A significant goal of The 72 Hour Open House was to receive as much media coverage as posible to maximize exposure of this unique peice of Vancouver Real Estate. I knew the media attention would be focussed on me and what I was doing, I made certain the property was as much of the story as posible.
I can not say enough about the media professionals I encountered during this experience. They were all so kind, tolerant of my schedule and priorities. I had so much fun with all of them and can't thank enough for not only the media coverage but for how they do ther job.
Television
Over the three days three different stations aired stories about The 72 Hour Open House.
City TV aired their story on both Breakfast Television and Lunch Television on the Friday. Unfortunatley I do not have a copy of their story to include here.
CTV aired their story on Friday as well at both 6pm and 11:30pm. It was quite obvious when they aired their story as the live feed nearly tripled in viewers. I had people from all over BC coming online to wish me well and chat about the concept. Although not everyone shared their location one viewer mentioned he was in Vanderhoof.
Global News did three seperate segments. The did a live segment on the Morning News on Sunday, a story on Noon News and different story on the News Hour and News Hour Final. I only have a copy of the News Hour story. I apologize for the poor audio quality
Radio
CBC Early Edition had me on live at 6:15am on Thursday morning. I was very impressed by the number of people who listen to CBC Early edition. I go a ton of positive feedback from this.
I conducted a live interview with Radio Real Estate and shortly after had a couple show up stating they had heard me on the radio and had to come meet me. Although the lift was not in an area they wanted to live I am now helping them find a new home in a area they desire.
Real Estate Talk from Australia on 954AM hosted by Kevin Turner invited me to participate in an inteview for his national show. It was a great to chat with some Real Estate people from the other side of the earth!
Podcasts
Creative in Canda - 72HourOpenHouse.Com - Mike Price
Kye Grace, a Realtor in Vancouver BC had a challenge on his hands. It's a challenge keeping plenty of people awake at night - great listing, no traffic. With a little help from a friend Kye came up with the idea to hold an open house. It wasn't your average open house though. Kye created a concept, built a marketing campaign, generated some serious buzz, grabbed his sleeping bag and provisions and parked himself in his listing for 72 hours straight, ready to show to whomever came by, at any time during that period.
I had the opportunity to speak with Kye a couple of days ago. We talked about the results of his efforts and much more. Although Kye has only been an agent for a couple of years, he has some great insight and a good approach to building his business model. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.
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From the Vancouver Sun
Vancouver realtor live-streams online
BY GILLIAN SHAW, VANCOUVER SUNJANUARY 21, 2009
Interspersed with video of Grace rattling around the vacant heritage loft will be his live blogging and tweeting out updates to his 600-plus followers on the social networking site Twitter.
Grace said he is turning to social media in a soft market in the hopes bringing the luxury, 250-square-metre (2700-square foot) suite to the attention of the right buyer.
“It is a really unique property and it wasn’t getting the attention it needed,” said Grace, who is an agent with Sutton Group Killarney Realty.
While Grace doesn’t expect many midnight visitors, he said he has found mixing up the media he uses draws attention not only from people researching real estate buys, but also from those who are simply curious about the technology.
“I don’t really expect people to come at two o’clock in the morning, but people will be aware of it,” he said of his marathon open house, online at www.kyegrace.com/72HourOpenHouse.ubr. “If people don’t know about a property for sale they don’t come, and if they don’t come they don’t buy.
“You really can’t sell a house to somebody; it is such a personal thing. It really has to match what somebody is after. What we are doing is to make sure the one or two people who might want this place know it is available.”
Equipped with a sleeping bag, pillow and his computer Grace will be sequestered in suite 21 at 120 Powell Street in Vancouver’s Gastown, starting Friday at 10 a.m. He’ll be broadcasting via Ustream and will be available for in-person tours and online visits right through the weekend until Monday at 10 a.m.
“To a degree, it’s a lot like Big Brother. People can follow my life through a 72-hour open house,” he said.
Grace said most of his peers in the business have been supportive of his cyber-venture, but there are some who think it is too off-beat.
“I’ve taken a bit of heat,” he said. “There is the odd skeptic who says, ‘If you do 30 listings a year at 72 hours straight for an open house, that’s the equivalent of three months.’
“I don’t intend to do that. I don’t think this type of marketing would be for every property or for every seller.”
A relative newcomer to his field, Grace has eschewed traditional marketing for a digital strategy and Web 2.0. He has an online weekly real estate show at http://www.propertyegg.ca.
Grace said he is the third agent to take the listing for the loft apartment, which has been on the market since October of 2007.
In 16 years the building, which has six units, has only had two suites change hands. It is down the street from Concord Pacific’s development, Smart Gastown Living, in an area that trendy loft developments have tried to gentrify, so far with little success.
Vancouver real estate agent Kye Grace was pleased with the turnout for an open house he recently hosted in a Gastown loft. He just didn't get as much sleep as he had hoped.
The unit in a converted glass factory had remained on the market for longer than a year, so when Mr. Grace took over the listing, he decided to try a new tactic.
He brainstormed with a friend and came up with the idea of a marathon 72-hour open house, in which he let house hunters tour the $999,950 loft space in person and on-line.
With houses and condominium units languishing in many of North America's real estate markets, agents are searching for all sorts of creative new ways to reach prospective buyers and generate attention. Mr. Grace's three-day open house garnered the publicity he was looking for and a third showing for one prospective purchaser this weekend.
In Toronto, one agent recently co-hosted a party for hundreds of people in a condominium sales office decked out with all of the lighting, decor and atmosphere of a night club.
In Pickering, another agent offered a 42-inch television to the buyer of a 20-year-old detached house.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Bluetooth are increasingly becoming the tools of technology-savvy agents.
In the United States, marketing organizations are offering agents the opportunity to target niche groups at such websites as gayrealestatelistings.com and sexyrealtors.com.
This week the Canadian Real Estate Association predicted that home sales nationally will tumble by 16.9 per cent in 2009 compared with 2008. That expected drop follows a 17.1 per cent decline in 2008 compared with the previous year.
British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario will see the sharpest slides, according to CREA chief economist Gregory Klump.
Mr. Klump's report also forecasts an 8 per cent fall in the national average house price to $279,400 in 2009 from $303,594 in 2008.
Looking out to 2010, CREA sees a rebound in sales and more stable prices.
Mr. Klump is predicting that sales will rise 9.9 per cent in 2010, on average, across the country. The average national price will edge up 1.1 per cent next year compared with this year.
Beth Crosbie Alexander is a St. John's-based agent who is chairing a CREA task force looking into the business challenges facing young realtors.
CREA tallied about 100,000 members last year and budgeted for 97,000 this year. However, that number could go even lower, says Ms. Crosbie Alexander.
Mr. Grace, an agent with Sutton Group-Killarney Realty measured the success of his open house by the number of people who viewed the web site and visited the property, along with the media attention he has been receiving. More than 1,400 unique viewers viewed the live stream while approximately 100 people toured the unit in person.
"It's pretty tough to get 100 people to come to a $1-million house," says Mr. Grace.
Gastown, he says, is trendy and touristy but some potential buyers could be deterred by the fact that it's right next to Vancouver's grittier East Side neighbourhood.
Mr. Grace was also frustrated that one of the condo's coolest selling features - it's location in a converted warehouse for Pilkington Glass Co. - seemed to be keeping some potential buyers from seeing beyond the rustic facade.
"I think that was the big hurdle."
During the live stream, Mr. Grace talked on-camera with visitors. He filled about an hour and a half by chatting with a home inspector who took questions from viewers. He blogged and sent out updates on Twitter. When he took a break off camera, he ordered take-out and tried to catch some sleep.
"You can only do so much sitting in one spot before you get a little loopy," he says. "I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted."
A handful of people admitted to Mr. Grace that they showed up just because they were intrigued by the idea, but he figures about 40 out of the 100 were genuinely interested in the property.
The agent, who has been selling real estate for less than two years, says he was drawn to the business because he sees an opportunity for someone with creative ideas to gain an advantage.
"I sat and looked around for an industry where complacency would give someone with an entrepreneurial mind an edge," he says. "I came into this business knowing it was a bit staunch and I needed to do something fresh," he says.
Also in Vancouver, Ehsan Sharenejad of Macdonald Realty Ltd. is launching a service that uses Bluetooth to advertise properties to individual cell phone users.
In Toronto, Yossi Kaplan of Harvey Kalles Real Estate Ltd. recently had about 200 people turn out for a function at the Bohemian Embassy Condos on Queen St. West. Representatives of builder Baywood Homes were there, along with a mortgage expert from a chartered bank.
Mr. Kaplan says such gatherings provide an opportunity for guests to meet the designers, developers, builders and engineers involved in projects without being subjected to a heavy sales pitch.
"First and foremost it's just a way for people to interact."
Mr. Kaplan also appears in video tours of condo projects and posts the file on YouTube.
His aim, he says, is to overcome the intimidation that many young people feel when they consider buying a property for the first time.
"The real estate business is scary, it's big, it's going to take your money for months and months for years to come," he says of the prevailing attitude that he encounters among some twenty-somethings.
After his 72-hour open house, Mr. Grace received a phone call from a real estate agent near Atlanta who is trying to sell a 4,000-square-foot "executive" home in the suburbs. The agent asked Mr. Grace for ideas on how to increase traffic.
"Get the circus on the front lawn," was Mr. Grace's advice. He suggested renting an inflatable play area for the kids to jump around in, or bringing in fire fighters from the local department to talk about household safety. The agent could hire clowns and set up popcorn machines.
"Make it so kids want to come and their parents will have to come with them," he says.
Mr. Grace says he doesn't mind brainstorming with an agent who calls him looking for input. After all, it's unlikely he'll ever be selling a 4,000-square-foot executive home outside Atlanta, he reasons.
"I think if the industry changes or loosens up a little bit, it's better for everyone," he says.
