You have a home for sale, and you
decided to hold an open house. How do you know people will
come to your open house and make all your efforts worth your while?
In order to beat the competition,
you have to know your competitor. Attend open houses in your area
and take mental notes. The goal is to offer something completely
different. If your neighbors offered cookies and milk, provide cake
and coffee for your event. If they used balloons to mark their signs,
park your car in front of your house and dress it up with a sign.
You also want to keep in mind what
season it is. In the summer, iced coffee drinks would be preferable
to hot coffee. If it is winter and there is snow on the ground,
milk shakes would probably not be a good idea.
Think of the area that you reside
in. If you live in a more tropical climate, events with an opposite
theme will attract more people. For example, if you live in Florida,
people are used to seeing palm trees and drinking lemonade, so try
a different approach. You could have a Christmas in July theme and
offer chilled eggnog and draw attention to your signs with pine
boughs and bells. A tropical theme however might work if you live
in Michigan. People tend to overlook things that they see on a daily
basis. So make sure you draw attention to your signs and
your home with items and colors that are not seen every day in your
area.
Instead of holding an open house for
four hours on a Saturday afternoon, hold it open for two hours on
Friday evening and two hours on the following Saturday morning.
This will accommodate people that work different shifts. Another
huge benefit to this strategy is that people that show up on Friday
evening can tell their friends about it, and even come back themselves
for a second look. Since a house is not an impulse purchase, this
will also help the undecided buyer make up their mind in your favor!
Ask all your friends and relatives
to show up to your open house, even if they are not in the market
to buy a new home. Crowds of people coming and going to your home
and cars parked in front of your street will attract attention.
This will bring people to your home that did not know about the
open house.
While holding your house open, you
must offer flyers. These should be done in color and list
everything a prospective buyer would want to know. This is a good
time to get creative with the design and go with your theme. If
you have a realtor, he will take care of this. If you don't have
one, you can hire a freelance artist or office store to do the brochures
for you. Why go through the expense and effort of handing out flyers
at all? This way the prospective buyer has a visual aid to take
home with them. If they can't remember all the details they saw
at your open house, they can refer to the flyer. It's also an easy
marketing tool. The people that came to your house are not the only
prospective clients. They may have friends that could not attend,
but might be interested. The flyers will also work like a business
card as they have your contact information on them.
Whatever you choose to do, you must
advertise. No one will attend an event, no matter how nice it is,
if they don't know about it. The more people you attract, the higher
the probability of finding the buyer that wants your house.
