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Open House
To do or not to do?
I will say, if you can get the exposure, why not? Different trends bring different ways to market homes. We have to be creative and get the job done.
This is a very good question. As a seller, it is sometimes such a hassle to leave your house for hours and have to make everything shine and smell great, but it could be well worth the extra effort and hard work. Sometimes it only takes that one person to walk through your home to either love it themselves, or tell someone that they know about your home and woolah! Sold! In a perfect world, this would happen every time. Since we don’t live in a perfect world though, this is just one more way to draw attention to your house. Sometimes we may try several marketing techniques and get a small amount of success from each one, but in the end it all adds up.
If you do plan for your realtor to hold open house, you may want to consider a few things:
• Be sure to have somewhere to go for the full allotted time of the open house.
• Baking bread or cookies just before your open house is a perfect way to make your guests feel at home.
• Take extra steps to insure that the pets are removed from the premises.
• Be sure that all of the beds are made, the dishes are done, and things are neat and tidy throughout the home.
• Put away any small items of value that a person or child with sticky fingers may easily put into their pockets, such as jewelry & coins. Though rare, it can happen.
• You may talk with your realtor about making signs that point out special features of your house that are not obvious.
• Have a fresh vase of flowers on the table or a desk.
• Your realtor is likely going to need a clear counter or area for displaying informational packets and/or a guest book to sign.
• Either you or your realtor may want to offer snacks and a bottle of cool water for your guests.
• Have colorful pot of flowers on your front porch or close by.
• Be sure that the path to get to your home is clean and fresh looking.
• Pull any lingering weeds that may be coming up in the flowerbeds or pathways.
• Have a welcome mat at the front door.
• Last but not least, Relax. Enjoy the day and go for a well deserved outing, see a movie or go to a nice park and have lunch with a good book.
• Try not to think about the open house. Take time out for you and enjoy yourself. Let your realtor do the rest.
Open house is a very personal choice, and we tend to give the home owner the option whether or not to hold their house open, however you choose, we are happy to do it. We will try our best to make it as least stressful as possible.
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