5 Tips on How to Plan and Host an Open House

When selling a house, it’s important to boost the property’s visibility to attract more potential buyers. Whether you’re a real estate agent or a homeowner, one of the best ways to do this is by hosting an open house. As the name suggests, an open house is a public event that allows people to freely enter and tour a property. While it’s possible to view a house for sale through the internet, no amount of images can emulate the experience that an open house offers to prospective buyers.

By exploring a home, prospects get to view certain features that they wouldn’t have otherwise seen in an online listing. Many people will surely appreciate this, as it gives them a realistic and in-depth look at the quality of a property, as well as its surrounding neighborhood. That being said, an open house is the perfect opportunity for sellers or real estate agents to bring out the best in a home and help it stand out from the competition.

Hosting a public event might seem like an immense and daunting task, but it’s actually fairly simple with some careful planning. If you’re interested in setting up an effective open house, below are five tips to keep in mind.

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Set the Right Schedule

Timing is everything when it comes to planning an open house. Setting the right schedule will ensure that more prospective buyers attend your event. With that in mind, do avoid hosting your open house on a holiday or a civic event as this is likely to cause a lower turn-out rate. Additionally, it helps to search for the schedules of other open houses around the neighborhood, so you can schedule yours during the same timeframe. This will help your event gain more visitors due to the increased traffic in your property’s area.

Remember to give yourself enough time to plan your open house. You’ll need at least two weeks to get everything in order before hosting it. With so much to do, it can be difficult to organize and keep track of your schedule and responsibilities. Luckily, you can use digital tools like “Showing Pro” to streamline your workflow. With it, you can plan your open house on a digital calendar and schedule all your tasks on one convenient platform. For more information, click here: www.proagentsolutions.com/real-estate-showing-scheduler/.

Choose Effective Marketing Methods

After you’ve planned a schedule, you’ll need to promote your open house. If you prefer traditional promotional methods, you can use road signs, printed advertisements, or word-of-mouth marketing. As for digital methods, you can post details about your open house on your social media platforms or website. If your house’s neighborhood has a community website, you can advertise your open house event on it as well, so long as it’s permissible. It may help to use both traditional and digital marketing methods to reach more potential buyers. For an effective marketing campaign, be sure to start advertising at least a week prior to the event itself.

Plan the Appropriate Safety Measures

Do keep in mind that an open house is still a public event that requires some precaution. Many strangers will be entering and exploring the property, so make sure to plan the appropriate safety measures. These include securing or hiding important valuables, checking on your home’s insurance coverage, and notifying neighbors about the open house so that they can stay vigilant. Even if a house is located in a safe neighborhood, it’s always best to prepare for unforeseen and potentially harmful circumstances.

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Create an Appealing Home Environment

The house is the main attraction of your event, and it’s the first thing that most prospective buyers want to see. This is why creating a clean, organized, and appealing home environment is paramount. If a home has pets, make sure that they’re not present during the open house. While some visitors may be animal-lovers, others may not be fond of pets or might have fur allergies.

Make sure that all the rooms in the house are clean, especially the kitchen and the bathroom, as these are places that buyers often pay the most attention to. Declutter each room and provide ample space for visitors to walk around in. You may also want to add a few extra touches to the house for a pleasant sensory experience. For instance, you can spray room fragrances and play soft music before the event to leave a lasting impression on potential buyers.

Providing Informational Materials and a Sign-in Book

Prospective buyers may want to take home informational materials about the house, especially if they’ve developed an interest in it. That said, do provide visitors with brochures, flyers, or booklets about the property. You may leave them near the front door or distribute them yourself when prospects leave the house. It also helps to have visitors log their contact details into a sign-in book when they enter the house as this will help you keep in touch with interested buyers.  

Hosting an open house is a great way to show off a property’s best features and gain more offers from potential buyers. Although planning a public event like this can take some time and effort, it doesn’t have to be challenging. With some proper planning, effective marketing, and good house maintenance, you’ll be closing a deal in no time.