This is from my Arizona Republic column. The topic, how to do your open house so well you won’t have to do it twice:
It’s possible to do an open house so well that you won’t be holding one every weekend. Done right, you should be able to make your first open house your last.
Obviously, the best open house is no open house. If your home is in tiptop shape, white-glove clean — and if your price it right — you should be able to sell it as soon as it hits the market and cancel that pesky open house.
But even if you’re stuck holding the house open, you can still make it sell fast.
Here is some specific advice:
First, nothing draws a crowd like a crowd. Promote the house hard among your neighbors. You should extend invitations to everyone in your surrounding area — hundreds of invitations. When passers-by see all the cars around your house, they’ll stop, too.
Second, nothing creates a sense of urgency like a deadline. Schedule your open house for one hour, two at most, and stick to your schedule. Make sure your Realtor is at the ready, contracts and pens in hand, with a lender on call to prequalify buyers.
Directional signs matter a lot. Balloons may help. But the house matters more than anything: squeaky-clean, in great repair, uncluttered, ready to sell now.
If you do your first open house right, your house could be sold before the second one.
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jf.sellsius says:
Many brokers and agents dislike open houses. Why not try to make it an event of some kind? Use it as a staging point for marketing the home and yourself. You can’t hold a blogathon but surely something will get people’s attention. Become the creative Open House planner in your neighborhood.
September 26, 2006 — 7:18 am