Like this Blog? 
• Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
So you want me to sit Open House for your property? |
|||
| No. I will hold “Brokers Open” which is for Realtors to preview your property. But I will not sit an Open House where the general public has access to you home. Why? Let me ask you this: Do you want people you don’t know going through your house checking out your possessions? Sure, you’ve been told to hide your valuables or even remove them during the time your home is on the market. But what about that prescription medication in your bathroom? Hey, those credit card and bank account statements sitting in your desk look good to an identity thief! And that big TV sitting in the living room of your vacation home that is vacant most of the year? |
 The Cat Burglar does not want your cat... |
||
|
|||
 Show me the Money! |
So on one hand, I don’t sit Open House to protect YOU, Mr. & Mrs. Seller. I only allow access to qualified buyers who are ready, willing and able to buy your home and are accompanied by a licensed Real Estate professional. You DO want to maximize the potential for the sale of your home rather than letting anybody off the street in, don’t you? Even if they are not “casing the joint”, Open Houses are used by many buyers to walk through homes in which they have no interest other than to learn the market or to validate a decision to purchase another home. | ||
| On the other hand, I don’t sit Open Houses to protect myself as well. Let’s just advertise the fact that I will be in a house in the middle of the day when no one else is around and there are even signs leading right up to the front door! Realtors have been raped and killed at Open Houses, I have no interest in becoming a statistic. Sit with another agent you say? Well, the State of Hawaii prevents law abiding citizens from carrying a firearm for personal protection. Guess who carries firearms? The not so law abiding citizens with intent to commit a crime. Even if there are several agents with me, a can of pepper spray is not going to do anything to deter an armed intruder. | |||
 How long until the end of Open House? |
Most experienced agents pass off (yes, I said “pass off”) the duty of sitting open house to newer agents because they tell them “If you sit Open House at my listing maybe you will get a potential buyer coming in that does not have an agent!” Or I’ve heard agents say, “I’m sitting Open House this weekend and hope to get a buyer!” Or “Maybe I’ll get a lead on a potential listing!”
Sitting Open House is a very passive form of marketing your home. They are used by real estate agents to convince sellers that they’ll be doing everything they can to sell their home, and they disrupt the lives of sellers with little or no value added to their goal of selling their home. |
||
| Whoopty-Doo. “Maybe” and “Hope to”are not key points in my Real Estate business plan… I know that Real Estate is local in its nature, and I’m sure there are areas of the national market where Open Houses do work to some extent to sell homes. And I know I’m going to get blasted as a heretic by those agents. So be it. Would you rather have a passive agent who sits around your house on a Sunday afternoon “Hoping” or an agent that is “Doing” by actively and aggressively marketing your home? I know which one I’d rather have if I were selling my home…
Aloha from Hawaii, Biz
|
|||