Broker opens YES. For new listings.

Real estate agent, occupied re-sale, Rarely.

REO / Lender Owned average 5 days per week. 2pm /sunset weekdays, Sat / Sun.

For my Lender Owned Open,

Of course the home is vacant, with utilities, in good condition. ( pick and choose )

I line the living room walls with all the area Lender Owned properties. Eye level, two rows.( NO SHORT SALES ) approx 80 listings., throw in a few HUD`s

I set up my Lender owned open house signs 6 to 8 depending on location.

Wa-La, I have my own Lender Owned, home store. ( Wal-Lender Owned-Mart )

Clients come in. half the time they never leave the living room.
I don`t ask a thing until I hear, "Can I have a copy of this listing?"

Genius Me with my wireless laptop, " I don`t have a copy, however I would be glad to email you one, What exactly are you looking for?" ( always leave your printer at home )

Drip campaign, set it and forget it.

Details,
These are not my REO`s, I ask to sit others.
I change locations at least twice a week, or when I feel like it.
I leave all of my plano`s up, because no one has told me I can`t.
All the listing agents have allowed me to advertise my open houses, on the Internet, for free, of course.

Believe it or not
The average person spends at least 30 minutes in the home. ( I think I will add more listings )
I always get an email.
Without asking people give me their name and phone number.
I am never alone, I never stop talking, It`s like work.

Personal note,
Women Realtors ( this will get me in trouble) when it comes to open houses, are at a disadvantage.
I have had to throw a few creeps out.
I would suggest that you partner with another agent. This is a great way to generate great leads.

KNOW THE INVENTORY, AND THE IN`s & OUT`s OF BUYING A REO.

Good Luck.

I love doing open houses(other than two things - the Sunday afternoon and putting out signs

But I love meeting new people, getting feed backs, etc. So, I do almost religiously. I also get clients / leads that way. Easy to do when you are fact to face.

Most of the people I meet are the ones who just started looking, neighbors, and ever so often the ones sent by their Realtors. It's not the best way to get buyer for the house (there are a lot of other ways that's more effective as we all know) but it is a convenience for some Realtors whose clients can only see houses on weekends and are not able to show them for one reason or another.

Either way, it can help some of the sellers psychologically if nothing else; and if it does, I am all for it.

Sylvia

Almost every Sunday, not only good exposure for my sellers, but I have occasionally picked up a new client - buyer's of course, but once a seller who liked my style at the open and had me list his home because of it.

I also do Broker's Opens for listings which I have not been able to move. Other agents have good insights - sometimes they mention something I have missed. More often they reinforce a flaw which I noticed and have had a hard time getting the seller to correct. When a seller hears that many professional agents have been through and noticed the same problem - they are often willing to fix something that they thought was a low priority. If no one mentions an issue which is worrying me, I can let it go and not nag the seller, move on to other issues.

I try to hold at least 2 weekends for each listing. It all depends on how many listings I have.

We do. Even though they don't generate a lot of traffic, I have sold 2 houses in the past year to people who came into the houses during opens. These buyers were actually looking for a different type of home or different price and might not have ever viewed these homes if they hadn't been held open. I think we owe it to our clients to do everything possible to sell their homes.

Sure do...sold my last condo that way (one of the neighbors came in to see it--she told her sister-in-law about it and we sold it).
Held another one during a Christmas Tour of Homes in the area--sold it the next week.
It doesn't always work, but in this market, we need to try everything!

Hey Kent,

That may be opening a can of worms...so to speak. Really, but its a great question for us agents/brokers.
Note to the public: a Brokers Open House is held generally just for Licensed Agents and Brokers, often within just a few days of a new listing hitting the market. The public is generally not invited but if they show up I have never seen them turned away. :) - That being said....

I do not hold open houses as often as we used to back in the day, they just DO NOT sell houses, but we will hold them a client wants it done. Some areas of the country may differ of course.

1. One reason is that we have very few show up these days, even though we have doubled up on promoting them. Even back in the day.., they rarely sold a home.
2. Another reason is that with the growth of the Internet and the high cost of gas these days most agents and brokers like to surf the web/listings more now.
3. There is 25% more listings on the market in our area too, and I am sure most areas of the country have the same thing going on.
4. The local Title Companies here used to sponsor our Broker Open’s… but the Insurance Commissioner just put a STOP to that a few months ago and put a max help cap of $25 allowed as a marketing expense per client (us).
5. We are now spending those Broker Open dollars on other ad media to attract real buyers in real time, mostly we offer the client a choice...:
A. “Would you like us to do a Brokers Open, where few if any will show up, or…
B. Would you like us to use those marketing dollars to send out 5,000 eFlyers to the Agents & Brokers?”
…we always get the same answer. Flyers….!

Times change and we feel the need to do what works best for us in our area, hope you are finding luck with your Brokers Opens. We used to have lots of fun with them and a great way to network… but rarely ever got a real sale from one anyway.

There are some new things afoot that may be interesting, like an Online Brokers Open ...

Regards,
-Don

Not on occupied homes. I think it is not helpful to the homeowner and risks their posessions. Most homeowners don't want me to.

I do hold open houses on vacant homes that are located well, priced well, and show well.

Sure we do, why wouldn 't you?