House Parties

by | Feb 27, 2015 | Listing Agent Practices, Thinking of Selling? | 8 comments

You can spend $30,000 on an open house, but the price still has to be right:

Read the full article here:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-open-house-goes-over-the-top-1424969962

author avatar
Jim the Realtor
Jim is a long-time local realtor who comments daily here on his blog, bubbleinfo.com which began in September, 2005. Stick around!
See Full Bio

8 Comments

  1. Shadash
    Shadash on February 27, 2015 at 6:41 am

    I’m on the fence about this kind of thing. Does spending this kind of money on a party really bring in buyers? Who’s trying to impress? The owner? The agent?

    Maybe I’d do it if this was the kind of culture the area had, house parties and such.

    I’ve never had the kind of money that buys 30k house parties just for people to mingle. Maybe at that level it actually makers sense.

  2. Jim the Realtor
    Jim the Realtor on February 27, 2015 at 7:24 am

    If the price is attractive, buyers will come anyway.

    The auction with no reserve is even more attractive, as gimmicks go.

    This morning on twitter I see that the RSF auction yesterday was live-streamed. Did anyone see the outcome?

  3. Susie
    Susie on February 27, 2015 at 7:52 am

    Wish I had seen the livestreamed RSF auction yesterday, Jim. I came over to bubbleinfo to see if it sold and for what price…

  4. Jim the Realtor
    Jim the Realtor on February 27, 2015 at 7:54 am

    It’s pending in the MLS so they have a winner. We may have to wait until it closes (if…) to find out the price.

  5. jd
    jd on February 27, 2015 at 9:20 am

    $30,000 to motivate agents to promote the house to get the commission.

    Does it take that much $$ to motivate agents?

    Reminds me of what one agent (we didn’t use) said to us a long time ago: “I’m not going to sell your home, the mls is going to sell it.”

    What happened to (location + quality of home + price) = commission for agent?

    In my limited experience, the best agents looked at each home as a real opportunity based on those variables.

    It would also be interesting to see what type of buyer this party approach attracts. Investors or buyers interested in living in the home?

  6. Jim the Realtor
    Jim the Realtor on February 27, 2015 at 9:34 am

    All of these events are for one purpose – they are used by the listing agents to get other listings.

    We call it, “Buying the Business”.

    Rather than tell the truth and educate about the importance of sharp pricing, agents resort to showy marketing pieces to impress sellers. It started out with putting you in Dream Home Magazine, and now look what it’s turned into – a very expensive mess.

    Now it’s just a beauty show, and whichever agent has the shiniest schtick gets the listing.

  7. Jordan
    Jordan on February 27, 2015 at 10:27 am

    $30,000!? I really doubt this would bring in enough to justify how expensive of a party that was.

  8. Susie
    Susie on February 27, 2015 at 5:21 pm

    “All of these events are for one purpose – they are used by the listing agents to get other listings.” -JtR

    You’re so right, Jim! It’s like the reverse of regular open houses where an agent is there for the sole purpose of finding prospective buyers.

    If I was selling a multi-million dollar home, I’d want my agent to forget the 3-ring circus of a huge open house party and give me research, comps, knowledge, etc. to help me get a listing price that would get prospective buyers in the door and get the transaction closed. I’d also want a realtor (ie Jim) who has top-notch negotiation skills in closing the deal.

    When would we have a party? When that baby is sold…

Pin It on Pinterest