Real Estate Tip – How To Have A Great Open House It looks like real estate market is making a steady recovery. Even so — selling a new property can be a challenge. This is why an smart Realtor should make every effort to get potential buyers in the door. One of the most effective ways to attract steady buyer traffic is to have an “Open House”. However, just deciding to have an open house isn’t good enough. You need to do everything in your power to make your open house a huge success. So here are some great tips to to ensure that your open house leads to a sale!
– It Pays To Advertise
You could have the hottest property in town, but if you don’t advertise no one will ever know! This is why it’s a good idea to get the word our as early as possible. There are number of ways to do this including social networking. For example, try posting a quick note about your open house using this hashtag on Twitter: #OPENHOUSE.
However, don’t rely solely on social networking. Placing an good old fashioned ad in your local real estate magazine or newsletter is great. Also, look at your client lists. Do you have phone numbers of emails of people who had previously sought to buy house? Give them a call or send a nice invitation car din the mail. You do have a mailing list — right? If not we’ll talk about that later in the article.
– Staging Is Everything
When it comes to selling a house appearances are important. So the house should be staged as thoroughly as you can. If there are still furnishings on premise — then make sure that everything looks immaculate. If you are staging with rented furniture don’t forget the little things. This includes making sure there are toilet paper and toiletries in the bathroom. The best staged homes look and feel like a place someone could move into and start living in.
– Everybody Loves Cookies
This is an old technique– but it never goes out style. Sine you will need to have refreshments on hand anyway, consider baking cookies on the premise. This will scent the home with the comforting aroma of baking cookies. Nothing evokes memories of home and a sense of nostalgia like freshly baked cookies. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be Betty Crocker! Just buy some frozen cookie dough and you are on your way. You may want to have an assistant on hand to help bake the cookies and keep the refreshment area looking neat.
– Follow Up
Remember that mailing list I mentioned? Open houses are great way to collect email addresses and contact information for potential clients. It’s not enough to simply give out brochures and business cards anymore. This means you should have nice little guest book near the entrance where visitors can sign their name and leave contact info. Also, just don’t collect that information — use it. Always make sure to type up the contact information into a neat spreadsheet. You now have an email contact list you can use anytime
