My career for the past 7 years has been a one-man show. Unless I needed specific help on a particular item, each abstract, project, and title opinion involved me working on my own, in my quiet office, tucked away from the world. I knew whenever I chose to get into real estate that it would be a 180 from my previous work life, but yesterday's open house just displayed how much of a change this new life is going to be for me. And I'll be honest, sometimes I wonder if I can pull it off - but I'm definitely NOT one to shy away from a challenge!
I wanted to share a few lessons that I learned yesterday from my first official open house. And before I do so, please keep in mind: I'm not perfect. I don't claim to be, nor will I ever claim to be. I'm learning every single day, so while I share via my blog about my experiences, lessons learned, etc, please don't judge! I'm doing the best I can, and I'm truly enjoying what I've done so far. I am hoping someone who reads my blog may also be able to learn something from it, too!
So here goes:
1) When making a flyer to pass out to visitors at your open house, make sure you include ALL pertinent information. And if, for example, 5 different people in a row come up to you and ask the price of the house, and you keep wondering why everyone keeps asking that, maybe you should review your flyer. 'Cause it sounds like you forgot to put the price on the flyer........ #epicfail
2) Wear comfortable shoes. This does not include the black sandals I wore yesterday. #blisters
3) Most importantly, get the visitors to talk to you and share their opinions about the house. Every visitor whom I got the chance to talk to (and there were so many at some points, I didn't get to talk long to all of them), was asked what they loved about the house, what they would change if they could, and how they felt about the price. #feedback
4) Make sure you pass out your business cards to EVERY visitor. I accomplished this by stapling a business card to every flyer that was passed out. #networking
5) Perhaps the most important lesson learned from yesterday was that I need to be able to think more quickly on my feet. Not everybody is going to love every thing about the home, and as a realtor, you have to be prepared to counteract each negative comment with something positive about the home. This is an absolute must, so from now on, any home that is listed with me is going to get a full-evaluation from myself (and my supportive spouse) about not only what is great about the house, but also what is NOT great about the house. Make a list of the things the buyers might not like, and come up with a solid reason of why it really isn't a big issue like the buyer thinks it might be. #positivity
I was very fortunate with the open house yesterday in that 95% of the people who viewed the home loved the sleek, modern look of the home, the fabulous entertaining space out back, and the price. However, now having my first open house as a realtor under my belt, I'm setting the bar even higher for next week's open house, and I can't wait to implement the things I learned from yesterday.
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