There is a lot more to holding an open house than simply putting up banners and leaving the door unlocked. We’ve provided the top open house advice for real estate agents of all experience levels to help you make the most of your marketing efforts, attract potential homeowners, and increase home sales. Here are some suggestions for your first open house to get things going:
Marketing, Advertising!
- You can’t have an open house without people to show up, right? Make sure to advertise your open house! These days, there are tons of sites that you can advertise on. There’s the real estate sites such as the MLS, Zillow, RedFin, etc., but there’s also Facebook and other social media sites to promote your open house.
Consider the Date and Time!
- The most targeted date to host an open house is on Sunday in the afternoon to better accommodate the morning plans of those wanting to attend.
Advertise Your Open House for Everyone!
- Anyone could have some friends or family that are looking for a house and could be checking out houses for them. Be intentional about not turning anyone away if they’re not looking for themselves. Exercise caution with all guests in your open house, as you can never be too careful when it comes to your own safety.
Check for Similar Properties for Sale Nearby!
- If there are similar properties near you that are also listed, reach out to the listing agents to try to set up an open house block party. The more houses involved, the more attention can be brought to the properties and it will help to draw people in.
Add More Curb Appeal!
- Any personal items and valuables, your client wants to keep, remove it from the home. This eliminates the possibility of any potential buyers asking to keep it as part of the sale. For example, sometimes when people see a living room set up, they can’t imagine it any other way after that. Be sure to remove the items that the seller wants to keep but are legally able to be kept.
- Any clutter in the viewing areas, be sure to remove it. It can lessen the interest of the potential buyers and take away curb appeal.
Set It Up!
- Staging the home also helps to increase buyer interest. Be sure to use quality furniture and decor when staging.
Pets!
- While most people love pets, not everyone does. Pets can actually be a deterrent when trying to sell a home. Some may not be okay with pets, some may be allergic, and some may not like that there were pets in the house even though the home should be clean. Keep pets in a separate room, garage, or away from the house during the open house so as not to risk them being a deterrent for potential buyers.
Guests!
- Be sure to greet your guests. Refreshments are great to provide and allow you to personally offer them to your guests. Another helpful tip is to have all the guests sign in when they enter the house. If you prefer to use an app so that you don’t have to worry about keeping up with a piece of paper, find one that works well for you. Using an app or piece of paper for sign-in allows you to have contact information for those guests you may have connected well with. You are able to contact them as leads now. You never know if they have a friend or family member that is looking for a new home.
Information!
- As the listing agent, it can be extremely helpful to have handouts and brochures with information about and pictures of the home, as well as your contact information or a business card. This will not only help to answer questions that may come up, but as the guests move onto other homes, this will remind them which house you represented and they also have information on the house due to the brochure also.
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