It seems like so long ago now, but I found myself looking at all of the photos I had taken in the past few years at Broker’s open houses. Why? As an agent, we always want as many agents to see a home, to then send that listing to their respective clients, and to hopefully then show the home and sell it! It is also a great opportunity to network with agents, establish relationships which will always proceed to a better rapport should a bid be placed. Agents love free food (who wouldn’t!), and so to serve food just made it fun for we, the agents, and it was also a great way of having many more agents view a home when first introduced to the market.
I would serve foods to reflect the time of year, the style of the home, perhaps the nationality of the family and I tried to make it fun. I recall serving lobster salad on croissants at a beautiful estate in New Rochelle, I served tapas , sangria at a home in Larchmont with a Spanish flair, smoked salmon, cucumber salad , Perrier and champagne at a home owned by a French family! I can recall serving (diluted) mint juleps one year at a home ! One winter, and after a storm, there was a power outage, and I had scheduled a public open house. What to do!!! my clients who were relocating needed to sell straightaway, and I wanted to market the home. Well, we wore ski sweaters, and I placed decorative lights around the table and served hot chocolate with whipped cream and cookies! We had 9 sets of visitors, and the home sold quite quickly due to my marketing. Selling real estate is not easy, and so for the agents to meet and chat for a few minutes at a home lessens the stress and makes it all fun
Then Covid 19 was upon us, and so the broker’s open houses were a thing of the past ( last year), and our marketing approach changed to digital marketing, videos, 3D tours, etc. However, I did surprise some clients at a virtual open house. I made a lobster salad , and left it for them to enjoy upon their return with a bottle of champagne and fresh crusty bread! Back in January, since public open house attendees had to wait their turn outside a home, I served hot chocolate and little bags of cookies to enjoy outside while waiting. Temperatures were taken as each couple entered the home. I think that we all had to adapt last year, and while it might be along time before I serve lunch to agents once again, it was fun to revisit past open houses and recall my lovely clients whose homes I have sold!
Westchester is GREAT!
