Aug 21, 2013
If you’re considering hosting an open house, you should know that there are effective and not so effective ways at approaching it.
Today, I’m going to tell you about the best way to get the most out of an open house after your list your Wake County home for sale.
What to Do When Planning an Open House
Here are some general rules of thumb you should know about open houses:
- Sunday afternoon tends to be the time when you get the most traffic for open houses
- You should schedule two hours minimum for an open house, although some are held for four hours.
- Make sure to not schedule your open house on the same day as a holiday or community celebration.
- Always check the weather forecast beforehand because rainy weather deters people from wanting to go out in the community.
Okay, so you’ve decided to host an Open House in Wake County and you’ve even set a date. Now what?
Of course, your agent will help on the marketing and advertising side to make sure people know that the open house is occurring.
But for your side of it, you can help by preparing your home to show the best it possible can.
Here’s a schedule of events for the days leading up to your open house:
About a Week Before Your Own House
- Schedule a broker preview in which agents representing home buyers can come check out your home and provide valuable insight on how your home shows and whether your list price is hitting the mark.
- Start relocating some of your furniture into storage. It will open up your room and show off what is really for sale: the home itself.
- Also put into storage those items that aren’t for sale, such as that antique chandelier you want to keep. Anything that a buyer sees during a showing is fair game during the purchase offer phase. So make sure they don’t even know about those items you’re unwilling to part with.
- Schedule a place where your pets can stay during the open house. First, you don’t know whether the people visiting your home are going to be afraid of animals and second, you don’t want to remind prospective home buyers that an animal has lived in the house because they may have concerns about the condition of the home as a result.
Two or Three Days Before Your Open House
Give your home a thorough cleaning. Vacuum the carpets, clean the insides of your kitchen cabinets, wipe down the windowsills. Don’t overlook a single inch of your home.
Here are some other chores you may want to check off in the days leading up to your Open House:
- Buff surfaces to make them extra shiny
- Touch up any imperfections on the wall
- Make sure your garage is swept out.
- Clean up your yard’s plants to add to curb appeal.
One Day Before the Open House
The good news is that you’ve done most of the hard work over the last several days.
Just finished strong by doing a couple of last minute things around the house before the showing:
- Opening the windows to flood your home with fresh air
- Baking a treat in your home to fill it with a warm/inviting scent
- Doing one more walk through of your home to make sure you didn’t miss anything
- Setting out comment cards to encourage buyer feedback
Now sit back and relax. You’ve done everything you can to prepare for a successful home showing!
Your Wake County Real Estate Experts
For more valuable home selling tips, please contact us at the Rachel Kendall Team.
And don’t forget to take a few seconds to browse our online home-selling resources, which include:
- Free home evaluation
- Neighborhood sold report
- Selling guide