Open houses are one of the best methods of generating leads for your house sale. However, their effectiveness is dependent on good planning and proper preparation. Here are tips to help you prepare and plan for a successful open house.

Know the market trends

Property buyers have become more savvy and well-informed. You need to be up-to-date with the current market trends and understand your potential clients well. For instance, depending on the type and location of the house, you should be able to tell whether your target clients are millennials or older people. In which case, if you should do your research to determine the key factors they put into consideration when buying a home. Know similar properties for sale in your location and their price.  Such information will help you to set price for your house, determine the appropriate home preparations and renovations and choose the right channels for marketing your open house.

Prep your home for the open house.

Start by decluttering the entire house. Identify items that you no longer use in each room and get rid of them or put them away in a storage facility. Clean each corner of the house, even the hard to reach places. If you are a pet owner, you’ll need to remove pet odors. You also must clean your carpeting, countertops, floors and sinks.

Organize and depersonalize the house. Remove family photos on the walls. Put extra furniture from each room in storage and arrange it to give an impression of spaciousness. Throw in some bright pillows on the sofa to make the living room warm and cozy.

You want to create a good first impression both on your marketing materials and during the day of the showing.  Creating an inviting curb appeal will set the tone of how your home looks inside, so you’ll need to accentuate the architectural focal points such as windows, shutters, front door, mail box and flower boxes. Experts recommend that you freshen up your home’s exterior with a  fresh coat of paint. Manicure your yard by trimming and shaping shrubs and the lawn, and removing debris.

Schedule and advertise for the open house

Set a date and time for the open house that does not conflict with major national events and public holidays. Sunday afternoons work well. Check the weather forecast, so that you do not schedule for a rainy or cold day.

Leverage on both the online and offline platforms to let the word out about your upcoming open house. Post your listing on the relevant listing platforms available online. Put up an open house signs strategically such as outside your property and at junctions nearby. Place a poster on the local advertisements board. Tell your friends, family, colleagues, and family about it and ask them to spread the word. If you are overseeing the open house, invite a real estate agent or a local industry leader so they can help you to generate leads.

Hire professionals

Organizing an open house on your own can be overwhelming. Although hiring professionals such as landscapers, a realtor and cleaners will come at an extra cost. It will take away the stress from you and help you to position your home to fetch the highest cost.

In the case where you have hired a realtor, you do not need to be present at the open house. The realtor will oversee its marketing and answer potential buyers’ questions. They also have an objective eye to see any aspects that can put off interested buyers and will offer expert advice on how to mitigate such. Also, realtors are well-acquainted with industry trends, therefore, will help you price your home accordingly. They can tap into their networks to sell your house in the shortest time possible.

Open houses take a lot of work, but it is all worthwhile because it helps you generate leads to sell your house faster and at a good price. From cleaning up, properly staging and marketing, each step plays a critical role in ensuring your open house is a success.

Suzie Wilson

info@happierhome.net

Happier Home

Photo Credit: Pexels

ToJiTools is at it again – just in time for CREB Forecast 2018 😊

First off – the ToJi team would like to thank everyone for their support!!  The on-going enthusiasm from everyone keeps our passion fired up.  We are happy to say that we’ve crossed our 200^th member to the ToJi family and only after 1 year!  THANK YOU ALL!

Over the last few months we have received tremendous feedback and feature requests from so many of you and…

We listened… AGAIN!

Some of the items we’ve heard:

• Please give us an easy to use CRM and let me track everything.
• We would love a Community Report!
• I want ToJi on MY website - PLEASE
• I like my colors better – can we change the Graph colors?
• Is there a way to customize an experience for my clients?

 You asked – we delivered! 

Introducing:

CRM

There is a Brand new CRM built in to manage your Contacts as well as Manage the information that is going to them, and how often they are engaging in your material.  That’s right, you can send them a report, watch their views and even subscribe them to monthly reports about their community.

Over the coming Months we will work with everyone to create some Import functions from the key CRM’s you are all using to help you transition clients into ToJi – if you have questions, please reach out!

Want more in the CRM – please send in your suggestions 😊

MARKET REPORTS

We cannot count the number of requests we’ve had about creating a Monthly report about a community – so we built one! 

It’s Simple… Pick a Community & Share!

WIDGITS

Arguably the most exciting feature we’ve ever built.  Have you seen a Graph in ToJi that you like so much you want it on your website?  Well now with 1 click we will generate the code you need to put it on your site, and host it for you! 

Got a Featured Listing and want some very specific Graphs?  No Problem – Just look at the top of the graph for the new Widget Icon to generate your details!

CUSTOM GRAPH COLORS

We understand that your brand is important to you, so now under your settings you can change the colors in the graphs to match your branding!  Enjoy 😊 

CUSTOM DOMAINS

When your customers view reports you’ve sent them, ToJi now has the ability to be customized for that experience.  How does – “Jim.ToJi.Tools” sound?  Pretty easy to Market, and if someone signs up on that site, they will automatically refer into you!

There is also a deeper functionality for teams and Brokerages – please contact ToJi with any inquiries.

Again – Thanks to everyone for your support and we are looking forward to an exciting 2018 as we continue to build more features at your request!

It was one year ago last week that we launched our first release of ToJi Tools for public use, after an extensive beta period and exhausting testing.  We just wanted to take the time and thank everyone for their continued support and feedback over the past year, and looking back truly appreciate how far we've come in 12 short months.

Here's to a great year, and many more to come!

The ToJi Team.

The ToJi Team has been hard at work with our latest set of creations, including a brand new layout and a whole bunch of new functionality.  In this post, we're going to cover off the new layout and will have posts to follow on the ToJi Tracker, Tasks, and Alerts.

The new Layout is the new look and feel of the entire ToJi Tools portal.  Our previous layout worked well, it was very functional but it didn't portray who ToJi Tools was or what we stood for.  One of ToJi Tools main goals is to provide a fresh, modern set of tools for the Realtor of today, and now with the fresh look we feel that we are doing a better job of doing exactly that.

How?

Simply log in.  As soon as you log in you will be greeted with the new layout and you'll immediately notice our new Dashboard:

The purpose of the dashboard is to give you quick access to all of your information in a centralized place in the most efficient manner possible.  For this reason, each of the widgets are completely customizable, from where they appear on the page to their height and width.  To move a widget simple click and drag the title bar to the new location, and to resize a widget simply select the  icon which appears on the bottom right corner of the widget outline. It really is that simple!

Another major change brought in with the new layout is the navigation.  The navigation now appears along the left hand side of the page instead of along the top, and since we now have more space we've broken out the tools menu into links of their own so you no longer have to click to access the tools then click again to access Property Analysis.

What's Next?

Short Term - Coming in the next few days, we'll also provide information on the new ToJi Tracker, Tasks, and Alerts and how to best utilize these features.  All of these features are live and ready to use so feel free to play with them in the mean time!

Long Term - The ToJi Team is hard at work on the next greatest thing for our tool set.  We're keeping the details under wraps for now, but stay tuned for our next big game changer coming in the fall!

Stay Tuned and keep the great feedback coming!

The ToJi Team heard you feedback loud and clear about Reports relating to Apartments, and has been hard at work to bring our Apartment related reports to a whole new level!

What is it?

Previously Apartments where designed to only consider the specific address when searching for comparable properties.  This worked well for areas of the city which had high turnover, or for larger complexes with enough comparables to justify this approach; however was not the ideal approach for all situations. 

Why?

By having the ability to chose the method which ToJi tools uses to determine the comparable properties, the Realtor now holds the control over the best fitting report for each situation.  This puts the control back in the hands of the experts and does not make the assumption that all situations are the same.

How?

On a Property Analysis and CMA Report, a new tab will now be available when the property type is Apartment:

Within this tab, you can utilize the Match Type drop down to pick the most suitable match type for the given scenario:

• Building Address: Building Address is the exact same as ToJi Tools is today; it will utilize the address entered when creating the report to select only Apartments which reside at that specific address.
• Complex Name: Complex name will utilize the name of the apartment or condo complex that is stored inside of Matrix to choose only the apartments or Condos which belong to that specific Complex, even if that complex contains multiple building addresses
• Advanced: Advanced is the new default match type and it will include properties which match the specific criteria that has been enabled.  This will allow the Realtor to pick and choose what is important to this specific listing at this specific time in the same fashion that the number of bedrooms and bathrooms are chosen

Property Search

Along with these changes we've also updated the property search page to enable the same type of search ability for Apartments.  The new options are found when the advanced search is enabled, and allow you to combine these criteria with any other existing criteria to find the very specific listing you're searching for.

What's Next?

Since we started ToJi Tools we've always had a keen ear for feedback, and as part of our next initiatives we will be continuing along with that trend.  With our next release of ToJi Tools we will be including a new set of functionality which we're not quite ready to announce yet, but we think the entire community will be very interested to see.

Stay Tuned and keep the great feedback coming!

The ToJi Team.

The ToJi Team has been hard at work again, and we're happy to bring you an exciting new feature called Client Engagement!

What is it?

Client Engagement is the ability to analyze your clients response to published and shared reports.  Client Engagement gives you the ability to filter viable leads from curious home owners.

Why?

By having the ability to review how well each of your reports are performing, you can easily determine the clients who are simply curious about their homes value from those who are seriously interested in selling.

How?

Step #1: Publish and Share your reports

When you're viewing your property analysis report, simply click the "publish and share" button and share the report with your clients.  Sharing of CMA's is not currently available while the CMA functionality is in preview mode, but will be available soon.

Step #2: Review your Engagement

Review your current Engagement in real time by clicking Clients > Engagement to view several graphs which show the status of all of your reports.  The top three graphs break down all of your reports, how many are shared, and how many have been viewed.  

Under Customer Connections you can view how many reports where viewed over the past month.  This gives you a good indicator if some of your properties are currently spiking in views, or if you're maintaining a good pace.

Document Views is the truly valuable information when used to determine lead potential.  Using the above graph you can see that the 3rd, 4th and 5th property reports are viewed substantially more often than some of the others, meaning those clients keep coming back to look at the information you provided which might justify a follow up touch base.

We are more motivated now then ever thanks to our amazing users, so a continued thank you to everyone for supporting ToJi!

We’ve been hard at work with some exciting new features coming your way effective today:

Listing Flyers - Update

In our last update, we covered Listing Flyers, and we’re happy to announce we’ve now made them generally available to all our users, and introduced a new detailed
template as part of general availability.  We're also happy to update that we've upgraded our images to use the Hi-Def images on all of our listing flyers and listing previews (when available). We are also continuously looking for ways to improve our product, and one of those improvements is the availability of team specific listing flyers which will only be available to your team.  Every Listing Flyer is different in terms of layout and effort, so contact us today for a quote on turning your current listing flyer into a high powered, ToJi Listing Flyer.

CMA Generator

Motivation:  Several users have asked us for the ability to create a quick CMA that can be printed or saved as PDF’s.

Process:  Over the last month we worked with 3 realtors to collect the key points in their CMA’s and what information was missing that ToJi analytics was helping provide.   We then compiled all of the feedback to create our first CMA template that automatically builds out the various reports that are focused on your customer.

Solution:  All ToJi users now have access to this first template – you simply configure your report as you would normally do, select some comparable properties, and set a list price.  Voila – ToJi build everything.  We compile a CMA into 3 sections (City, Community, Comparable) and show all of the relevant analytics to each area.  This allows you to tell a Macro-Micro story that is statically supported to your customer.

1 Step Setup:

• Under your Profile – there is a new field to upload your personalized letterhead (banner) – Please upload your personal letterhead here.  Ensure that it is a 5:1 ratio for sizing IE: 1500 dpi wide x 300 dpi high.
• Note – if you haven’t uploaded your letterhead – the PDF’s will have additional whitespace.

Using CMA Generator:

1. Just like Detailed Analysis you configure your report as before.
2. Once you’ve established the market value – you can then set a Listing Price Suggestion.
3. Beside the report configuration is a tab with a list of comparable – select which ones you feel are the most relevant to have more information included for additional details.
4. Click on Options and select ‘Export to PDF’.

Property Search

Motivation:  As part of the CMA Generation tool, we discovered that there was a great need for a quick and effortless way to search for properties.  Whether you need to quickly look up a property by MLS Number, or you’re looking for active properties to visit with a client there’s always a need to quickly retrieve properties.

Process:  After our initial limited launch and extended feedback sessions with a variety of Realtors from different areas of the city, we discovered that we needed to include a way to easily search for properties.  Since then, we’ve been working with a group of realtors to come up with the most commonly searched out properties, and are proud to announce a limited Preview mode search capability within ToJi tools which we will be actively requested extended feedback on in the coming months.

Solution:  All ToJi users now have access to our property search capability, both for use creating CMA’s and for general property searching.  There’s no special setup required, and it is easy and intuitive to use:

Using Property Search:

1. Select the Property Search Tool from the home page or menu bar
2. Enter the fields you wish to search by - commonly used fields are found in the basic search, and more advanced fields are found when turning on the advanced search
3. View the property details for each property by clicking the MLS number in the search results
4. (When generating a CMA) Select “add” to add the property to the CMA, and when you’re done selecting properties click the “Create Report” button to view your CMA and tweak your report parameters.

And, as Always…

A Peak under the hood

What are working on behind the scene’s?

• Team Management Tools – Working with other realtors on a team? Need to see/share information amongst your team?  We are building the ability to build and manage teams within ToJi.
• Realtor Assistants – If you are out in the field with a customer and need to quickly have a report created for an impromptu visit, you’ll soon be able to ask an assistant to create a property on your behalf!
• Lead Generation – Wondering who reads the reports you send them and how often?  Maybe generate leads from your website through ToJi with your brand?  We are working hard to bring this tool to life!
• Infographics – Ever want real-time infographics that you can brand and send out to your clients?  The ToJi team is really excited for this feature!

To Close – Thank you again from the ToJi team!

First and foremost – Thank you to everyone for your continued support!  We are more motivated now then we have ever been thanks to all of our amazing users :)

We are happy to say that our subscribers continue to grow daily and the ongoing support for everyone allows our team to continue to invest in ToJi :).  In our first 60 days on the market we have seen our user count grow to just shy of 100 and we couldn’t be happier knowing that we’ve built a tool that helps our users in so many different ways!

**A quick note to everyone - we have changed our naming convention to align the tools better.  The old CMA’s that everyone has created are now under the ‘Detailed Analysis Report’ tool.**

Now on to the good stuff:  As promised in our last update – the ToJi Team has been working on additional features to all of our loyal users.  We are very excited to launch a Preview mode of our 2 newest features:  Custom Branding and Listing Flyer Generator.

For Preview mode – the object is to collect feedback from our users on how we can make it better and what is missing.  So please, don’t be shy to reach out with suggestions or questions – we are happy jump on a call or go for coffee to understand your needs!

Let’s talk new features:

Custom Branding

Motivation:  As a realtor, you have spent a significant amount of time and effort building up your personal brand.  We appreciate your investment and we want to ensure that ToJi enables you and your brand to continue to flourish with our tools.

Process:  Toji needed to build a tool that would accommodate current needs as well as future formats and templates of all shapes and sizes.  We needed to ensure there was flexibility for the future – and so the team invested over 100 hours of development to build a strong foundation for custom branding needs.

Solution:  Inside of your profile – you will see the ability to upload a letterhead that tied to your brand.  These Letterheads will be injected into the current Listing Flyers and soon to be CMA documents.  The foundation ToJi built is going to allow us to really drive your ability to create Branded content quickly!

1 Step Setup:

• Under your Profile – there is a new field to upload your personalized letterhead (banner) – Please upload your personal letterhead here. 
• TIP – The Letterhead should be in a 5:1 Ratio (example: 1500 wide by 300 high).  If your image is not in this ratio, it will be stretched or shrunk to match a 5:1 ratio.

Listing Flyers

Motivation:  While discussing possible features with some broker owners, we were asked we could simplify the listing flyer process.  Well we did :)

Process:  The focus of ToJi is simplicity so we wanted to make this an easy 3 step process… Type in an MLS# - Pick a format - Choose your pictures.  Using the CMA Engine, we built the team mocked up a very simple listing flyer as our first template.

Solution:  The Listing flyer is a quick way to send a 1 pager about a property to your clients that is branded by yourself.  Currently we have a single format and are looking for suggestions for additional formats to expand the options.

 1 Step Setup:

• Under your Profile – there is a new field to upload your personalized letterhead (banner) – Please upload your personal letterhead here.  Ensure that it is a 5:1 ratio for sizing IE: 1500 dpi wide x 300 dpi high.
• Note – if you haven’t uploaded your letterhead – the PDF’s will have additional white-space.

 Using Listing Flyer Generator:

1. Type in an MLS number
2. Pick a Template
3. Select the photos you would like to show
4. Click “Generate Flyer”

So, two great features to get started in the collateral space.  Please – don’t be shy and reach out to the ToJi team with any suggestions.

As Always…

A Peak under the hood

What are working on behind the scene’s?

• CMA Generation - With a few clicks you'll soon be able to bring the power of the ToJi Engine to your personalized CMA documents
• Team Management Tools – Working with other realtors on a team? Need to see/share information among your team members?  We are building the ability to build and manage teams within ToJi.
• Lead Generation – Wondering who reads the reports you send them and how often?  Maybe generate leads from your website through Toji with your brand?  We are working hard to bring this tool to life!
• Infographics – Every want real-time infographics that you can brand and send out to your clients?  The ToJi team is really excited for this feature!

 To Close – Thank you again from the ToJi team!

Over the past few weeks the ToJi Team has been pushing hard to incorporate feedback from our users, so it is with a great pleasure that we announce Listing Images; now available in select Real Estate Boards!

To view listing images, simply click on one of the points:

And a dialog will open with some information about the listing, including the Listing Images:

It really is as simple as that!

Thanks for the great feedback

-ToJi Team.

The ToJiTools team has been hard at work this past month developing a new feature based on Your feedback.

What we heard: “Uploading Files is cumbersome – Please Simplify it!”

           Well we listened!

Thanks to an ongoing collaboration with various Real Estate Boards - We are proud to announce a new feature – ToJi Instant Data - is now available in select markets.

What does this mean to you… No more Uploads Required 

To Create a new ToJi CMA report – simply enter in an address and *Viola*.

            ToJi will automatically pre-populate a new report which you can then customize for your client.

 This is a major move forward to simplify the process for our users and we will continue to drive improvements within ToJi to deliver the most value to You!

Behind the Curtain:  What is the team currently working to improve your experience?

• Full CMA Print Outs – Based on popular request we are developing a printable CMA reports that you can customize and leave behind with your customers both physically and digitally.
• Property Photos – Did you know you can click on a data point in a graph and it pulls up the listing information?  The team is working on integrating Photos into that ‘Click-Through’.
• Buyer reports – How far does you money go in each community?  We are developing a new tool to help you show your buyers the landscape in communities they may be attracted to.

As ToJi is a new platform, we are continuously looking for ways to improve our software – please don’t be shy to share your suggestions on new graphs or features that you might find helpful!

We take all feedback seriously and will continue to Listen to all of you!

We Greatly Appreciate your time!

Thanks

-ToJi Team