For your open house to be effective and hit the mark with prospective buyers, you must fully prepare for the big day. If you have engaged a real estate agent, she or he can host a broker preview for other agents to tour your home and give feedback about how your home shows and if your home is appropriately priced. If your home isn’t priced right, people won’t show up to the open house. You want your house hunter informed, interested, and, most of all, interested in the house. One out of every two home buyers will spend time visiting open houses, so you want to throw the best open house party possible. Your house must be as sterile as an operating room, as uncluttered as a five-star hotel room, and as homey as grandma’s kitchen. This is all about creating a fantasy. Your open house shouldn’t say, “I live here,” but instead, it should seem very accessible and whisper to the potential buyers, “You could live here. Can’t you see yourself in that sunny kitchen, smiling at your angelic children as they do their homework quietly and neatly at the kitchen table while you whip up a gourmet meal for the whole family to enjoy?” Preparing your home will take some work. It’s important to create an illusion for the prospective buyers in which they imagine themselves living there. Remove as many personal items as possible, especially things that aren’t included in the sale. Clear off the kitchen counters, remove extra furniture to create space, and give the house a deep cleaning. Shampoo the carpets, steam clean the tile, and scrub the bathrooms. Touch up scuffs on the walls and sweep out the garage. Prune the bushes, weed-whack the walkways, and deadhead the flowers. You want your home to look like a model in the local “Parade of Homes.” Appeal to the buyer’s sense of smell. An unpleasant odor coming from a trash can or litter box can kill a sale. Make sure your home smells good! Open the windows, place fresh flowers throughout
82
Powered by FlippingBook