Conducting Open House

The two main methods of selling your home privately include ‘by appointment’ and ‘open house’.  It’s a matter of personal choice which to emply as both have their pros and cons.

By appointment offers you the ability to provide a one on one presentation with the buyer,  while an open house with numbers tends to deliver a sense of urgency where buyers feel other buyers may snatch the purchase before them.

Selling your own home by open house funnels all interested parties into a dedicated time slot that you select by day and time. This strategy is excellent time management for the house seller and delivers sound sales capabilities. Choose the day and time that best suits your schedule which you can include in your advertising.

Set The Scene

• Ensure you have conducted pre-open house makeover preparations. See ‘Preparing Home For Sale’ for these tips or refer to Sellers Manual Pro (available in Premium and Pro packages) for additional ways to prepare you home for sale.
• An hour or so before your open house, open up doors and windows, pull open blinds and curtains to let in light and fresh air.  In hot summers and cold winters do the same just before the open house times,  then in winter close up house and put on air conditioners or heaters where available. Where possible keep curtains and blinds open to allow natural light into your home.
• Making your home feel like a home is important. Filtered coffee or a batch of scones delivers the perfect aroma to welcome guests to your open home. Having this on offer creates a welcoming gesture to open house guests.

Documentation

• Have your property for sale brochures available for guests. SellingMyHouse standard, premium and pro packages have a professional quality A4 sales flyer that comes with the marketing package.  For a professional touch email the PDF to your local on-time printer and have copies run off on gloss or matt paper (for the budget conscious run a few colour copies off on your printer) and have at the ready for your open house.
• Within easy reach have at the ready any legal documentation and sales contracts. Discuss any legal and legislative requirements with your legal representative beforehand and have this information available if needed at your open house.
• Have your contact list sheet at the ready to record the details of people who enter your property. When you purchase SellingMyHouse Premium and Pro property marketing packages Sellers Manual Pro incorporates an ‘Open House Sales Assistant’ that has a facility to both records buyer contact details plus identifies buyer interest on key aspects of your property. This in turn delivers a weighted matrix of buyer interest in your property. 

Security

• Secure all valuables including jewellery and personal heirlooms in a secure location. Store away any personal identification, bank statements, rates notices and personal information.
• Consider a limit to numbers within your property at any one time. If you’re achieving high numbers simply advise newcomers to stay put and as people exit invite them in. This can act as an excellent selling strategy as it builds demand for your property sale.
• Have a second person with you. This acts as both a security measure plus allows either of you to ‘work the room’ while the second person hands out brochures and records details as guests arrive. Allow people to view the house at leisure, avoid following them around but also provide insight to handy information about your property and your location.
  
• Don’t divulge anything that entails the guests knowing when you are and are in or away from the home.