Years ago all the agents in our office would caravan the new listings each week (all get in cars and go to each listing, thus a caravan or line or cars). In the recent few years when we had a very hot market, agents stopped going on caravans and the caravans themselves stopped. Our office reinstituted caravans again a few months ago, now that our inventories are swelling and market times are increasing. Perhaps 1/3 of the agents are going on caravan. In our area, seeing all of the new listings in a week would have us waste a lot of time travelling between them, so we caravan geographically, rotating going north, south and west. Since the agents are usually in and out in about 5 minutes, some of the sellers offer coffee or juice and pastries to keep the agents around a few minutes longer.
One things we used to do, which Kelly Mitchell's blog about showing buyers homes and letting them guess the prices reminded me of, was that we'd have each of the agents guess what the selling price was, and the one who was the closest to the actual sale price when it closed would win something - I don't remember what, but I suppose today a Starbucks card would be appropriate.
In our small sampling - it worked. One of the agents who had a home on caravan recently sold it because an agent who was on the caravan talked about it to a colleague, who brought the buyers who bought it.
Loan Originators tour these caravans to meet Realtors and scam free lunches (I am famous for that).
However, I have brought 4 buyers this year to a Realtor because of the "free lunch" and knowledge of the marketplace. She is very inviting to Originators and understands that we are in the business of finding buyers also. Now, she openly calls us and invites us to the free lunch. Guess who is at the top of our phone list when a buyer comes in?
i think a caravan is a great idea because you will get to network and also see the listings. too bad when i was working as a realtor our office never picked up revived it. they used to do it but once office expanded they dropped it.
cheers,
cindy
i stage to sell, live (redesign) and work in san francisco bay area!
cindy@staged4more.com
www.staged4more.com
http://stagingtipsandmore.blog.com/
We sometimes put properties on Pasadena-Foothills (California) Caravan. But here's the rub: Pitching the listing is mandatory - you know that drill, each agent has a few seconds in front of the microphone.
Most weeks there are over 100 properties on the list. Since the properties are listed by community code number on the caravan list, heaven help you if your listing is located in area 680. You will be at the end of the line.
Now feature this: There are 110 properties on caravan, so there are 110 agents at the meeting. Most likely there is no one in the room who does not have a listing on the caravan. If you were interested in simply previewing (and/or lunching) you would print the caravan list on your computer and just go.
And since many of the listing agents are serving lunches, they might, shall we say, be tempted to sneak out early to set things up; so if you are the fortunate guy at the end of the line, you may be pitching to a room full of one.
Let's just say, in this area at least, it is a system that is overdue for re-thinking.
Combined Los Angeles Westside MLS did realize the absurdity some years ago. On their system, you receive automatic emails every day of the week with caravans entered for that day - there is no mandatory meeting to attend.
Psst. Don't tell anyone, but I remember the bus days, too.
It seems as if a sampling, and not every listing, in a full MLS could accomplish quite a bit. A lottery system could be planned to get newest listings some exposure. Or catagories such as price or size levels. One or two from an agency and not ALL. Round Robin the agents so that no one has a chance to ge skipped or to skip out. Agents need to assess their benefits from learning more about certain properties. Yet utilizing all opportunities to network and assure other agents that you offer enouragement to work together to market property and ample listing information. This should be profitable, but not entirely painful. The agents who are slipping out may see the validity in WORK. I used to see such a line-up of meetings that I wondered if we were in a meeting career.
This all swings me back to the technical opportunities of slide shows, podcasts, extra pictures on a website outside of the mls. complete information on the mls. All properties have ample exposure for this, some are in the lottery for extra attention.
Our last office would caravan after each meeting every two weeks. It was a great way to see the inventory without having to wait for the broker's open or an open house. It also gave the agents in the office a first look into the properties.
ines
Hi Sharon, I love the idea of caravans and actually will be going on my first this week. I'm going to share your idea with my group. Excellent idea. Thanks for the spark of enlightenment.
Best,
Kelly
Sharon
Great post! I think it's unfortunate that many offices have either stopped doing tours or limit tours to their own office listings. We all need to stay current with product and should be previewing, at least weekly, to be able to speak credibly about what's going on in our markets, not just when we have someone to show properties to.
With so many homes listed, it would be impossible to have a caravan...some homes would be eliminated and the realtors would be out for days and days.
The caravan and the book of homes for sale, for the most part are days of old. Yes, we have some caravans but mostly from what I hear, the realtors are going for the food only and not bothering if there is no food...not too impressive on the our profession.
It's a great idea but in my opinion, and my opinion only...I think its' day is long of the past along with a book of listings.
Caravan is done here (North San Diego County) as well as is pretty organized. THere are 8 tour over 4 days, depending on location, and a list is on-line so whoever is interested can see what homes are on, then tour on their own (there are far too many to see everything nor can a large group tour around because of the wide-spread nature of this area). Presenting at the pitch session/Powerpoint presentation is done on a first come basis since time is limited. Caravan generally lasts about 2.5 - 3 hours per the regulations for that particular tour; some towns have strict requirements about the signage that may be used and where it may be placed. Food is fairly common; no alcohol allowed. Lots more gimmicks being used - Starbucks cards, drawing for various stores, etc.
Getting Started....
Does anyone know how I can find out what days are for what cities in my area for the caravan? Also, how would I find out the addresses on that are going to be open? This sounds like a great way to offer that personalized 'preview' of a property for potential buyers, instead of waliking them up to the lock box, not knowing what 'really' is on the other side of the door.
William
williamsei@hotmail.com
Pasadena, Ca
San Gabriel Valley
Los Angeles County