I’ve just gotten home after spending the better part of the day touring a handful of homes that are all part of my community home builder association’s annual parade of homes.  Pretty much, they just get together each year and show off the cream of the crop – some homes beautifully finished and professional decorated and others a bit more raw in their various stages of completion.

Either way, one of the interesting benefits of this local parade of homes is the fact that it’s more about the builders showing off the pride in their craftsmanship rather than real estate agents trying only to make a sale.  The pressure is nonexistent and the guides stationed around the homes (who are mostly those who worked on the construction of the properties) are all more than happy to share their tips, techniques, ideas, and vision relating to the work they do.

Now I’ve been doing a lot of open houses lately and have experienced first hand a few different attitudes.  Common is the agent or representative at the home trying to get visitors signed up for email lists – which is fine as a service, but does little to sell the home.  Also to be expected is plenty of sales oriented question and answer chit chat deployed more to measure up a lead rather than tout the benefits of the home on tour.

So after today’s home parade, I’ve come to the conclusion that the best way to sell a property through an open house might just be by keeping the pressure turned off while showing off the best features of the home.  For example, at one home I toured this morning, the guy who designed and installed the home theater and home automation systems spotted my curious interest right away.  He was proud of the system he put together, but never once tried to force my interest.  I actually ended up asking him for his business card, not the other way around.

I’m not sure this was very sharp salesmanship on his part, but I left with a comfortable feeling about this contractor and will certainly be sure to seek his expertise when I’m ready to pursue any of these systems.  Had he gone right into a sales spiel or started asking me a bunch of questions, I would have kindly said no thanks and moved right along.

So the moral of the story – if you’re not already using a low pressure sales tactic at open houses, converting your strategy might be just the thing needed to promote real sales worthiness of the homes you’re showing.  Be proud of the home and let visitors “feel” the place!