At my recent open house in downtown Mountain View, I was recently chatting with a real estate agent that earlier this year had been interested in joining my team, and she surprised me. I happened to ask whether she prepared brokers open houses for her two Mountain View listings, and she said, “What’s that?” Her answer was another reminder that not all real estate agents are the same.

A “brokers open,” as we Realtors call them, is an open house exclusively for brokers that takes place right after a home is listed but usually before buyers see the property. Brokers opens are an important first step in selling a home because they not only generate interest for a listing within the Realtor community, they’re also a great way to get feedback on listings.

Of course, brokers opens are useless unless brokers attend. I always have catered food at my brokers opens because the rumors are true—Realtors are always hungry, and they love free stuff. Sounds funny, but it works. I recently held a broker’s open in a great neighborhood in Mountain View bordering Los Altos area, and 30 agents come by. At another in a great downtown Mountain View location, 20 agents stopped in. And at a broker’s open in Sunnyvale, 10 agents attended. Those stats say something about which Silicon Valley markets are most active. Mountain View and Los Altos aren’t too affected by the economy, but some areas of Sunnyvale is seeing a slight slowdown in activity today.

The Washington Post has a great article commenting on how during a real estate downturn, the focus for selling homes shifts back to traditional marketing to brokers and real estate agents Dark Water on dvd

.

Once they’re there, real estate agents’ feedback at the brokers open house can be very helpful. I always ask, “What would you recommend with this listing?” I’ve had brokers suggest that I stage a certain room and even mention that the bathroom smelled funny (That was particularly helpful since I don’t have a great sense of smell).

I don’t change my marketing based on every suggestion. But if I get several remarks on an issue, it’s probably something I need to address. For example, if a few brokers tell me I’ve priced the property well, that reinforces my confidence. But if three or four tell me the listing is overpriced, I’ll discuss those comments with my sellers. avodart vs flomax