If you’re going through the trouble of hosting an open house, you need to make sure it’s a home run. This means preparing ahead of time and ironing out all of the little details.
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Why Host an Open House?
As a seller, hosting an open house is a great idea. It gives you several distinct benefits, including:
- Efficiency. Scheduling individual showings is a pain. If you work from home, you have to constantly leave the house so that people can see the property. With an open house, you can bring dozens of prospective buyers through in a matter of hours.
- In-person. An open house allows people to see your house in person, rather than just viewing it through pictures on a screen. People who otherwise might not go through the trouble of scheduling an individual showing will swing by an open house just to check it out.
- Perception. Executed properly, an open house can create an increased perception of demand. If someone is interested in buying the house and there are three other couples walking around, this stirs up a sense of urgency and FOMO. Both of these factors lead to faster and higher offers.
- Feedback. Even when people don’t make an offer, you can get valuable feedback on what they did and didn’t like. This helps you and your agent adapt.
Furthermore, when you host an open house, you may attract potential buyers who weren’t previously in the market for a home. For example, neighbors and other people might pass through and fall in love with your house. They never browsed Zillow for listings, but they found your house, and they may even put in an offer.
6 Pointers for Open House Success
As you think strategically about hosting an open house, here are several tips that will help you get better results:
1. Lean on Your Agent
The first suggestion is to lean on your agent during this process. This article is not meant to provide every piece of advice you need to host a successful open house or sell your home. Your agent is the professional here, and their guidance should be trusted. You can bring up these suggestions, but work with your agent and let them do the heavy lifting.
2. Choose the Right Time
Fridays through Sundays are generally the best days of the week to host an open house (though Saturday is probably the least desirable of the three). The best time slot is 1pm to 3pm. This allows you to target the most possible people in the most convenient time slot.
3. Advertise on Social Media
There are plenty of ways to advertise an open house and get foot traffic. In addition to placing physical signs in the area, you can advertise online. One especially effective option is to advertise on social media and to get people to share pictures of the property.
People love to share properties on social media, especially when they have friends who are in the market for a house. You’ll also find people in the neighborhood are quick to share. (They have an incentive for the house to sell quickly and at full price. They also want good neighbors, so they’ll let their friends know.)
4. Print Booklets
Most agents will print flyers and place them on the kitchen island during an open house. However, you can take this one step further and actually print an entire booklet.
A real estate booklet looks professional and communicates a level of luxury and professionalism. Inside the book, you can include features, upgrades, amenities, pictures, and even a couple of paragraphs about why you love the house and the area.
5. Steer Clear of the House
As the owner, you don’t want to be anywhere near the open house. Even if you think you’re pretty objective, you’ll find it easy to get worked up when people don’t like the house or have something critical to say. And if you’re a talker, you could hurt your leverage in negotiations by unintentionally saying something you shouldn’t. You’re better off grabbing the family and going to see a movie.
6. Gather Feedback
Make it a point to have your agent gather feedback from people as they leave the open house. Whether positive or negative, this real-time feedback will give you a feel for what people like and what they don’t. It’ll also let you know if your price is in the proper range.
Ready, Set, Show
An open house is still a powerful tool for selling a house. If you want to enhance the level of perceived demand, increase efficiency, and attract the most possible offers, this could be a strategy worth deploying. Work with your real estate agent to determine the best path forward.
