I was recently organizing a progressive brokers open house for a listing of ours and I had a great discussion with one of the participating agents.
Let me explain how I plan these progressive brokers opens. I figure that the more open houses you have in any particular area, more agents will take the time to go visit which will ultimately mean more agent eyes seeing the property. I call all the agents with listings in the vicinity of the property and invite them to host an open house at their property the same day. I go out of my way to coordinate food, prepare a flyer for everyone which I also fax and e-mail to all the brokerages in the area. It’s a lot of work, but guarantees that we get at least 20 agents at each brokers open.
One of the agents I called was extremely nice and agreed to participate although he was not going to be in town that day. He told me that the owner of the property would be glad to host the open house. I asked the agent if he didn’t mind that a lot of Realtors would be talking directly with his seller and this is what he had to say.
Ines, let me be the black sheep Realtor. I don’t advertise, I don’t do open houses, If I have a buyer, I won’t go down my list of brokers opens that I’ve visited to see which one fits my client’s needs the best. I will go to the MLS and look at photos and virtual tours and will preview the house if necessary – no need for me to waste my time at open houses. We all have different styles and what works for me, may not work for you and viseversa.
I have to tell you that this guy was extremely nice and I do agree that we have different styles but here’s my take on Broker’s Opens. I like to know the inventory in the areas that I specialize in. When a customer is looking on-line and calls me on a particular listing, I like to be able to answer questions on the property because I’ve been there. I know this is not an easy task, but the more houses you visit, the more you will become an expert in any particular area. (on a side note – I showed a house the other day I had not seen and my clients response was “OOOOOoooooooh…….a house Ines doesn’t know!”…..it was pretty funny).
We have been discussing the marriage of traditional and web2.0 ways (or at least balance) here in Agent Genius and this is a perfect example. The face to face contact with other agents helps establish relationships, the preparation of the actual progressive brokers open also lets Realtors know that you are the “cooperating type”, the exposure of your listing to other agents is always good, and the fact that you are offering free food doesn’t hurt either.
The irony behind this is that more Realtors agree with him than with me which would ultimately make ME the black sheep. Are you a black sheep Realtor?
