How Do You Prepare Your Home for a Perfect Open House?

If you’re getting ready to sell your home, hosting an open house can provide you with a range of amazing benefits. While posting lots of online photos is a good way to show potential buyers your property, an open house offers a much more personal and intimate experience. Allowing people to see the house in person gives them a chance to get an in-depth, detailed look at your home.

Before you contact a real estate agent to discuss your listing, it’s good to know how having an open house will benefit you and how you should prepare your home before the big day arrives. From professional home staging to catering and more, read on to learn how you can prep your home for an amazing open house that will entice buyers to make an offer.

The Benefits of an Open House

Hosting an open house is a smart way to reach more buyers when you’re ready to sell your home. While it takes a bit of planning, the open house benefits are plenty.

Your home will stand out. Photos online are a great way to showcase the features of your home, but there’s nothing quite like seeing those same features in a real, personal setting. An open house allows you to show off your home and highlight all of the things that make it special. Consider using professional home staging to make your home even more appealing to a wider range of buyers. Stagers will bring in furniture and décor to create a functional, versatile space that buyers can envision living in themselves.

A more personal experience. When you host an open house, you’ll get a chance to talk to people who are interested one-on-one. This is a perfect opportunity to tell stories about the home and to get to know visitors and their agents. A relaxed environment allows people to open up, and you might even get an offer based on your conversations at the open house.

Lower marketing costs. Most sellers who host an open house get an offer much faster than when they market through traditional means alone. This gives you a chance to reduce countless weeks of showings for individual buyers, which won’t just lower your marketing costs, but also your stress level. In many instances, sellers get an offer after hosting just one open house, which results in a faster turnaround time, too.

It’s your chance to tell buyers why they should buy your home. Talk to buyers at the open house and tell them everything you love about the home, the neighborhood, and the nearby amenities. This is your chance to really sell the home and give people some insider tips on the best local restaurants, schools, and more. Location is one of the most important things to buyers, so focus on why the home is in such a perfect area.

Steps to Prepare Your Home for an Open House

Now that you know more about the benefits of hosting an open house, it’s time to prepare your property for a successful sale. Here are the crucial steps to follow so that you can have adequate open house preparation for the big event. Make sure that you follow these steps in order so that everything is perfectly in place.

Steps to take far in advance. Before you even talk to a real estate agent about selling your property, you should make sure that your home and its major systems are in great condition. This includes checking on everything from the condition of the roof to the foundation and the HVAC system. When all of these things are taken care of, you’ll have a lot less to worry about later when the home inspection takes place. The sooner you take care of the big things, the more time you’ll have to focus on the fine details. Look for serious red flags like leaking faucets or damaged shingles and get these items repaired as soon as possible. It’s the best way to address major issues head-on well before you’re ready to sell the home.

Steps to take a few months before the open house. Make sure that your home is ready for sale a few months before you schedule the open house. This means you should look in the attic to ensure that your home has the right amount of insulation to keep it comfortable. Consider hiring a professional pest control company to make sure that there are no issues with insects or small animals. Schedule a one-time treatment just as a preventative measure to protect your property from unruly pests. Look closely at the walls and ceiling to determine if you need to do a little touch-up painting. You might also want to weigh the option of repainting the walls since a fresh coat of paint can do wonders for a home. Don’t forget to check on the exterior paint, too. Look closely at your siding, walkway, and deck and determine if you need to do some pressure washing to enhance curb appeal. Remove weeds and trim tree limbs to create an attractive landscape in the front and back of the home. If your carpet is dirty, now’s the time to have it professionally cleaned or think about installing new flooring.

Steps to take a few weeks before the event. Now is the time to come up with the optimum date to list the home and schedule your open house. Most people are free on weekends, and many buyers tend to visit open houses on Sunday mornings, but Saturdays are also a good choice. As the open house date gets closer, you’ll need to do some basic housekeeping. This is the perfect time to purge and declutter so that your home is open, airy, and easy for guests to navigate. Consider putting large items in storage, and host a yard sale to get rid of anything you no longer want or need. Polish your hardwood floors, clean the baseboards and scrub all of the sinks, tubs, and showers. A deep clean will make your home look and feel fresh and new, and you’ll be able to host the event confidently. Don’t forget to remove personal items like family photos so that the house is a “blank slate” where buyers can easily see themselves living there. Pass out flyers, and post your open house information online and on all real estate websites once the date is officially confirmed.

Last steps. Once your date is scheduled, you’ll want to hire a home stager to make your home look clean, modern, and on-trend. Stagers can transform the inside of your home and make it appealing to a large range of buyers from all different age groups and backgrounds. If you’re considering some open house catering, now is the time to book your caterer and come up with a menu. Offering drinks and light snacks to your guests is a wonderful way to encourage them to stay longer, ask questions, and consider making an offer. If you have the budget, a professional photographer can also be helpful. These pros will take clear, crisp photos of every room and every unique feature so that the listing looks enticing online. Beautiful photos will pique the interest of buyers and increase the number of people who attend the open house. On the day of the event, make sure that your pets or kids have somewhere to go until it’s over. Hire a babysitter or pet sitter who can watch your littlest family members and keep them entertained until everyone is gone.

After the open house. Once your open house is over, you’ll want to make sure that everything is clean and ready in case someone makes an offer. You can hire a professional house cleaner to clean the home from top to bottom, including the insides of appliances, or simply reserve a day to do some deep cleaning yourself. Some people may leave a business card or their contact information behind. Make sure that your real estate agent follows up with all interested parties to get their honest opinion of the home and to find out if they would like to make an offer. Following up is the most important step, since this is your chance to get a real offer on the home and close the deal.

With a little bit of preparation, you can host an unforgettable open house that will inspire buyers to make an offer. An experienced real estate agent will help you find an amazing home stager who can help you create the perfect home so buyers will fall in love. Don’t forget to do some major repairs well in advance and make sure that your home is clean, open, and tidy when the big day finally arrives. A successful open house is a great way to guarantee that your home sells fast.

Originally posted in ISN