RISMEDIA, June 2, 2008-OpenHouse.com, a consumer destination site for open house listings nationwide, has announced that its OpenHouse.com sweepstakes will begin on June 1 and will be open to all U.S.-based sales associates and brokers regardless of their company affiliation. Sales associates or brokers who post an open house listing to OpenHouse.com between June 1 and Sept. 30, 2008 will be automatically entered into a sweepstakes to win one of four DellTM laptop computers or a $5,000 Grand prize.
“OpenHouse.com provides agents with a method of marketing open houses at no cost,” said managing director of OpenHouse.com Ben Phillips, a Realogy vice president. “We want to encourage more brokers and agents to begin marketing their open houses online and drive more attendance to their open house events. We also want to thank the brokers and agents who have been participating on the site.”
OpenHouse.com is a Realogy-owned consumer Web site that features open house listings hosted by participating brokers and agents. On any given weekend, the Web site features information on 15,000 to 20,000 open houses held by Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Real Estate One, CENTURY 21(r), Coldwell Banker(r) and ERA(r) affiliates and company-owned brokerages operated by Realogy’s subsidiary, NRT LLC, as well as multiple other real estate companies not otherwise affiliated with Realogy.
Beginning June 1, each open house listing entered on OpenHouse.com will be counted as one entry in the sweepstakes. One winner will be chosen randomly by an impartial third-party company each month and will be awarded a DellTM Inspiron laptop computer. After the close of the sweepstakes entry period on Sept. 30, one sales associate will be chosen randomly as the winner of the $5,000 cash prize.
“According to National Association of Realtors® consumer research, 84 percent of buyers turn to the Internet during their home search, and nearly half include open houses as part of the overall process,” said Phillips. “OpenHouse.com joins these two marketing vehicles and offers a great benefit to the consumer as well as the agent.”
According to the company, OpenHouse.com allows home buyers to easily see schedules for open houses hosted by multiple real estate brokerages in their area, print out a route planner with complete maps and directions, request more information, schedule a private showing, and sign up for e-mail alerts about future open house events. Both home buyers and sellers benefit greatly from the site’s content as sellers get more free exposure for their listings, while buyers get a useful tool for managing their home search experience.
For more information, visit www.OpenHouse.com.