The Open House at Tiger Bend! Come on in!

So, even though the real estate market seems to be a little down in Baton rouge, we didn’t let that stop us. Bring on the open houses. I really enjoy doing open houses. I love meeting new people and also getting other people’s opinions on our homes.

We prepared for the open house like real estate ninja’s. I made sure to place it in the Baton Rouge Advocate two weeks prior. I also make sure to post it in www.re-finder.com. I love this site. It is the sister to the Real Estate Finder magazine. As long as you are placing ads in their magazine, they allow you to use the free re-finder website. It’s a great place to put all of your listings and open houses. The website runs with google and trulia, and who doesn’t love google and trulia.

We also did things the old fashioned way. We put up our open house signs “Open House Sunday 2-4″ around the area. I also had bought a new open house flag, but no pole. What to do. I rigged it. I had two stakes from our “For Sale” signs. I took the signs off and tied the flag to two of them. I was proud. It was really funny trying to dig those stakes into the ground, they were barely even in the ground. It was a sad picture…two stakes leaning, almost about to fall- barely holding a flag up. Oh well, I did my best- I guess it was better than nothing.

We had five or six people show up. I always get excited about our Open Houses. Why, you ask? Is it because of the people? Well, mostly but the main reason is for the refreshments! My co-listing agent makes the best chicken salad sandwiches and these cookies, oh….these cookies. Need I go on? Everytime she would take someone in the back to show the beautiful rooms- I would stuff my face.

I really do love this job. I am just ready to sell this house and move on to the next. It’s such a cozy, little house and I think it’s at a perfect price. The owners are motivated and ready to sell. They are planning on building in prarieville to be closer to relatives. I was thinking that it was slow at first b/c of the holidays. Well, now the holidays are gone so let’s get the ball rolling.

We are also doing another open house this Sunday. I am doing a open house for one of my broker’s listings. I want to do as many open houses as I can, so I can meet and network with more people and YES, eat more cookies.

Ode to the Open House/ Baton Rouge Real Estate Home

Well, I would love to say a million people showed up to our open house. I would love to say so many people were there that all the cookies were gone. Come on Baton Rouge, don’t let Christmas take away from the awesome open houses. lol Didn’t you want to see the crazy upside down Grinch tree?

 So, before the ‘open house’, I made my way to Party Time to get some black and yellow balloons. Obviously, black and yellow are our colors (which I love). Of course, I would much prefer black and pink but I’m thinking that isn’t very professional. So, I got balloons to put on the open house signs. My partner, Pat Travasos, had put signs up around the neighborhood so people could find their way to the open house. The only problem? I had problems finding the signs myself.

When I think open house…I think “BIG” signs. I think “BIG” flags. I picture at least five or six signs coming from every direction, right? I mean, I’m not asking for a marching band but, you know, just reasonable signs. Our signs were so small, I actually passed them up. They were not signs that stood out and said “Hey You, It’s an OPEN HOUSE”. You basically had to look for it, which wasn’t good. They were teeny tiny and they were, yes..in our colors…black and yellow. While I think the black and yellow colors are an awesome combo- I’m think we just need the generic RED AND WHITE OPEN HOUSE signs.

I think my partner and I will invest in an “open house” kit. Oh yes, we actually DID have a flag BUT our company had just purchased it and guess what? They forgot to send a pole with it. Hello! Flag+no pole= no flag! lol I was so excited about the flag to. I knew this would be the main indicator of what drew people in. “HEY, LOOK IT’S A FLAG, LET’S GO CHECK IT OUT”. I think we need to get a flag that says “Free Cookies”. lol I think that would work better than an open house flag.

So, I’m putting this on my ”to get” list,  open house signs that are  viewable and noticable. So, how did the open house go? Oh, I had a great time by myself. It’s actually a beautiful house, so I didn’t mind getting cozy on the couch and reading my latest Real Estate book. One lady did actually show up. This made my millienium. She was so kind and outgoing and easy to talk to. I am not sure if she is a potential buyer of the home, but she was def. interested in buying a home.

I love this job. I really do. I love being able to meet new people. My last job, well, I owned an online, baby clothing store. I totally loved it, but it gets really boring after awhile working out of your home. You can only hold so many conversations with yourself. It was great meeting people “online” and forming new relationships, but these are people I would never actually “meet”. I wanted to get out and meet people, personally…face to face.

 So, one person showing up is better than none, right? Always. I’m not worried about it. It will go fast, I think. It’s a lovely home. The owners are wanting to move b/c they would like to be closer to her parents. I am thinking that they want to build. I am keeping my fingers cross for this house to get sold with a quickness.

So, (why am I starting all of my sentences with so?) for the next open house we will do things differently. We did have a gift basket drawing but of course, only one person showed up so she one that one by default. lol Next time, we will put it in the newspaper. We were unaware that we had the option to do that. Sometimes you are suppose to have a contract with the newspaper before you can even submit an ad. Next open house- new flag!, new signs!, newspaper ad!, Real Estate Finder ad!, More cookies!!!