HOW TO THROW A GREAT OPEN HOUSE
In order 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 Realtor®, s/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, in the house. One out of every two homebuyers 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 should not 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 are not 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.” 88
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