Open House Tip # 3 - Staging the Home

Marketing a home takes place externally and internally. External marketing includes the MLS listing, website listing, newspaper advertising, classified ads and Just Listed postcards to name a few.

Marketing a home internally is equally important as you have spent all this time and money getting them to come to the home and now you want to impress them. In an earlier post called Open House Tip # 2 - Sell the House to Buyers I discussed the importance of setting up small signs and notes around the home highlighting features that buyers might not notice.

An equally important internal marketing tool is “Staging the Home” . Almost without exception you cannot put a home on the market “as-is” without alienating at least 60% of the people who see it and cannot get past the clutter, untidiness or the “lived-in” look. Whether you hire a professional or do it yourself, if you expect to get top dollar you will have to invest at least as much time as you did when you sold your last car. Remember vacuuming, shampooing the rugs, changing the oil and cut-polishing it until it looked like new? Why? Because you want ed people to think it was newer than it was to get more money for it. It is no different than your home.

Staging defined - “the preparation of a home to sell by a professional who specializes in this form of decorating.” Staging can occur on two different levels:

1. Basic Staging
• Removing clutter in the home.
• Placing only attractive, basic furniture in each room.
• Keeping walls, trim, and carpet in neutral colors.
• Removing personal items including pictures, hobby items, etc.
• Taking care of any deferred maintenance items.
• Cutting the grass, trimming the bushes and taking care of the landscaping.
etc

2. Emotional Staging
Emotional staging goes a little further trying to get the buyers to picture themselves living in your home by creating a specific ambience. Examples of this are:
• Putting pillows and two wine glasses in front of the fireplace to create a romantic evening in front of the fireplace.

So while I agree that Staging is an important marketing tool you might find the view from the other side interesting.

The National Association of Exclusive Buyer’s Agents recently published a report entitled “How not to get tricked by staging and potentially save $ 5,645 when you buy your home” which I found enlightening.

The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (naeba.org) conducted a survey in the summer of 2007 of their broker & agent members about the practice of home staging. The survey focused on the impact on home buyers of the practice. The report outlines the results of the survey.

According to a 2003 survey by HomeGain (Emeryville CA) of 2,000 real estate agents Nationwide, a small investment by a home seller on cleaning & decluttering, lightening and brightening, and home staging, produced an average increase in sales price of $5,645.

So while staging is supposed to be helping market a home the buyer’s agents have found two interesting outcomes.

• 82% of home buyers are likely to be distracted from important issues when they go through a staged home.
• 51% of the respondents noted that staged homes often cover up real defects including structural damage.

Whether you are a home buyer, selling agent or buyer’s agent there is something to be learned from this. When viewing a “staged” home you need to look beyond the staging. You may love the colors but it is the structure of the house, the layout, how the property fits your needs, etc. that is really important. Don’t get fooled by small furniture making a room look larger. Measure it and make sure your sofa will fit.

Here are a few resources for you to learn more about staging.

Staged Homes website
Recreating Interiors website
Home Staging Resource website
Decorated to Sell website
20 Staging Tricks to Sell Your Home

Truth in Advertising - Hide it or Celebrate it?

When a Realtor is faced with a marketing a home that has an obvious negative is it better to hide the blemish or celebrate it? My opinion in most cases is to celebrate the fact and make the most of it.

Example 1

I wrote a Just Listed flyer for a home listed at $ 2.295 million with a really steep, curved driveway that was hard enough to walk down let alone drive down. The driveway was such a deal breaker that it was better to warn people rather than waste their time coming to see the home. (Click on thumbnail for larger version)

The Headline was:
“CAUTION! Do not read about this fabulous house if a steep driveway is going to pose a problem”. (and the word Steep was on a 45 degree angle)

The rest of the copy was:
“That is what you call truth in advertising as there is no way you are going to miss the driveway when you come to see this home. It will take a bit of getting used to…but the good news is you won’t have many peddlars coming to the door.”

Then I wrote about all of the features. We sent out 5,000 of these flyers and then sent out another without the “steep driveway” part and 174 days later the house remains unsold. The great news is a lot of people contacted the Realtors and told them how much they appreciated their honesty as they too had a home with a potential problem.

Example 2

One other interesting situation was a 2600 s.f home with one bedroom and one other room incorporating the dining, living, kitchen and family room which was listed at $ 1.149 million. Selling a one bedroom home is not easy in a family neighborhood so I stated the obvious (Click on thumbnail for larger version):

“JUST LISTED” Ultimate in Adult Living - Looking for something truly spectacular? Great entertaining space, views, a bright open design?”

And the kicker!

“…..no room for the kids to come back to?”

An empty-nest couple living in the area read the line about the kids not having a bedroom to come back to and viewed the home right away. They ended up buying it.

So I’m batting .500 with honesty.

Open House Tip #3 - Coloring for the Kids

When you hold an open house it is your time to shine and you should not miss an opportunity to make a positive impression on people coming through the house.  After all they are probably looking for a professional Realtor to list their home.

This recommendation is effective in two ways; it either entertains kids and gives he parents a chance to view the home and/or it impresses parents and creates a positive impression of you.

I recommend you print some stock coloring pages, add your branding discretely to the page and put them out on the kitchen table.  Free coloring pages are available on the internet.  For crayons go to a dollar store and pick up packages or 16 for a buck.  I know a lot of people don’t bring kids to open houses, but if they have kids they will be impressed  you were thinking about them and I have seen people take the pages and crayons home for the kids.

If there are no kids offer the coloring and a pack of crayons to people.  Guess what happens next?  The kids color the pages and put the on the refrigerator with all of the other artwork and your name is displayed for weeks on the fridge.

Google Maps For Open Houses

On April 5th, 2006 Google announced My Maps as a new feature that makes it quick and easy to create your own custom Google Maps just by pointing and clicking. It took me this long to figure out why I might be interested in this feature, but I see lots of applications now I have made my own.

According to the news release you can add placemarks, draw lines and shapes, and embed text, photos and videos — all using a simple drag and drop interface. I confirm it is easy. Your map automatically gets a public URL that you can share with your friends and family, or you can also publish your map for inclusion in Google Maps search results.

The Ubertor Real Estate Blog featured this product when it was first announced and wrote a great article about the application and recently published this example of a custom map that could be displayed on a web site.

Here is one I made as an example of how a Realtor or Mortgage Broker could publish a tour of open houses in their area. As you can see it is crude, but it gives the idea.

To see how you can link to a map and how it is used in Google Maps Click here for a look at my map.

You can click on the addresses on the left for more information.

Open House Dialogue

When you are at an open house you are going to be speaking to the most qualified prospects you will ever meet. 9 out of 10 times they are going to buy a house and/or sell a house. Here are some of the questions you should ask them:

1. What brought you to our open house today?
2. Where are you living now?
3. How long have you been looking?
4. What is the situation on your present home?
5. Why have you decided to move at this time?
6. Are you currently working with other Realtors?
7. When would you like to be in your new home?
8. What price range are you looking for?
9. How long have you been searching for a home?
10. Have you ever come close to finding your dream home and if so what was it like?
11. Do you mind me asking how much equity you have in your home?

Write the answers down if appropriate and if they are not working with a Realtor ask them if you could add them to your email list and possibly send them links to properties they might be interested in.

Then ask them if they would be interested in working with you.

Open House Tip # 2 - Sell the House to Buyers

Home Features Signs

If you are a Realtor reading this it might seem obvious that you should sell the house to the potential buyers, but are you doing it effectively?

Other than the owner you know more about the house than anyone else and you may have put some of the information into a Feature Sheet or an Enhancements and Improvements Sheet, but when the person most interested in buying the home is walking through it are they going to appreciate all of the subtleties of the home?

If you are walking them through the house and remember all of the features you can point them out, but here is a better idea.

Type or write out the features on a small, plain index card
or tent card and place or tape the Feature Signs around the house.

For example if there are self-closing drawers in the kitchen you could have a card that reads “I am self-closing - Try Me” taped to the drawer. If a closet door leads to extra large storage space place a sign on the door that reads “More than a closet - 80 square feet of storage“. Think of all of the buyers that wander through houses appreciating only the tip of the iceberg.

Open House Tip # 1 - Remove Your Shoes Sign

Most sellers would prefer that people remove their shoes at an open house so I created a cute sign that my clients can use. It attracts attention and does not offend anyone.

Click on photo for
a larger version

Open House Survey

This post is for Realtors, but the concept of surveying visitors to your business, attendees at a seminar or any other event is important.

While not everyone will complete a survey there are lots of buyers that are not represented by an agent and they are more likely to complete the information. It provides good feedback for both the Realtor and the seller.

Click here for an example of an OPEN HOUSE SURVEY.

Open House Feature Sheets as a Marketing Tool

If open houses are part of your marketing mix then the most important tool is an effective Feature Sheet or Property Flyer. An open house is as much about you as it is about the property.

An open house serves three main purposes:

1) The vendor feels that their home is being exposed to a wider market of buyers.
2) The Realtor uses the open house as a forum to meet new buyers with the idea of converting them to clients.
3) The Realtor uses the open house to prospect for people interested in selling their home.

No matter which of the three are your motivation a professional Feature Sheet is a must. When a buyer walks away with a colour feature sheet your marketing will stick in their minds above all of the other Realtors they meet that day or weekend. The vendor will also hand them out to their friends.

A professional Feature Sheet will have the vendor singing your praises and will have prospective sellers wanting you to market their home. Remember they are going to many open houses and comparing the marketing so you want your s to stand out.

Take a look at what we can do to make your open house marketing stand out. Feature Sheet Order Form

Open Houses

The debate over whether to hold an open house or not rages on and the answer is different depending on the region or city you live in. Providing there are no local or market forces preventing you from holding an open house they are an effective tool for attracting new clients.

There are buyers without representation that might be interested in working with you. Every buyer is a potential seller and your open house is a stage for you to impress them and differentiate your marketing plan from all of the other Realtors. The vendor is one of your best sources of referrals and you need to impress them with your marketing.

What are some of the Open House Tools we create:

Feature Sheets
When a buyer walks away with a colour feature sheet your marketing will stick in their minds above all of the other Realtors they meet that day or weekend. The vendor will also hand them out to their friends.

Here are a few samples from our clients.

Amenity Maps
Using a program like Microsoft Streets and Trips or Google Maps it is easy to print out street maps that indicate where the schools, churches, hospitals etc are located. Add your name to the map and it will stay with the prospect throughout their travels.

Aerial View
Providing an aerial view of the property has never been easier with the advent of services like Google Maps, but the local city, town, municipality, district or government web site is still the best source of aerial views in most locations. I like to include a high aerial view and a zoomed in view with the property dimensions. In Canada we include both meters and feet to eliminate any confusion. These can also have your branding on them:

Features & Improvements
It is a great idea to make a list of all of the features, enhancements and improvements as the buyer would not be able to pick these things out for themselves. Here are examples of a couple of branded sheets:

Floor Plans
A professionally drawn floor plan with accurate measurements helps the buyer visualize how they can fit all of their kids and furniture into a house. By adding your branding to the floor plan it once again reinforces your professionalism.