On the Denver news last week was a report about a local realtor that was using online tactics to sell real estate. Dan Polimino with Fuller Sotheby’s hosted an open house event in April that successfully had 400 prospective buyers tour a single open house, as well as 1,500 tune in online. The home sold. Last weekend he hosted a similar event, only this time featured 6 homes. And sure enough sold one too.

How’d he do it? Well this was no small event. In fact for this 6 home tour- he had multiple sponsors, featured a wine tasting and also gave away a 2009 Mercedes Benz 550 S Sedan. The 53 Hour Open House featured actual open houses on location, as well as a live online feed of the event. Potential buyers could both take a tour of the properties as well as follow the event online once they were home. While a production like this may not be in your budget, we can still take a look at the lesser expensive and still important tools he did use:

1. Website: http://www.53houropenhouse.com/ An individual website branded specifically for the event gave all the information anyone would need. It is a simple 5 page site that features a countdown to the start of the tour and all the basic contact and event information. A rebrandable could easily be used for an event like this.
2. Video: While the 53 hour tour does feature a live video feed this isn’t necessarily a must have. Instead, include pre-taped tours that you probably already have created; or even your virtual tours.
3. Links:One of his smartest features is picture links to the original listings website. This way people can see the full information for the property. Also don’t forget to link to sponsors, if you have them. It is a great way to show thanks and also help your seo.
4. Contact Me: Make sure to have multiple areas where visitors can contact you. The 53 hour tour contact was based on email and featured a box on the home page as well as a tab with other email addresses. I would assume that they were constantly responding via email, so as not to loose a potential buyer. But if you have live chat capabilities this could be a great alternative solution for the site.
5. Social Networking: http://twitter.com/danpol The 53 hour tour featured a link to their twitter page as well. Using your other social networking venues to advertise for an event like this is a great strategy. Not to mention linking to those sources in another way to reach more people who would want to follow you later.

So in learning from the 53 hour tour you basically have two new open house options:

1. On Site & Online: This model of open house features an actual on site open house like any other weekend and couples it with a strong online presence. The online portion is used to advertise the event, as well as supplement the event with information and instant contact with patrons who do not want to walk the tour, but will view it online or who want to follow online after participating in the tour. Being available for instant online communication is key, and will require a team during the hours when the on site open house is also going on.
2. Online Only: Although this is type of tour was not set up in this example it might be interesting to try. Perhaps it will not lead to a sell but instead draw more interest and leads. An online only tour would be website based and offer the realtor experts for each property available to communicate instantly with leads who visit and partake in the online tour. This could require some constant updating to show visitors that you are online and available for questions.

What I know for sure is that The 53 Hour Open House is sure to strike some more creative ideas for open houses using technology. Here is the interview by Denver’s 9 News.

Denver 9 News: http://www.9news.com/

Have you or someone in your office hosted a similar event?