Here are tips for holding a flawless open house.
Make a good first impression.
You want to freshen up the landscaping and exterior paint, plus consider purchasing a few new items, including a garage door, mailbox, exterior door and house numbers. Clean the driveway and walkways, and get the cars out of the driveway and from in front of the house.
Clean, clean, clean. "The property has to be in pristine condition when you have the open house,"
That could mean hiring professional house cleaners, having the windows washed and having the carpets cleaned.
Stage your home with furniture and accessories. We have companies who add furniture and accessories to vacant homes. If you're living in the house, consider some small touches such as fresh towels in the bathroom, vases of flowers and a few well-chosen accessories. With furniture, less is often more. Wild-colored walls should be painted and, depending on your budget, you may want to paint kitchen cabinets, add new hardware or change faucets.
Get rid of clutter. If the house has too many pieces of furniture and knickknacks, it's hard for potential buyers to see the home's features. Sellers should start packing before the house goes on the market, making the home as sparse and streamlined as possible.
Remove personal items. "Homebuyers want to walk into the house and visualize it as their new home," When a potential buyer sees your family photos and your children's crayon drawings on the refrigerator during your open house, that becomes more difficult.
Remove pets if possible. Dogs, cats or other pets should neither be seen nor heard during the open house. If they can't be removed from the house, they need to be confined to a less trafficked space.
Spread the word. Make sure your open house is listed in the multiple listing service as well as on all the major real estate portals. And if you have an eager and experienced Realtor (which is impertinent) she or he should have some great Broker/Agents connections, plus many other arenas to blanket the public with the knowledge, that your house is for sale. We like to send special invitation flyers to the neighbors, give them premium access (one hour before the public) and you can also share the information on Nextdoor.com and neighborhood email lists. Share the information with friends via email and social media. "Do what you can to get the most people in the door,"
Let there be light. Open up all the curtains and blinds and turn on lights in every room, even on a sunny day. "Make it as bright and cheerful as you can,"
Protect your belongings. Remove or lock up any valuables. Your agent cannot be in every room with every prospective buyer at once, so be smart about what you leave out. For example Medications, Jewelry, weapons etc.
Provide information. You or your agent should provide information for prospective buyers to take with them, including a brochure or flyer with photos of the house, information on comparable home sales and perhaps school or community information. We can also get a local lender to provide information on payments with a few loan scenarios. "You don't want homebuyers to leave your home empty-handed," "This is not going to be the only house they're going to tour that day. It's hard to remember all the different homes that they walked through."
Yes, bake or buy cookies. Not all agents agree on the importance of refreshments, but most think they're a good idea. We sometimes invite food trucks to an open houses and give away sports tickets, notebooks or other trinkets. We also like the fact that serving cookies and drinks gets the visitors to stop and interact with the agent or seller.
Stay in the background if you're there at all. If a real estate agent is organizing the open house, the sellers should not be present. If you're doing your own open house, you want to be as professional and unobtrusive as possible so visitors will feel free to imagine themselves living in the house and discuss its flaws without fear of offending you.
Listen to feedback. One valuable takeaway from an open house is being able to hear what people think about the price and features. If six neighbors think the home is overpriced, it probably is. "If you don't get opinions and people's thoughts, you're wasting a lot of audience. Collect names and contact information from everyone who visits and contact them afterward to see what they thought of the house. Your agent will do that if you have one.
You want to freshen up the landscaping and exterior paint, plus consider purchasing a few new items, including a garage door, mailbox, exterior door and house numbers. Clean the driveway and walkways, and get the cars out of the driveway and from in front of the house.
Clean, clean, clean. "The property has to be in pristine condition when you have the open house,"
That could mean hiring professional house cleaners, having the windows washed and having the carpets cleaned.
Stage your home with furniture and accessories. We have companies who add furniture and accessories to vacant homes. If you're living in the house, consider some small touches such as fresh towels in the bathroom, vases of flowers and a few well-chosen accessories. With furniture, less is often more. Wild-colored walls should be painted and, depending on your budget, you may want to paint kitchen cabinets, add new hardware or change faucets.
Get rid of clutter. If the house has too many pieces of furniture and knickknacks, it's hard for potential buyers to see the home's features. Sellers should start packing before the house goes on the market, making the home as sparse and streamlined as possible.
Remove personal items. "Homebuyers want to walk into the house and visualize it as their new home," When a potential buyer sees your family photos and your children's crayon drawings on the refrigerator during your open house, that becomes more difficult.
Remove pets if possible. Dogs, cats or other pets should neither be seen nor heard during the open house. If they can't be removed from the house, they need to be confined to a less trafficked space.
Spread the word. Make sure your open house is listed in the multiple listing service as well as on all the major real estate portals. And if you have an eager and experienced Realtor (which is impertinent) she or he should have some great Broker/Agents connections, plus many other arenas to blanket the public with the knowledge, that your house is for sale. We like to send special invitation flyers to the neighbors, give them premium access (one hour before the public) and you can also share the information on Nextdoor.com and neighborhood email lists. Share the information with friends via email and social media. "Do what you can to get the most people in the door,"
Let there be light. Open up all the curtains and blinds and turn on lights in every room, even on a sunny day. "Make it as bright and cheerful as you can,"
Protect your belongings. Remove or lock up any valuables. Your agent cannot be in every room with every prospective buyer at once, so be smart about what you leave out. For example Medications, Jewelry, weapons etc.
Provide information. You or your agent should provide information for prospective buyers to take with them, including a brochure or flyer with photos of the house, information on comparable home sales and perhaps school or community information. We can also get a local lender to provide information on payments with a few loan scenarios. "You don't want homebuyers to leave your home empty-handed," "This is not going to be the only house they're going to tour that day. It's hard to remember all the different homes that they walked through."
Yes, bake or buy cookies. Not all agents agree on the importance of refreshments, but most think they're a good idea. We sometimes invite food trucks to an open houses and give away sports tickets, notebooks or other trinkets. We also like the fact that serving cookies and drinks gets the visitors to stop and interact with the agent or seller.
Stay in the background if you're there at all. If a real estate agent is organizing the open house, the sellers should not be present. If you're doing your own open house, you want to be as professional and unobtrusive as possible so visitors will feel free to imagine themselves living in the house and discuss its flaws without fear of offending you.
Listen to feedback. One valuable takeaway from an open house is being able to hear what people think about the price and features. If six neighbors think the home is overpriced, it probably is. "If you don't get opinions and people's thoughts, you're wasting a lot of audience. Collect names and contact information from everyone who visits and contact them afterward to see what they thought of the house. Your agent will do that if you have one.
