I'm thinking of setting up an Open House tour for buyers. We would look at about 5 houses. Going through one and then caravaning to the next. Kind of like a mini Parade of Homes.

Has anyone done this and was it successful in getting people to join in?

Doesn't that kind of require that all of the Prospective Buyers have the same basic Wants, Needs, and Desires (to want to see the same properties) PLUS a similar Schedule Availability ?

Under other market conditions, Buyers do sometimes like to see who their competition is (and evidence that they actually exist) . . . . I just don't know if they would want to spend that much time with them.

Let us know how it works out.

Everything is worth a try. This could be effective in gated communities with restricted access or in communities that do not generally allow "normal" open houses.

I wonder how I'd deal with it if one of my Five (5) Buyers announced at the 2nd Open House that:

"This is the one for me!; I want to make an Offer right NOW.

"Ya'll go on to see the rest of them without me.

"I'll stay here with the Listing Agent to write up my Offer!"

That would never happen . . . . or could it ?

I know of a couple of agents that have done that successfully. One of them does Foreclosure openhouse tours 2 or 3 times per month. Rents a small bus and starts and ends at his office.

The other one (and quite frankly, this was 10 or so years ago) has four or five scheduled on a Sunday, advertises it in the paper (and now on his and the company's website) with specific times for each stop. The advantage he had was a small team so each house was "manned" during the event. And he picked different price ranges each week, so one week he had say $125,000 buyers, the next $250,000 buyers and then $175,000 buyers.
It worked for him. YMMV

Kind of like PA said. Forclosure tours have been successful. A rented bus, 5-7 houses on the tour. One agent I know charges 25 bucks for the honor and sells out the seats. Then he gets 25 bucks from the listing agent for putting it on the tour.

For non forclosures, I think would be tougher. Like Vermont said, finding a group of like minded buyers looking for the same house, and they are all your buyers? Thats tough.

Hey thanks for the input. I was thinking of doing HUD foreclosures on the tour not regular listings. These homes are vacant so easy to show at any time and there are no sellers who would have a fit about so many people coming through all at once.

I think I'll put some thought into this and maybe try to put one together and see what happens.

Any other suggestions would be great.

When I referred to "schedules", I was thinking more about getting multiple Buyers to agree to a common schedule.

That's not so hard Vermont. It's like scheduling any open house...do you wonder if multiple buyers will come from 10-12 or do you just schedule it for 10-12 and let whoever comes come?

Did I say hard? I don't think it'll be hard, nor even difficult to understand.

I just wonder if the added complexity involved in organizing the "Caravan" will render a dividend. If we had 5 Open Houses, and 5 Independent Buyers, I'm wondering what the economy is to try and schedule all 5 Buyers to see all 5 Houses on the same schedule?

Under the Guru's Caravan Concept, it should be . . . . "You must see all 5, even if you are only interested in one." The Caravan has a "Start Time"; but it will take as long as it takes for everyone to go from one to the other and see them all. We don't know what time it will end . . . . but no one will get lost along the way (unless they so choose).

Some of my Buyers would probably say "Hey, I'm only interested in the 4th Property, and don't want to waste my time on the other #1 to #3 or #5 . . . . so what time will you be at the 4th?" Wait for me, okay?

You're suggesting that Guru drop the Caravan Concept and just hold 5 closely timed Open Houses . . . . and see who shows. But that wouldn't be a "Caravan".

I suspect that my people all want personal attention . . . . and don't go much for that group concept . . . . but let's see how the Guru organizes it, and he can report back how it goes. I certainly don't want to plan for problems that will never occur. The simple way I operate is to just plan for what I anticipate will happen, and consequently, keep it from ever becoming a problem.

I'm not suggesting that... ? I'm just saying that it's just a scheduled event, like a regular open house...and whoever can come...can come...whoever can't...will schedule an appointment to see something privtely

This was tried in Orlando in 2009. Apparently it didn't work well because they're not still doing it.

http://www.zhouserealtygroup.com/Foreclosure_Bus_Tours/page_2003357.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11yO35rWDEc

Wow you guys think way complicated. Basically this is just a way to get in front of some new buyers I haven't met yet. These are not people I have on active buyer status. I set individual appointments with those people.

Not sure if this will work or not. I'm not going fancy - not renting a bus or anything like that - we will just all drive our own cars from house to house. I have a little booklet with information on purchasing a HUD home and info on the properties we are seeing that day.

So far only 2 responses - but could have advertised it a little better. So we'll see.

Well did the caravan today. It was great! I'm definately going to be doing this every Saturday if I can. I had two prospective buyers and one of them asked if I could do a Buyer's Consultation later in the afternoon, so I did.

Definately worth the time and will just keep doing it.