Open house events have long been a staple in the home-selling process. Prospective buyers or real estate agents have an opportunity to walk through your home and get a feel for the space, layout and special features your home has to offer. According to the National Association of Realtors, 23% of buyers found open houses to be useful during their search. However, it’ll take more than the scent of fresh-baked cookies or a quick run with the vacuum to turn an open house from a simple showing into a valuable selling tool.
Here’s how to ensure it all goes well:
10 steps to make your open house a success
1. Get agent input about specific actions to take
If you aren’t sure where to start in prepping your home for an open house, asking your real estate agent about what you should focus on is a good idea. They may have specific tips that are suited to your home that they believe will provide the biggest return on investment.
2. Thoroughly clean and organize the house
A less-than-pristine house might not impress buyers, potentially resulting in lower — or no — offers. You can take on the cleaning yourself, but hiring a cleaning service to come in the week before the open house can be worthwhile. Your agent may be a useful resource for recommendations, and the directory from the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals can point you towards a local business to help with streamlining the look of your home.
3. Consider a storage unit for excess furniture and personal items
Buyers like to imagine themselves living in the space, so having too much furniture or too many personal items on display can make it harder for them to visualize their own belongings. Too much furniture or clutter can also make your space look smaller than it really is. Paying for a rental unit to store your stuff may feel like an unnecessary spend, but a recent survey from Homelight found that decluttering can add anywhere from $4,000 to over $11,000 to the sale price of a home, depending on where you live.
4. Fix cosmetic issues that could deter buyers
When it comes to an open house, the details matter. Buyers tend to focus on the cosmetics of the home, so filling in nail holes, touching up paint on the walls and replacing old bedding and towels should be top priority.
And don’t forget about the exterior. Curb appeal is a powerful tool, so if your home’s exterior hasn’t had much focus in the past few years, now is a good time to give it a refresh. Cleaning the gutters, mowing the lawn and touching up the paint on your front door or porch, for example, can be useful steps.
5. Secure your valuables
A successful open house will require strangers to walk through your home, often without supervision. That can be difficult to swallow, but with a bit of smart preparation, you can minimize the risk to your personal belongings. Start by securing the windows and putting items like jewelry, medications and financial documents in a secure place, like a home safe or even a safe deposit box at the bank. Ask your agent to have every visitor sign in and check an ID, as well.
6. Welcome visitors with materials and snacks
Consider a welcome table right by the entrance to your home. Include bottles of water, snacks and factsheets for prospective buyers to enjoy. Your real estate agent may have a go-to approach to greeting guests, but it’s always worth checking to make sure there’s something comforting and homey about your event.
7. Be strategic about timing
Understanding your demographic — be it working professionals, families or young couples — can help you identify the best days and times to open up your home. You’ll also want to consider your home’s best features. Skylines are great to showcase at night, while a sunny afternoon is a charming way to highlight a family-friendly backyard.
8. Have somewhere to go on the day, but be available to your agent
Having a homeowner in the space during an open house can be somewhat off-putting to buyers, so it’s generally best if the homeowner leaves during the showing. However, make sure that wherever you go, you’re available to your agent. That way, if there are any questions from prospective buyers, you can quickly answer them. So options like the movie theater or places with poor phone reception are best skipped.
9. Set your alarm the night before, and have a last-minute checklist
Even after a deep clean, you’ll want to make sure your routine chores are finished before your open house. That’s why it’s important to have a last-minute checklist and time to complete those tasks before you vacate the premises. This may include things like cleaning the fingerprints off windows and stainless steel appliances, opening the blinds and drapes, clearing away dirty dishes, putting away dirty clothes, vacuuming and replacing toilet rolls. Set an alarm to make sure you wake up with enough time to get it all done.
10. Have a feedback plan
If you foresee having multiple open houses, feedback is a critical part of your open-house strategy. It’ll allow you to understand if there are any ways you can improve the home to make it more enticing to buyers going forward. Your agent will likely set up a way to collect feedback (for example, via a follow-up email or online form), but if not, you can request they make contacting visitors a priority. Just be sure that you and your agent have a plan for how to use that information, including who will review the feedback.
