On average, homes that are showcased in open houses sell at a higher price of around $9,000 more. In addition, they typically spend approximately one week less time on the market.
Are you looking to sell your home quickly and for the most money? Open house realty can be a fast and effective way to close the sale, whether you're going FSBO or using a real estate agent.
That said, an open house's effectiveness to get prospective buyers through the door depends to a large extent on a proper balance of planning and preparation.
Continue reading to learn what an open house is, how it typically works, and how to hold a successful one.
What Is an Open House?
When selling your house, you want as many people as possible to see it to increase the chance of a quick sale. An open house offers a perfect opportunity to achieve exactly that. It helps you get as many prospects as possible through the door after the property listing.
As the name suggests, this real estate marketing strategy involves setting a specific date and time during which interested buyers and/or their agents can view the house without an appointment. This eliminates the need to tie up visits to your availability or that of your realtor.
What Does an Open House Typically Involve?
While open houses are a clever method of unloading houses in a hurry, knowing how they work is key to maximizing their effectiveness. Here are the steps involved in holding an open house to close a house sale.
Staging the Home
Home staging is a key step in hosting an open house, as it allows you to prepare your house for viewing by potential buyers. It may include cleaning, decluttering, and rearranging furniture to create an inviting and appealing atmosphere for prospective buyers.
If you still live in the property, consider removing personal items to help prospects see themselves living in that space.
Consider using a professional stager for your open house. Professional home staging will showcase your home's best features and assets, allowing you to impress buyers and close the sale fast.
Scheduling the Viewing
Planning an open house involves deciding on the date and time when potential buyers can visit your property. It is important to choose a date and time when more people are available to visit.
Promoting the Open House
The primary goal of an open house is to make as many potential buyers as possible visit your property during the specified time. If you put little to no effort into marketing your open house, many prospects won't know about it.
There are various marketing tools, such as online listings, social media posts, flyers, and signs that you can use to send out your open house invitation. Understanding the market is essential to selecting the most appropriate channels.
Meeting and Greeting Visitors
On the day of your open house, you should be in full meet-and-greet mode. Visitors expect a friendly and knowledgeable person to provide a guided tour of the property, showing off its major selling points and answering any questions they may have.
Since not everyone can visit the property for a physical tour, consider offering virtual tours to attract more potential buyers. Live streaming a tour of the property is possible, with prospective buyers viewing in real-time.
Following Up
After giving visitors guided tours of your property, you may follow up with them to gauge their interest in the property. You may also use this opportunity to answer any questions they may have about the property. If satisfied with your answers, serious buyers will be ready to counter your offer at this point.
How Can You Host a Successful Open House?
An open house is a key part of selling your home. But it requires careful forethought and proper planning to be successful. Here are some open house ideas and tips to attract buyers to your residential real estate listing.
Know What Buyers Want
Open houses are open to everyone, including those who enjoy peeking in out of curiosity. While this may mean opening your doors to non-serious buyers, it offers opportunities to visit nearby homes to see how they are staged.
Before staging your home, visit comparable properties in your neighborhood or area to look around and hear what sellers or their real estate agents have to say. This will provide you with valuable insight into what the competition has to offer. Stage your home based on what potential buyers are looking for.
Get the Timing Right
Proper scheduling is crucial to hosting a successful open house. Choosing the best time for prospects to visit your property increases the likelihood of closing the sale quickly. This is typically on the weekend or after work hours before nightfall.
Avoid times when people are working or looking to go on vacation. Be open to accommodate visits by buyers who are genuinely interested but unable to attend the open house.
Harness the Lead-Generating Potential of Social Media
Social media serves different purposes for different users, with some users seeing certain platforms as better suited than others for specific content types.
Sharing marketing content on the right social media platforms can be an effective way to get the word out about your open house.
If you offer virtual tours of your home, for example, consider cutting the tours into snippets for your social media audience. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are good examples of popular platforms that work well for short video marketing. This strategy can be highly effective for realtors with strong personal brands on social media.
Design High-Quality Flyers
Flyers are indispensable for any home sale. Not only do they provide essential details about a property, such as the total square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and outdoor space, but also serve as physical and digital channels for your marketing effort.
Keep the open house flyer design clear, concise, and easy to read, and use high-quality images to create a positive and lasting impression in the minds of potential buyers.
Follow Up Leads Via Direct Email
Open houses are a great way to generate leads for your home sale. However, you don't want to come off as pushy when following up on those leads.
With real estate email marketing, you can craft personalized messaging using each recipient's name, occupation, and other information that they provided when signing in to your open house.
This allows you to follow up on prospects in a personal and direct way, potentially increasing their interest in buying your property.
Invite the Neighbors Over
Don't always look at your neighbors as people that could hurt your house sale. If you are going FSBO, use them to your advantage by arranging a neighbor-only open house.
Hosting a private open house for neighbors is a great way to connect with prospects who want to move out without leaving the neighborhood. If your neighbors aren't interested in buying the property, they might know a friend or family member that wants to get into the neighborhood.
Focus on Curb Appeal
Your home's exterior environment is the first thing people will see when they come to view the property. For this reason, it deserves as much attention during staging as the interior space.
When staging your home for an open house, don't just focus on the furniture arrangement and other aspects of the interior layout. Carry out improvements to enhance your home's curb appeal. These include exterior painting, maintaining the lawn, and repairing the roof.
Beautiful exteriors help make your home look inviting to visitors from a distance, giving them a positive first impression of the property.
Offer Incentives
You love incentives, and so do prospective home buyers. Small incentives such as free drinks and refreshments can encourage more potential buyers to attend your open house, increasing your chances of selling the property quickly.
Set a Reasonable Price for Your House
Proper pricing is essential when conducting an open house. Set the price too high and you could struggle to find a buyer. Set it too low and you will leave money on the table.
Before scheduling the open house, conduct local market research to determine the best price for your property.
Use a Custom Sign
Open house signs are an effective way to inform people about your open house mission. If you are going to put up an open house sign in your front yard, make sure it stands out in the crowd. Custom signs are an excellent way to achieve this goal.
Open House Realty: Your Gateway to a Quick House Sale
Open house realty can help you reach more potential buyers, giving them a chance to envision living in your home. Every residential property listing is unique and requires careful forethought and proper planning to sell quickly and for the right price.
If you need help with holding an open house for your home, don't hesitate to search for top real estate agents in your location. Our team can help you find an agent with the expertise and experience needed to plan an effective open house and take the hassle out of your home sale!