Some of the best ways to draw attention to a listing are;

• Hold an open house and invite everyone in the neighborhood and surrounding apartment complexes.

• Send information flyers to agents that have sold houses in that neighborhood over the past 12 months.

• Take full advantage of Realtor com. Upload the maximum number of pictures allowed and provide a detailed description of the house.

• Advertise the house on Craigslist Orlando

• Place information flyers in the mailboxes of your office agents.

• Talk with the seller about weekly price adjustment or enhancements.

Pricing is a huge part of why homes sell today. Take a look at sales and new listings within the past month to confirm your price and then make corrections as needed.

Inviting the right people

In many cases if the agent markets the open house in the traditional ways they could be leaving it to chance that a qualified buyer will follow the directional signs to the home, or might have seen the open house posting in the local newspaper or on the company website.

My suggestion to anyone interested in having an open house that might result in the home selling is to invite the right people. Who are these right people? The right people to attend your open house would be the area real estate professionals. These are the men and women who are in contact with the majority of homebuyers in a market area. These are the people who will remember the home and in the days or weeks to follow will be able to mentally match up the home to one of their buyers.

So how do you get these professionals to your open house? Well first it is about the timing. If you do not have success with getting agents to attend your open house on the weekend, try holding the open house during the week. Try Tuesdays immediately after sales meetings or during lunch. Tuesdays are traditionally when a majority of agents are in the office conducting business.

In order to get them to visit it might take more than just sending over an invitation via a fax to everyone in the office. If you really want to increase your chances of agents coming, personally invite them with a phone call a day or two in advance. If there are hundreds of agents in your market area, center your invites to those agents who have sold property in the area of your open house.

You can take this a step further and also personally invite lenders in your area, local title insurance companies, home inspectors in your area and other affiliates involved in your day-to-day business.

By getting the right people to your open house you will increase the likelihood of successfully selling the home as a result of your efforts.

Buyers

If you are not working with enough buyers then you should plan on holding several open houses over the next few months. Pick homes that are on busy streets or sought after communities. Agents who have success with open houses walk the neighborhood prior to the open house and personally invite the neighbors to attend.

During the open house successful agents do not act as wallflowers instead they warmly greet each person who walks through the door, engaging them in conversation about the home, or the neighborhood or the real estate market in general. If you are listening you should be able to quickly determine the reason your guest is there and what steps you will need to take to build an agent-customer relationship that will result in future business.

Continue to put yourself in the path of buyers and your business will increase.

Sellers

Having a large, well-managed listing inventory has always translated into success. Expired listings continue to be a leading source of listings.

Listings of your competition that have expired may have never been provided any more information about the current market except that it has “slowed down.” The sellers who really want to sell will appreciate you being truthful. With the competition so fierce, homes need to be priced competitively in order to sale. The best valued home at the best price and in the best condition will result in offers and a sale.

These are just 2 of the steps that an agent who wants to increase their business should take. These steps work for those agents who work them continually.

Open houses can work for you similar to floor. When there is no traffic you can use the time to work on your farm area mailings, you can make calls to your center of influence, or you can create or develop new marketing and prospecting methods, etc. etc. all while sitting at the open house!

Take advantage of every opportunity to meet buyers and sellers and watch your business grow!

Many real estate agents are trained, early in their careers, on different ways to maximize their prospecting effort when holding an open house. One suggestion is the 10-10-10 method, which refers to contacting 10 neighbors on each side of the home and 10 neighbors across the street prior to the open house. This is a great way to increase your chances of having visitors at your open house, add to your contact list and possibly pick up a new customer. 

Here is a tip you may wish to us that takes the method one step further. Why not make plans to revisit those 10-10-10 neighbors immediately after your open house with feedback on how the open house went? While your first meeting was centered on asking them to do something for you, attend your open house, the second step is about you doing something for them. The feedback you have from the potential buyers who visited your open house is important to the entire neighborhood and community. What the potential home buyers thought of the price of the home, the community and the neighborhood is valuable information to each and every neighboring homeowner. Your taking the time to update the neighboring homeowners after an open house will be appreciated, presents you as an expert in the neighborhood and may result in future business.

Give it a try.

Seller: We are not having any more Open Houses; it is non-productive, as was the case on the last one. These people are not pre-qualified; they just want to see what is there or how the place is decorated; it is just like people who go to a used car lot and kick tires for fun. These people would not even tell you their names, sign the book or even talk to you at all.

Agent: I hear you about open houses, and am sorry that you feel this way as selling your home is a numbers game, and we need to get you as much exposure as possible. Of course we have walk ins, ‘nosey Nellies’ who just want to see how you decorate, but also qualified people who see the ad and signs and come by as well. I wish that you would reconsider so that we can let as many people as possible see your lovely home. This will increase the chances of you receiving an offer on your home. I hope that you trust me and my experience in selling homes. My ultimate goal is to help you sell your home as soon as possible and at a good price. But to do that requires that you trust me and work with me to make this happen.