I've done a few Facebook live events and we closed 2 buyers and listed 4 homes off them.  Years ago I did buyer events in conjunction with lender, title and other vendors and got nothing from them.  Usually only a handful showed up.  

Yes.

The very first one, noone showed up!

So, hang in there. I think lunch and learns are great ways to start.

1 hour-15 minutes for food and greetings , 30 minutes or les get to the point, 15 minutes of networking and back to work they go., pizza and refreshments; not too expensive. You can go to the companies or community centers or office suites and get the support of HR or the site manager. Free food draws a lot of people that are going to eat lunch anyhow.

Yes I have done investment seminars. They were held at one of my projects I would be previewing. Special invitation, food and wine, raffle.

Nathan,

We have held a home-buyers seminar at a local golf course. We had a team of four there. Our first one had 20 people. We have some great grant programs in our area and the spoke person for Nevada Rural Housing was there. Everytime we have one we get one solid lead. We had a person also talk about credit and how it works at the seminar too. I would just jump in and try what works best for your market. Good luck it will be great.

I did a couple home buyer seminars many years ago.   It was a good learning experience for me at the time, but not worth the time/expense for me to keep doing them.  I partnered with a lender and a CPA.

Yes, in fact we had an investor seminar yesterday.

My daughter did this for buyers and had a lender on hand to get people pre qualified on the spot and it worked well for her.

I used to years ago, but attendance was not great. I used to think if 1 showed up and 1 bought it was worth it. But that was not the case

Others in our company have but I haven't.  Per my observations, the cost:benefit ratio doesn't appear worth the time invested...

Did that for years and no one attended...move it to youtube and go to meeting.

I have not... I know people who have and no one has ever reported any great success or attendance.

Oh yes, Nathan Gesner - not only that, my partners offered free lunch, lots of educational material and what not!

Promote your event through your sphere is what I'd suggest.

I haven't but there are people here who have. Hopefully they will weigh in with some great ideas for success

Nathan - I have not, but have also considered it. I think it would work best if you partnered with a lender as others have suggested, and of course free food would bring in more numbers if you could swing it. 

Nathan,

There is broker in Las Vegas and ohter cities nearby who does these for large gatherings, and he is very successful.  He also has lenders in the room to pre-approve.  A

Nathan Gesner I have a friend who has been doing this for years and it has been very successful. I would recommend you not go it alone. Have a closing attorney and a lender there with you. Lastly, pass out a lot of free information.

I did this when I was a new agent - didn't work very well for me - they came for the free donuts and coffee only

I did it many years ago. Did not produce the results intended!

Following is what I learned from those efforts.

Constant presence. Pick a location with high pedestrian traffic. This means a collaborative arrangement with a business owner could be worthwhile. Attendance grows with each promoted session.

LOCAL data - Whatever the theme, the presentation must include what attendees most likely observed in route to the location.

KNOW what your audience is thinking and resonate with them.  If you advertised 'investment' then focus on profit and the many ways to get there. If the message was 'First time homebuyer' then focus on affordability, safety-net, exit strategies and benefits.

Be aware, it is very likely no one will come to the first one. That's where putting their kids on stage or feeding them changes the dynamic. However, many will observe class is in session and chat about their observation and begin the process of persuading themselves to attend.

Don't drop the ball - don't create the situation where persuasion occurs and they find the lights are out. Both you and the business owner takes a hit then.

Thru the yrs. - Investor Nights and Home Buyer Seminars

Yes, for buyers along with other vendors.

I have not.

I haven't. but you got great anwers.

No I've never done one because others in my office have & not enough people have shown up to make it worthwhile. This was many years ago & I think people can get more info on the internet now.

I would advise doing investor workshops every 6 weeks

Winter & Spring are our busy months. I've got a lender, insurance agent and real estate attorney lined up to do one once we get into summer.   :)

We have not

Sure quite a few times.. it works sometimes not others. Make sure you get a lot of word out and that registration is required.

Nope, I haven't. However, I have been seeing a few buyer's seminar on lots of FB events.

I did in my early years, and taught first time buyers at Buckley AFB, but never got a buyer from it, so stopped.

I have not, but others in my office have and they have been getting a really good turnout.

One time for buyer with a lender and only had 3 people show up.

I have not.  My first suggestion would be to sit in on ones that are already in your area or neighboring towns.  See what they do and what works for them.  May take some time to get a following and/or leads from it.  Free food is always a good draw.  There is one locally that seems pretty popular.  They host it at the local keller williams office, charge $20 and have a speaker once a month.  I've not gone, but they do appear to have a big following and attendance on Meetup.

Yes. I found that there were more productive things to do.

We used to hold free Short Sale Seminars and had several professionals speak at them, so it was not a 'hard sell' and more of a public service. Lots of leads came from them

We offered a seminar to buyers along with our power team (mortgage rep, real estate attny, inspector, title agent, etc) on a few occassions. 

The best advice I can give you is to advertise very well and incentivize with give aways.

I do a few every year for first time home buyer's.  Not only do I get clients from the seminar, it also helps me land clients based on me telling them I teach these.  

Nathan Gesner I did it once with a present of a lender. It is one of the best approach to meet new clients.

I have not

I have in the past but I only do investor seminars and webinars now.

  Interesting mix of answers to your question.

I did many of these in years past but none in the last few years when so much information became available on the internet.

Yes we've done this in the past for various types of buyers/sellers. A few years back we teamed up with an attorney and did short sale seminars togther which were successful.

decades ago, I participated in a first time buyer program sponsored by Bay Bank.... 

My agent tried it a few times, nobody showed up.

In recent years we have not. 

I can tell you that it can be hit or miss.  I've done some free seminars that had 40 people attend, some that only a few attended, and one that no one showed up.  Best of luck to you in your seminars.

We did it our first couple of years in real estate. I think it was more an educational experience for us than anything else. -Kasey

Back in my early days in the business I did first time home buyer seminars. 

These are good and have potential...Serve refreshments and have a lender, title company etc. on hand to answer up. Hold at local Board or?

When I was new to the business, I tried lots of prospecting activities including a homebuying seminar.  Attendance was good but no sales resulted from the activity although I know of some lenders/agents who have been successful with them.  Good luck.