Open House

Winter Storm(s) Real Estate

by mattwroughtonrealtor

Wintertime is a tough time for most industries.   I can’t even imagine the difficulties of being on a road construction crew during this time of year.  Real Estate is not as tough as that, maybe, but it sure has some hard times.  Think about it, preparing to hold and holding an Open House when a snow storm is sweeping through town.  That happened to me, not once, but twice.  The first storm actually brought some snow, approximately 9 inches.  I ended up cancelling my Open House that weekend.  Luckily, I had picked up my directional signs and got home right as the snow started to fall on the Friday.  This past weekend, I decided not even to bother scheduling one, as it was supposed to be super frigid with a good chance of ice — it just rained.  Trying to maintain your normal weekly schedule for your business through the tough days of winter are a challenge.

Snow Storm Gia, #1.  This was a storm that impacted much of the country.  The only impact to me was at home in St. Louis.  On Sunday or Monday, before the storm, I had planned on holding an Open House the following Saturday.  Within the next day or two I had placed all my directional signs, put up the Open House rider, and advertised the Open House all over my Facebook page, and then it happened; a major snow storm was on the forecast.  I was, honestly, pissed off.  I was looking forward to this Open House; I was supposed to have someone shadow me on this one, which I took as a challenge to be better.  The predictions kept getting worse and worse, but since I’ve grown up in St. Louis, I understand this prediction of 8-12” of snow could just as easily be a light dusting of snow.  I waited as long as I could before I eventually cancelled the Open House, as I didn’t want to be out driving in the snowstorm if I didn’t have to.  My car does not handle the show very well.  I was actually happy that there was significant snowfall.  I would have been more upset if the snow ended up missing us after I officially cancelled the Open House.  You can read about what I did that weekend on the previous blog post, beware, you will feel worn out just by reading it.

Snow Storm Harper, #2.  This was another storm that was supposed to impact St. Louis.  It wasn’t supposed to drop a lot of snow on the city, but originally it was supposed to have the daily high temperature in the single digits, which would have been brutal.  It was still supposed to snow up to 4”, which would have caused enough issues.  I was watching the forecast like a hawk, deciding whether or not to attempt to hold an Open House last weekend.  I did not.  It wasn’t until Thursday or Friday that the forecast called for a slightly warmer temperature and basically just rain.  I felt that it was too late to properly market an Open House and to put out the directional signs, so I started to market an Open House for this coming weekend.  I noticed that there were a lot of people who went and viewed the house, which was obviously great.  That is what you want when you have a listing, the more people who view it, the better the chances of finding the buyer.  Although this storm wasn’t too bad on Saturday, it did decide to snow Sunday afternoon which was a pain for me.  Attempting to drive home from playing Kickball, my car couldn’t make it up a hill, the road was super slick.  I ended up having to turn around and go a different way to avoid the snowy roads.  It might have snowed an inch, but the roads weren’t treated so they were a little hazardous. 

When I got into the real estate business, I never thought about the challenges of trying to work through snow storms.  Now I’m wondering how I am going to put out directional signs when the ground is frozen.  I guess I’ll find that out when I get to it.  I’m sure I’ll think of something.  As much as I enjoy the cold and snowy weather, I am definitely ready for Spring.  More people are looking for houses or wanting to sell their house then.  I hope you all stay warm and if you feel like daring the weather, let’s go see some houses.

Ugh, Colds

by mattwroughtonrealtor

Cough, Cough, Sneeze, and Repeat

This past week I have been battling a bad cold.  I know I promised you a more exciting post this week; I honestly tried.  I had a great one planned, but I could not draw the energy to put the appropriate effort into an exciting blog last week. I am still feeling lousy but have enough energy to tell you all the struggle of being a REALTOR® when you are sick.

Since I am a solo agent, I can’t rely on a team to pick up the slack when I am not feeling well.  I had to struggle through it.  I decided to stay away from the office: nothing worse than a bad cold sweeping its way through an office.  I figured everyone else would rather I kept my misery to myself.  I did manage to go to my weekly meeting Monday morning, but left soon afterwards when I started to not feel good.  My colds start off differently than most, feel OK for a few days and then, BAM, feel like total crap.  I tried my best to power through.  I had a good day, just in time for the office Holiday Party.  Luckily it was during lunch, so I was feeling better. Mornings and nights are the worst. I have never understood that, but that has always been the case with me.  Of course, I had scheduled to hold an Open House on Thursday evening during this week; my body has a cruel sense of humor.  It felt the need to be sick during a week when I had a lot to do. 

The Open House went well, despite me not feeling well.  I almost called another agent to hold it for me but decided that I needed to power through and show up.  It was fairly slow, only one visitor, but the one person loved the house.  Fingers crossed that it works out in the future. I would not have received this good news or met the potential buyer if I had decided to stay home and pity myself. During the down time, I utilized my time and planned out what my social media was going to be over the weekend, I searched for newly expired listings,tried to write an exciting post on the Winter, and yes, I played a few games on my phone.  This time I finally learned. I brought a folding chair with me, so I could actually sit down during the Open House; I didn’t want to stand for three hours. 

The biggest struggle for me during the week was not writing letters to people.  I didn’t want to lick the envelopes, and yes, I know there are other ways to dampen the strip on the envelope to make it stick.  I focused mainly on going above and beyond on my social media content to keep me going.  I tried to have fun with it;putting a post on Facebook about chicken wings, asking the public where their favorites are.  I found some that I need to try.  There will definitely be a future post about chicken wings.

Now we’re to the weekend. I don’t think I made a smart decision on Sunday.  I chose to go play four Kickball games.  Yes, I know it was super cold outside.  Yes, it was outside.  Yes, I know I was fighting a cold.  I don’t feel worse now, and actually might feel better.  That is probably because I was dead tired and went to bed early last night.  I am glad that I went out, it was a morale boost to get back to my normal routine.

Well that was my week of having a bad cold and trying to do REALTOR® things.  I didn’t think I was very productive last week, until now.  I actually did more than I thought.  I am proud of myself for getting so much done, except writing letters, which I am working on now.  Writing this blog has been a break from letter writing, so my hand can un-cramp.  I hope you all stay healthy and let’s go see some houses.

Open House time

by mattwroughtonrealtor

Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great week.  Over the weekend I decided to hold an Open House on my listing.  I can’t wait until the time where I have so many listings that I need to have other agents hold my listings open for me.  After a while, if the Open House is slow, and does not have a lot of visitors, you can definitely get bored.  The key is to find something to do that is a productive use of your time.  Open Houses can be intimidating at first.  I have learned to not think too much into them, and just show up and be nice to the people who come.

Now, let’s get to the details of holding the Open House.  Before the actual day, you will want to put out directional signs around the house, I usually put mine out on Wednesday.  These are there to show potential buyers where there is an Open House in the area, and how to find it.  I have put signs out as far as a couple miles away from the house to draw in the attention.  When you are putting the signs out, you need to think of where the major roads and the high traffic areas are.  This will lead to more eyes on the signs.  However, if you are putting them in someone’s yard, it is always appropriate to get permission.  I’ve lost a sign for not doing this.  In addition to the signs, I always advertise the Open House on all my social media platforms and the various real estate websites.  Facebook has become one of my favorite ways to advertise coming openings.  More detailed information on what I do on my social media platforms will be discussed in a later post.  These aren’t the only things I do to prepare for the big day.  I also create printouts to showcase the house in its best light.  These printouts have all my contact information, so the visitors will have a way to contact me later if they want to see the house again, or any others in the area.  Another printout that should be prepared is a sign-in sheet.  I usually fill in the first few spaces to give the appearance that there are more people interested in the property, and what I hope for them to fill out.

Now its game time.  The first person has come in, now what?  I always hand them the printout and ask how their day has been.  Having a little small talk is crucial, as it serves as an ice breaker.  You never know.  You might learn that they don’t have an agent and they are seriously looking to buy a house.  You could find out so much, but I make sure not to push too hard.  After the initial greeting, I tell them to go look around the house and I will be here is they have any questions. I have not had an Open House, yet, where I was busy from start to finish.  There will be down time.  It is very important to utilize that time to get other things done.  For example, I planned this post during an Open House.  I prepared an outline for what I wanted to write.  Other things to do are research the area, make phone calls, write letters, etc.

Closing up time has come.  Regardless of how many people came to your Open House, you must do the same thing.  The first thing I do is lock the door, so I can close up the house without people sneaking in where I can’t greet them.  If someone comes after I lock the door, they will knock or ring the doorbell.  That will allow me to greet them appropriately.  After I lock the door, I walk the house to make sure nothing has happened that I wasn’t aware of.  While doing this, I turn off all the lights and close the various doors behind me.  Basically, I ensure that the house is just as I found it when I arrived.  I pack up all my stuff, including the Open House sign-in sheet.  If it is not my listing, I return any remaining marketing material.  After packing up, I leave the house, making sure that the doors are all locked.  One big thing to remember is putting the key back in whatever lockbox there is. I don’t want to pay that fine!  On my way to my car I take the ‘Open’ rider out of the sign and return the sign to how it was displayed beforehand.  One of my least favorite parts comes next, picking up all those directional signs that were put out the week before.  While I am driving around picking up those signs, I call the listing agent, if it’s not me, or I call the seller, if it is my listing.

Now that the Open House is over and done with, you still have work to do.  I usually wait until Monday for this next step.  You need to call the people who signed in at the Open House to gauge their interest and to see if they are interested in viewing any other houses.  I then think how I could have done better and plan to ensure that the next one is better and more successful.  Once you’ve realized how you can do better, I start planning the next one.  It is a constant cycle of planning and holding and planning and holding.  It is part of the job.  The important thing to remember, be productive and take advantage of the time.  Have a great day and let’s go see some houses.