Daily Real Estate News  |   February 5, 2009  |   Draw More Buyers to Your Open Houses
Baltimore-area real estate sales associates are turning open houses into events that will woo potential buyers who may otherwise wouldn’t have come to take a look.

"When football started, we did a tailgate party. We grilled hot dogs at one of the houses," says Tracey Lane, an associate broker with Keller Williams Flagship in Millersville, Md. "I put clowns out on the street, and when the kids go in, they get hot dogs and face-painting."

Ashley Richardson of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage's Lutherville, Md., office held an art show, using the walls of a vacant home as gallery space. The event, which was linked to the art community, attracted 500 visitors, including several potential home buyers.

James Schneider, broker at Distinguished Properties in Annapolis, Md., invited a carefully chosen list of guests to a Tuesday evening sunset charity affair at an estate on the Severn River for sale for $13 million.

The valet parking staff placed a gift bag in each guest’s vehicle that included a brochure of the estate with a note asking that they share it with anyone who might have an interest in buying the property. The event was so well received that Capitol File, a Washington D.C.-area magazine, included a photo spread about it.

Source: Baltimore Sun, Andrea F. Siegel (02/01/09)