July, 2022
Hosting an open house is a brilliant way to create a buzz about your house sale and get plenty of potential buyers through the doors in one go. We look at all the advantages and disadvantages to an open house, tips for success and whether they actually work to sell your home.
When you are selling your home, an open house replaces the need for successive numbers of viewings. Instead of conducting viewings as and when, you set aside a few hours on a particular day for viewings. It might be that anyone can come and take a look during that time, or your estate agent schedules back-to-back appointments to fill the time you have allocated. Most sellers prefer the appointments to be scheduled rather than allowing people to drop by unarranged.
An open house doesn’t replace listing your property online with the top property portals like Rightmove and Zoopla. Marketing your property on these sites through a high street or online estate agent is essential to getting your home seen by prospective buyers.
Open days are particularly beneficial to sellers. Using an open day means you can get a whole block of viewings done at once. So you only have to stage your home once and get it looking its best for that day.
An open house will save you from having to constantly clean and keep your home ever-prepped for potential viewings, which is ideal if you have children or pets and a full time job to juggle as well.
The other benefit of open days is that by having lots of people viewing your home at once it can build a sense of urgency among potential buyers. If interested viewers can see potential competition from all the other people visiting your home, it may make them more serious and more likely to put in an offer faster and possibly closer to asking price than they might do in another situation.
You want your house to look its best and ideally avoid rush hour traffic or fading light. So, avoid evenings. You also want as many people as possible to be able to attend, so don’t go for a weekday.
The best day to have an open day is a Saturday. Allow enough time in the morning for you to get up and give the house a final clean. From 10am until around 2pm is the golden time to get lots of people through the door. But if there’s more demand for viewing slots, your estate agent may want to go into late afternoon. Cram appointments in to give the open day energy and make the property appear popular.
Make sure people know about your open house. As well as advertising your open day on your property listing on Zoopla and Rightmove, ask your estate agent to create a brochure to send to potential home buyers in advance and to hand out on the day.
Your estate agent should also promote your open day in the property listing on their website, in their branch and in local newspapers. They should ring round anyone on their books interested in a property like yours and encourage them to attend.
Declutter & Tidy
You should start preparing for an open house weeks beforehand. Tidy up your house and either sell, donate or store your clutter elsewhere.
Carry out minor repairs & fixes
Once the place is tidy have a look around for any little jobs that need doing. Do you need to touch up the paint-work, or get a broken socket fixed, or buy some new rugs to cover tired carpets?
Don’t forget kerb appeal
Kerb appeal is more powerful than most sellers realise, so make sure the front of your house is looking appealing too. Tidy up the front garden, trim any hedges. You could even consider giving the front door a fresh lick of paint if it is looking a little tatty.
In the final run-up to your open day make sure your house is sparkling. Get the windows cleaned inside and out, dust, hoover and clean the whole house. Personal possessions should be stowed away out of sight. Make sure you pack away anything valuable and any sensitive documents too.
Discuss with your estate agent how offers will be handled after the open house. One option is for buyers to put in sealed bids with the deadline set a couple of days after the open house.
HS Homes of Solihull is a small independent estate agency based in Shirley, Solihull. In a nutshell we sell houses, however for us it is much more than just selling a house, it is about being there for our customers when they need us the most and going the extra mile ensure full customer satisfaction.
We have achieved 100% success rate on sales and are a 5 star rated company too.
At HS Homes of Solihull you will be assigned one point of contact who will be with you throughout your moving journey. This personal 121 service is not something you will from most agents. We also offer around the clock support to our buyers and sellers meaning you will always have someone to talk to when you need them.
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