Houston Real Estate

14 Useful Open House Tips To Get Your Home Ready

There’s no denying open houses can be one of the most high-pressure situations for a homeowner.

You’ve got potential buyers coming through your home and asking many questions, determining whether or not your home is what they’re looking for.

It’s critical that you do what you can to make your house look as appealing as possible so it can put any interested parties at ease.

If you’re getting ready for open houses, here are some tips to make this process easier:

Table of Contents

Organizing

organizing-open-house-reland-homes

Organize beforehand: take the time a few days before to get everything in order. Remember to clean! Spend an hour on this task and you’ll thank yourself later.

Declutter Your Home

Declutter-Your-Home-open-house-reland-homes

Get rid of clutter: cluttered rooms can make potential buyers feel overwhelmed, as if there’s too much to do, or worse yet make them think the open house is aimless and not well-researched.

If you’ve got lots of “stuff,” it’s a good idea to get rid of some of it beforehand.

Lighting

lighting-open-house-reland-home

Make sure the lighting is adequate: you don’t need to buy new light fixtures, but these events are not conducive for low-light levels.

You want your home to be bright and inviting! If you can’t open up all of your windows because of cold weather or other circumstances, make sure that the lights you do open are adequate.

Keep The Noise Down!

keep-noise-down-open-house-reland-homes

Think about reducing the noise in your home: These events require you to interact with people, but that doesn’t mean you want them making too much noise as they come through.

Look for ways to reduce the sound level in your home before open house day.

This might include using rugs to reduce sound, closing open doors, or putting in new carpets.

Provide Adequate Notices to Neighbors

notify-neighbors-open-house-reland-homes

Reach out to your neighbors: open houses are a big deal! You might have potential buyers coming through your home making noise and using your driveway as well as standing on the sidewalk.

Try to put up signs asking people to be quiet so you don’t disturb the neighbors.

Networking

networking-open-house-reland-homes

Talk to your open house visitors: They aren’t just for potential buyers.

This can be useful to promote other houses you’ve been advertising locally in addition to notices that will show up online via sites like a HAR .

This is a great way to help make sure they are as open and available to people in your area.

You don’t want someone visiting without getting a chance to see all of them!

Prospecting

unexpected-visitors-open-house-reland-homes

Be prepared for unexpected visitors: 

They’re also about potential tenants who might be looking for rental properties, home inspectors (also a great opportunity to encourage prospective buyers!), and home sellers who might be interested in seeing how their competition has done.

Keep sessions Small

small-session-open-house-reland-homes

Don’t make them last too long: It can be stressful for potential buyers, so don’t expect them to linger for hours on end.

Try not to exceed three open houses in one day.

Marketing

marketing-open-house-reland-homes

Get open houses out to as many people as possible: 

Try to get information on social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter so that it can be seen by a wider audience.

It might be helpful for you to reach out to local realtors and Real Estate websites to make sure they know about dates on show.

Staging

staging-open-house-reland-homes

Keep your home fresh: This is a great opportunity for you to keep your home updated by adding furniture or other accessories that buyers might like.

This will help with the appearance of your home, as well as show potential buyers that you’re open to making your home more attractive!

Feedback

feedback-open-house-reland-homes

Think about feedback: 

While they’re great ways to gain exposure, they are also stressful experiences for potential buyers.

Make sure that you organize feedback so that you know what people liked and didn’t like.

You can use this information to influence open house preparation and experience in the future.

Trends

trends-open-house-reland-homes

Watch for open house trends: It’s a great opportunity for you to see what your competition is doing.

If you find that some that are selling quickly, but others take a long time, it might be because of how they are being managed.

Make a plan based on what you see.

Public Open Houses

public-open-house-reland-homes

You can also make them available to the public, which can be a great way to get information out about others in your area.

This is especially useful if you have an open house that has already happened, but you still have others going on during the same time that you might want to make available to people who couldn’t come to the original one.

Have Fun

have-fun-open-house-reland-homes

Don’t forget to have fun: They are a great way for you and your family to get involved with your home in a different light.

Use open houses as an opportunity to decorate, clean up, and do some preparation that will make them a bit more enjoyable for you, your family and guests.

Get your Home Ready For Open Today!

This is a great way for you to share your home with the world.

Whether it’s on social media sites, real estate websites, or through word of mouth, don’t forget about how important they can be in getting new potential buyers interested in what you have available!

With 14 tips and tricks that we’ve shared here today – make sure to check them out if you’re looking into hosting an open house this year.

We hope these suggestions will help give prospective home buyers the opportunity they deserve to see all that is possible in one place: so take care of your  home and get ready for some visitors!

Help With Your Open House

Reland Homes we specialize in helping out with these events.

We want to help you sell more homes faster by providing quality perspective buyers the opportunity to tour your home at their convenience.

Other Houston Real Estate Blogs that you may be interested in reading: