The weekend before last, (April 10-11) was National Open House weekend.  Pushed by local Realtor associations and brokerages, this was to be an all out assault meant to encourage home buyers to take advantage of current low interest rates, high inventory (in some areas) and the federal tax credits (only good for contract through the end of April).

But was it a good idea?  And did it work?

In the Washington Metropolitan area, I will go with an unequivocal no…and no.

We are fortunate to be in a market that is clearly recovering.  As an indication, lenders are giving many “close-in” DC neighborhoods the stamp of “stable” — up a notch from the previous designation of “declining”.  We have been seeing the return of multiple offers on properties that are well priced in many localities.

Artificially Producing A “Fire-sale Perception”?

So what did National Open House weekend do for us in the close-in DC Metro area?  Well, it surely made many employees at The Washington Post happy, where open house ads took up more space than we’ve seen in over a year.  The result?  A perception of a higher absorption rate that diluted the number of potential buyers going to each open house.

The “Open HouseFest” vs. The “After Party”

One of my sellers REALLY wanted me to hold his house open last weekend because he thought that his garden was looking particularly beautiful.  He owns a home in a highly desirable area of Northwest Washington, DC and the house itself has tremendous curb appeal. Continue reading this post

Sometimes, even with experienced real estate agents and brokers, I find that they have never really studied sales.  They have never really had a system in place to help them be a better sales person.  I know, most of us say that we are not like real sales people, I agree.  However, we still must use some of the same skills that anyone successful sales person would employ.

For instance, if you don’t listen to your customer, you won’t know their needs.  If you don’t educate your customer, you might lose them to another agent.  If you don’t provide accurate answers to their questions in a timely manner, you might as well kiss them goodbye, too!

Sales, and I don’t really care what you are selling, is all about having a good solid system and understanding of what you need to do to help your customer.  If your goal is to do whatever it takes to help your customer, you are on the right track.  However, if you are ADD like me, it might be a little easier said than done.

This Thursday, Feb. 11, at 2pm Eastern, I will be holding a real estate webinar that I am opening up to Agents that are not members of The eHomes Realty Network.  I find that the lack of understanding of basic sales inhibits most Agents from succeeding.  Whether you have been in the business for 20 years or 2 weeks, this webinar will help take your business to the next level!  I’m looking forward to seeing many of you there!

Mitch Ribak will be a presenter at HomeGain Nation Live Real Estate Forum 2010 on March 1 for the 11am session titled “Internet Lead Conversion Made Simple”.

There are a few open slots for tomorrow’s webinar!

Join us for an exclusive Professional Education for Real Estate Brokers webinar, titled: “Online Marketing Terms, Tactics, and Tips to Survive”.

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Time: 10am PST / 1pm EST

Cost: No Charge

This 45 minute online real estate seminar will cover Broker best practices in online marketing to gain business from the growing numbers of online buyers and sellers.

You will learn how to:

1. Increase your marketing success online.
2. Determine what online buyers and sellers are seeking (and what they hate!).
3. Evaluate and differentiate online marketing.
4. Explain online marketing terminology (such as SEO, SEM, SERP, and SMM). Understand how each term can affect your business.
5. Increase recruiting, retention and transactions for your office. Continue reading this post

9 hours … 1 gorgeous day in San Francisco … 1 amazing hotel … 15 presenters … 6 real estate sessions … 3 product breakout sessions … breakfast … lunch … networking … 10 Max bobblehead prizes … over 300 tweets … 65 satisfied attendees!

Thank you to all who attended and made HomeGain Live Nation a success. As Karen Breen Elia says below in her video, it was indeed a 2-way street of giving and getting of real estate strategies and insight for those who attended.

Read HomeGain Nation Tweets

HomeGain Nation Photos and Videos below:

Photos

From left to right: Jay Thompson, Robert Hahn, Louis Cammarosano, Joseph Ferrara, Patrick KitanoLouis Cammaroano (above center) leads the "Trends in Real Estate Marketing" discussion Mitch Ribak of The eHomes Realty Network and Sarah Bandy of The Bandy Group

Brian Kinkade of Cherry Creek Professionals Realty: Winner of a Max Gorilla Bobblehead

See more photos on HomeGain Facebook Page and HomeGain Flickr Page.

Videos

Continue reading this post

In less than 24 hours HomeGain will kick off its “Live” Nation event in San Francisco.

For the 80+ Realtors, bloggers and real estate industry folks attending, the festivities begin 24 hours from now!

Attendees will be able to post comments and upload photos or videos to:

• Twitter — HomeGain Nation Tweetpic
• Flickr
• Facebook
• HomeGain Nation

Max the HomeGain Gorilla Bobble Heads will make their debut at the event. Attendees will have to answer trivia questions to win one!

The Bobble Heads are customized, hand painted, limited-edition collectibles. Make sure you pay attention to what’s being said during the presentations!

View the Full Agenda

For those of you who will not be able to attend, we will be also be posting videos from the sessions after the event here on the HomeGain Blog.

Follow the event on Twitter #homegainnation and get clues for how to win a Max Bobblehead.

Visit the The Fairmont San Francisco website.

We are looking forward to meeting everyone!

Get ready! The 2nd annual REtechSouth is this Friday, March 20, in Atlanta, Georgia. Organizers Brad Nix and Matt Fagioli have invited HomeGain’s General Manager, Louis Cammarosano, to speak about “Mastering Online Lead Generation“.

At 3PM on Friday on the Main Stage, go to hear Matt and Louis Cammarosano discuss blogging, twitter, pay-per-click and the complex world of internet marketing for realtors.

HomeGain is the sponsor of free WiFi at REtechSouth. Attendees will receive a HomeGain hat in their event bags, plus have a chance to win Max, the HomeGain gorilla, and other prizes throughout the day in the raffles!

HomeGain Real Estate Blog authors Nicole Nicolay, Pat Kitano, Mary McKnight , Joseph Ferrara and HomeGain AgentEvaluator Platinum Club member, Missy Caulk, are also panelists at the event.

See the REtechSouth schedule. Hope to see you there!

See Louis Cammarosano‘s speaker profile on Retechsouth