Open Houses: DOs and DON’Ts & INs and OUTs

In today’s high-tech and fast-paced real estate industry, most people still strongly believe the best way to get several qualified offers in a short period of time on a property is to host an open house. This is because even the best virtual tours will not be able to capture a home’s full potential. In fact, open houses are more important now than ever, especially if you are trying to sell as quickly as possible. Homes that are priced fairly are moving with great speed, which is why hosting an open house with the intention of accepting an offer at the end, can actually help spike a bidding war on your property.  Even though hosting an open house event is one of the oldest real estate marketing techniques in the book, there are some new spins you can put on them that will help showcase any property to its fullest potential.  With that being said, there are also several things you definitely do not want to do when planning an open house in 2023.  

Here are our top dos, don’ts, ins, and outs of the modern open house:

• Sellers should definitely follow the golden rules: clean, de-clutter, depersonalize, and stage.  These fundamental guidelines should never be overlooked and will go a lot further than any other single thing you can do.
• Sellers need to have a fair expectation of what people will do while touring their home, so do not neglect things like inside closets, appliances, garages, and outside living spaces.
• Seller’s agents should also make it known that offers will be reviewed after the open house and that they will be going with the highest and best.
• Seller’s agent should prepare handouts that include listing information and offer considerations requirements, as well as some community details. 
• Sellers do not want to be present during the open house, because it will make it hard for a potential buyer to envision themselves living in your house while you are standing right there.
• Do not take offense to any negative comments made about the home during feedback. Instead, if an offer is not made during the open house, try to improve on the items potential buyers found unattractive.
• Seller’s agents do want to put up signage that indicates things like where the crawl space entrance and sprinkler controls are located.  This way potential buyer will get the most information they can about the property upfront.
• Sellers do not want to leave any valuable or financial items out where they could potentially be stolen.  Although an agent is present during the open house, your home is essentially open to the public, which means the agent will not be following people from room to room.
• Sellers should not leave all the preparation for an open house to the day before.  Instead begin a week in advance by staging and deep cleaning, so that the day of or night before the open house you can do a “spring” clean which concentrates mostly on the things like tidying up, counters, bathrooms, and floors.