Hi,

Thanks for all of your insight so far. I have an idea for (maybe) attracting some listings and want to see what you think.

My church hosts a fair every year in Oct. I was hoping to rent a table at the fair and offer CMA's to anyone that wanted them. It's very popular, well known to the public (people look forward to it and ask when its going to be) and the church usually sells about $20k in goods. This fair attracts a high-end crowd - so I migt even get a couple of decent listings.

Any thoughts or ideas anyone has to attract clients at the fair would be most welcome. The downside is that I might end up running around doing CMAs for a ton of people who don't want to sell, but are just curious. The upside is that it's good exposure an includes different areas of the county which would be helpful.

How are you going to do CMA's on the spot for people? Are you going to have a wireless laptop with a printer? Or are you going to take down their information, go to the office, then mail it to them?

No, I wouldn't do them on the spot. I would take their information and get back to them later. There is no connection other than the phone lines - and those can't be turned off for any length of time. What I'm hoping for is a listing or two. I may well end up doing a lot of work for no good reason. However, it gets my name out there in parts of the county where I haven't worked. A lot of these are upscale communities and the commissions have not undergone so much downward pressure. I will deistribute a lot of literature and a ton of cards as well. I am preparing several pamphlets and hand out sheets.

Frankly, I'm hoping for some activity. I'm just starting my 2nd year and the market is dead around here. But there are people trying to sell before the prices really start dropping - which hasn't happened. The only way to get buyers to buy is if they are relocating. Unfortunately, I don't have access to relocations through my office - and my publicity hasn't reached them at all. So, I'm hoping to build up a few listings. My area is saturated with desperate agents. I actually saw an agent with 20 years experience crying in the office two nights ago.

I will give the church something for the opportunity and an extra donation if anything closes as a result of the two days I spend there.

The interesting thing about that church is that it attracts parishoners from all over the county because it is nondenominational and a historic landmark.

We go home expos at local mall and the county fair every year. We have had a wheel that the kids spin or some kind of game to give away candy. Have stuff to hand out, they love freebies. Pens, bags with your nanme on it, you said in October, halloween bags would be good, and they will have other free stuff from other boohts and need your bags to put stuff in...We have a form we have people fill out for a free cheap $30 DVD player, on the form it asks for there name, number address, if there working with an agent, intersted in buying or selling home? If they prefer not to be contacted by an agent, yes or no...Have a book or board with listings on it. These booths are great for leads, I have gotten many buyers and a listng from them. Great to show people your in this business now and see people you havent seen in long time. We hvae a huge banner with all our agents we hang up behind us, they tend to look behind you as they walk by to see hwat company you are. Decorate your booth, bring comfortable chair, have flyers, business cards, listings on hand to hand out...We cooperate with all local companies and have a huge binder full of hundreds of sheets of local homes for sale. What about town maps to hand out? Need anymore ideas feel free to contact me, I have been doing these booths for 5 years, 3 times a year, a pro at it...Definitely have candy on hand for kids, they come grab candy and parents follow behind them...Adults love pens...Good luck..And no matter how bored you get your first time, if you get one lead its worth it, or 10 people find out your an agent now, it'll pay off someday..The listing I got was from a booth we had 9 months before that...P.S I find not many people think a CMA is a good thing, idea scares them alot. Try giving something away like we do and and a good form for there info..Works great for us, we get alot of leads we didnt know we got...If use more then one agent for booth, use different colored paper so you know whose is whose...If you have laptop, download pics of your listings on it to display as slideshow, dont need internet for that...And be sure you have those sheets with you, maybe you dont have your own lsitings yet, so can you sell other agents? Have a binder of like 5-10 sheets on each listing to hand out, use some address labels and put your name on them...Or make folders full of info for buyers and sellers, put your card and other packets on each subject in them...Okay I could give tips all day, but were doing one of these real estate booths this weekend, I did late shift last night and doing all day today, so sleep time...

Could you also get some 2007 Calenders printed in time? Even if they do not "sell" right now, if they have your info stucked on their refrigerator, who knows what might happen.

Also, keep in contact with them. Once a while, check in with them. No doubt that this takes a long time, but I am currently closing my 2nd deal, getting ready to list my 3rd with the same client which I have been keeping in touch for the past 3 yrs (of nothing) from a Rich Dad table booth. So, you might never know.

I would also look at this as a chance of enlarging my sphere of influence, instead of a direct result of a listing..... Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the input folks....I was going to use some flyers of mine and some just listed/sold cards to show some sales that I have done.

I was going to leave a register - and for the church, I will offer a generous donation for any deal that is closed over the next year over this event. I have several handouts, recent mortgage information and recent sales information. The difficulty is that this attracts people county-wide. So sales information is going to be difficult to make relevant to the individual. It's a big county with a lot of price fluctuation. I also want to leave some ideas for buyers...beyond the mortgage information.

I am hoping to get something out of it though. People ARE selling, I'm just trying to gain access to them. In fact, I think they are almost panic selling. But if I could build an inventory of listings, at least there would be some hope of getting paid something. I've tried walking my neighborhoods (I DON'T believe in and WON'T knock)I've sent out over 2000 cards with no response. My pipe line is as dry as a bone and there is nothing in escrow...The few customers I have are looking but not buying. I'm getting the same old song..."but if we wait, the prices will be even lower next year!" I'm trying desperately to pry these people off the fence - but they won't be pushed - they just keep asking to see more.

The bills don't stop coming in you know - worse still, my PT job as an adjunct professor tanked. They cancelled 3/4 of my teaching schedule AFTER classes began, making it impossible for me to replace those classes elsewhere. I was looking to that for some relief from the depletion of my savings. That was my reliable "ace in the hole" to keep me afloat when things weren't going well.