Tips for a Successful Open House
When you’re showing your home to potential buyers, you want them to feel welcomed. There are simple things you can do to make your home desirable to buyers. Here are some tricks for making sure your open house goes well.
Simple But Important Ways to Have a Good Open House
After doing big projects like updating or remodeling your home, it would be a nightmare for the open house to go poorly because of things that were overlooked. If your home has certain qualities that make it really stand out, you want potential buyers to notice and remember those things, not the one detail they didn’t like. Here’s a checklist for you to go through to make sure you get people walking in, make them feel welcome, and give them a good overall feeling about your home to walk away with.
View the largest and most accurate selection of real estate in Ohio by HER, REALTORS® >
Advertise online
If you want to draw a good crowd, then your best bet is making it easy for people to find your house online or on smartphone apps. Gone are the days when a newspaper ad and a few signs were enough to get people’s attention. Nowadays, a lot of people use apps and websites to find houses on the market in their area and compare prices.
You definitely want to use social media to your advantage. Sharing everything on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram puts the word out and allows your open house dates to be seen by a lot of people in a short time.
Create a Good First Impression
Some people put a lot of trust in their first, gut instinct. You want to make sure the landscaping and the exterior paint, or anything else outside like garage doors, a mailbox, exterior doors, and house numbers, are all fresh and nice-looking. It’s also a good idea to clear the walkway of leaves or dirt and get cars out of the driveway.
Keep Things Clean and Neutral
Obviously, the house should be clean, but in addition to that, you should take away any personal items or controversial items, like anything political or religious, that might show your impression on the house. You also want to stay away from any out of the ordinary designs and stick to neutral colors and simple patterns. Buyers want to imagine themselves living in the home, so it’s good to keep the decor fairly neutral to make it easy for different people to picture themselves living there.
Good Lighting
Make sure to let in as much natural lighting as possible. Open any curtains or blinds to let in sunlight and brighten up the home. Lighting has a huge impact on the atmosphere of a room. Any room that feels too dark might feel unwelcoming and skew people’s gut instinct in the wrong direction.
Provide Information to Take Away
Providing buyers with a brochure or flyer with photos of the house and information about it is a good way to ensure that your house isn’t forgotten. Especially for buyers who have looked at so many homes that they’re all blurring together, it’s important that you have something tangible to give them that reminds them what makes your home stand out.
Cookies Couldn’t Hurt
Getting free food always makes people feel good. This is a simple way to make people feel welcomed and happy while they’re observing your home.
Don’t Stick Around
It’s hard for buyers to imagine themselves living in a home when the person who currently lives there is around. It also makes them feel awkward about commenting on things they don’t like about the home. After you set everything up for the open house, keep your distance so buyers feel comfortable.
If you want to have a successful open house, you everyone who walks in the door to feel welcomed, and you want them to leave feeling good and having an image of themselves living there. You want your open house to get people’s attention, keep their attention, and leave them with a good feeling about your home. These simple tips can help you ensure that your open house achieves that.