wait until after the storm had passed to put out our signs. The weather forecast also prevented us from completing the final step in our marketing strategy, which is door knocking and informing the neighbors of the upcoming open house. On Saturday, once it was clear that we weren’t going to get this “major rainstorm” that was predicted, we went to the neighborhood and put out our signs. While it was a little disappointing that we didn’t carry out the full potential of open house marketing due to this weather forecast fail, we still felt that it was a good call to make because we noticed other realtors’ signs had indeed blown over. One of the most irritating things that can happen to a REALTOR® is having to spend additional money on signs due to the wind blowing and them getting ran over and destroyed. But all in all, despite not having a ton of traffic at the open house, we did acquire a new buyer lead that we hope to work with soon. I’d say that would equate to a fair trade of the sacrifice of a little family time. How was your weekend? Did you relax and enjoy your family and friends or where you out there grinding and making things happen?