72 Hours to Sell a Home
It must be something in the water. Or maybe its just the fact they’re working in one of the most competitive real estate markets in North America.
Whatever it is, it seems like Vancouver-based Realtors are really pushing the envelope when it comes to new media marketing (see Video Isn’t Just About Your Listings).
Kye Grace is one of those Realtors. He recently completed a marathon open house; 3 days non-stop, embedding himself in a downtown luxury condo he was trying to sell.
But what makes this open house story different was he conducted it entirely online.
Grace live-streamed his entire 72 hours over the internet on his web site 72houropenhouse.com. He used the video streaming service Ustream.tv to connect with potential buyers through the embedded chat window and fielded questions through other social media tools like Twitter.
It’s just this sort of creative thinking around marketing that’s going to get you and your listings noticed these days.
Certainly, there’s no doubt Grace also benefitted himself from healthy media attention his endeavor attracted – the local television channels and newspaper all picked up his story.
He even turned the idea into a revenue opportunity offering up sponsorship opportunities to local vendors to come in and talk about their products and services too.
The idea that you can adopt all the means and methods the mainstream media has had at its disposal to accomplish your own goals is one of the most powerful and defining paradigm shifts brought about by social media in real estate.
So, how did it go? Ubertor Real Estate Blog has the follow up.
Photo by Adrian Eden
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jp moses | REI Tips | Jan 27, 2009 | Reply
Wow. What a brilliant idea. I saw Rich Shefran do a 24-hour UStream broadcast and noted it was an incredible relationship builder to his subscribers.
Whooda thunk of doing it to sell a house?!?!? Kye Grace I guess!
Awesome job for innovative thinking in a challenging marketplace. Truly impressive.
…jp
Bruce Clark | Jan 27, 2009 | Reply
Very original idea: congrats to Kye for being creative and taking advantage of the latest techonology to move the condo.
Juan | Jan 27, 2009 | Reply
There are so many great tools out there that are really inexpensive to free that Realtors have no excuses for not making money in this market. One great tool I just started using is facebook…if you’re familiar with facebook on the status box I’ve been featuring my listing so that all my friends on fb when they check my status see my featured listings on can just click on a link that takes then to a lead capturing website with all the info on the listing. Best of all it’s FREE…I’ve made 50k with this technique alone. You just need to get off your ass and do something.one more thing video is a great platform for generating leads, why not do a video tour with the best listing you can find in your town (I use a flip camera) walk through the house while you’re speaking about the features and benefits then upload to all the big video sites like YouTube,yahoo video google video aol video viddler, ustream etc.
That’s it for now remember nothing will work if you don’t.
Peace!
Juan
Laguna Niguel Real Estate | Jan 28, 2009 | Reply
This seems like a very cool idea. Some mainstream real estate listing should also launch video options.
Joseph Bridges | Jan 28, 2009 | Reply
This is a nice way to make things interactive and new. Sometimes it just takes a fresh approach to bring people in. I am sure that Kye also picked up a substantial number of new buyers, new listings, and referrals from this approach along with his clients just loving him to pieces.
As Juan points out in his comment there are so many inexpensive to free ways to market that one just has to be creative and willing to put the work in.
Overland Park Real Estate | Jan 28, 2009 | Reply
Interesting idea. With that kind of media attention, maybe one could allow all co-op agents who show the home during the open (to real buyers) to do a free plug on the stream.
Jennifer Levine | Jan 28, 2009 | Reply
What a great idea! This is a realtor who really goes out of his way for his clients. I am sure he gained many new ones, and his innovative ideas will create many more to come!
myrtle beach rentals | Jan 29, 2009 | Reply
seems like a great idea. Anything to get media attention is always a plus
Dennis ONeil | Jan 31, 2009 | Reply
Great idea! I wanna know if he sold the condo!
Laguna Niguel Real Estate | Feb 1, 2009 | Reply
This is a brilliant idea. Also it is cheaper than hiring a media consultant or something.
Property Investment Nottingham | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
They are all really good ideas. I think that using different ideas at this time in the economy will only help you to sell, recently I saw a couple in nottingham advertise their property through their website, they sold lottery tickets which if enough people entered would be drawn and the winner would get their house. I thought this was a great idea, and they got local media coverage which helped them.
Chris Dowell | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
What a cool idea! I wonder what the results were?
Shamus | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
I’d like to see the stats on how many people watched the video
Orlando | Feb 15, 2009 | Reply
I wonder when they will start charging for this?
Orlando Realtor | Apr 26, 2009 | Reply
Any other good ideas