Guide for Hosting an Open House

Guide for Hosting an Open House Your Perfect Guide for Hosting an Open House Open houses are great ways to get buyers into the house and an excellent opportunity to prospect for future clients. The goal is to attract buyers and make them think about making an offer. When planning an open house, remember you want to help prospective buyers imagine themselves living in this house. First, you’ll need to learn as much as you can about the property, the neighborhood, and the most likely buyers. This will help you tailor the presentation to what buyers want and make the property stand out amongst the competition. Preparation is key: Make sure the necessary repairs and upgrades are done, the landscaping is trimmed, and the interior and exterior are spotless. Here are a few tips for hosting a successful open house: Transform features into benefits: If a feature doesn’t have a tangible benefit for them, buyers won’t care. Keep this in mind when marketing and hosting open houses. Sellers’ vanishing act: The sellers, the pets, and litter boxes should be gone. Brutally depersonalize and declutter. Photo shoot ready: You want the house to look like a photo in a design magazine, so carefully arrange a few quality pieces of furniture with minimal decorations. Keep the décor to a minimum: The fewer items in a room or a closet, the larger it will seem. In the kitchen and bathrooms, clear everything off the counters and put away dish soap and sponges. Lighten it up: Every room should be flooded with light. Turn on lights and open the drapes. Eliminate unpleasant odors. Make it special: Give them a little something more than what they can see from the listing photos and videos and maybe some music, snacks, and free buyers’ guides. Friendly and helpful: Greet your guests warmly as they arrive, mention a few special features about the property, and ask them to sign the sign-in sheet. Fabulous flyers: Have a stack of attractive flyers to hand out featuring professional photos and all the pertinent details. One of a kind: Play up the unique construction details, alternative uses for rooms, and the things the sellers love about the house. Lots of signs: Place Open House signs in strategic locations along the route to the house: in front of the house, a few blocks away, and at the turn off from the main road. Some agents set up 20 signs! Easy and inviting: You want as many visitors as possible, so you need to make it easy to attend. Have the sellers move their vehicles somewhere else and try to park your car so as to allow lots of open parking space.