Hosting an Open House: Last Minute Preparations

Open houses are one of the many marketing efforts we use to sell a home. And when the environment is right – the house presentable and the sellers willing – it is also one of the most successful. There are countless benefits to hosting an open house, but it is undoubtably a process requiring more effort on both the realtor and the seller's parts. If you’re eager to get a wider reach and more engagement on your listing, going through the steps to make the event successful can lead to closing the very same day. Here are some tips to help guarantee a positive outcome:

The key to a good open house is objectivity. We understand that it can be hard to look at your beloved home as a product; dissociating from a space with your children’s height markings on the kitchen doorway or the slightly ripped carpet for your kitten’s early days is going to be one of the most difficult things about this process. But the quirks you love about your home might be the very same that deter potential buyers. If your home’s environment is still your home’s environment, buyers will have a hard time envisioning a future for themselves there. Achieving a prototypical yet warm feel can be achieved by simply removing some of the more personal items from your space - family photos, quirky salt and pepper shakers, or some of your children’s elementary school art projects - will do wonders in creating a neutral space fit to inspire every buyer’s imagination.

Think about the type of neighborhood you live in and what kind of buyers you want to target so that you can stage your home accordingly. The Teresa Cowart Team is well-versed in surrounding market prices and demographics; we can work with you to tailor a marketing strategy that will attract the right kind of buyers to your home. If you’re thinking about renovating before an open house, make a realistic plan that not only fits your budget and time frame, but that will impress your target market. If you live in a high-end neighborhood, buyers will expect upgrades and features throughout. We can help you determine your area’s standards before helping you research contractors and interior designers.

In making final touches, keep in mind that most buyers are looking for move-in ready conditions. As a seller, you want to stage your home to appear so. A week before your event, clean the house top the bottom, making sure to pay attention to small details along windowsills, walls, even garage floors to create a sparkling atmosphere. Prune your yard to ensure that you make a good first impression; your front lawn and porch are the first things potential buyers are going to see when they drive up. To make your interior appear more spacious, we recommend that sellers move at least one piece of furniture out of the house and into a storage facility.

We host open houses on Saturday and Sunday afternoons – typically for about two hours to allow a nice flow of buyer traffic. We work alongside your schedule to avoid conflicts with holidays, community celebrations, or special events. Weeks before the event, we work to create flyers with all the information that potential buyers will find necessary – photographs, specs, and price – to share on social media for an even larger marketing range.

One all of this is in order – the rooms aired out and baked goods set in the kitchen for guests to enjoy – you’re ready to start inviting people into your home.