Open House Tips to
Attract Buyers to Your Home
Hosting an open house can help ensure the success of your home sale, as it can be a good way to attract buyers to see it. No buyers, no offers, no sale, no success! You need to be clever about it, working with your agent. For instance, you can hold an open house on a Saturday or Sunday from 3 PM to 5 PM.
Most homeowners allow open houses on the weekend, either from 1 PM to 3 PM or 2 PM to 4 PM. A reason to not follow suit is less competition and possibly more showings for you, so holding your open house from 3 PM to 5 PM can be more productive.
We have more fantastic tips to attract buyers to your home. Here are 6 tips you can suggest your agent follow to therefore increase foot traffic from potential buyers coming to buy your home:
1. Opt for a Lockbox
A lockbox enables real estate agents to show your house even if you are not at home. In you do not answer your phone, your real estate agent will let you know they are going to your house to show it to potential buyers by leaving you a message by phone or text.
If your house is part of a gated complex, place the lockbox either near or outside the gate. You can provide your real estate agent with the code to open the gate. If you are not comfortable giving your gate code, you can opt for a lockbox that requires a real estate agent to call for a code before they can open it.
If you are getting a digital lockbox, it will track the real estate agents who visit and provide helpful viewing activity tracking information to the real estate agent who has listed your house for sale.
2. Make Open House Showings Less Restrictive
Your listing agent can have specific showing instructions such as: “call first, then use lockbox” instead of “by appointment only.” If buyers have to schedule a tour of your house first and can only see your house on specified days and hours, real estate agents will have more difficulty showing and selling your home.
Additionally, you do not want to make it a requirement that only your real estate agent can show your property. Your real estate agent may not be available at all times, which is why you may benefit if you allow multiple real estate agents to show your house.
3. Generate Traffic Via Marketing
Your agents marketing efforts should use both traditional and non-traditional mediums to attract buyers to your home. Here are a few mediums your agent can use to generate traffic:
- Send postcards to nearby properties and surrounding areas
- Place ads in local weekly newspapers
- Place ads in specific sections of your daily newspaper on Saturdays and Sundays
- Place ads on MLS, Google, Craig’s List, Zillow, Trulia, and other websites that allow you to advertise for free
- Place ads in home magazines if you can meet publication deadlines
- Instruct your real estate agent to create a professional video, showing your house, and upload it on YouTube and other video sharing platforms
- Share information and pictures of your house through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
4. Make Your Open House an Event to Remember
You can make your open house an event to remember by having colorful fresh flowers, coffee, tea or hot chocolate, and professionally prepared brochures. Bake a fresh cake or cookies just before arrival time which can add a nice aroma to the house, and by other means you should discuss with your agent. Suggest your agent meet with other sellers’ agents in the neighborhood and surrounding areas to hold several open house showings in one day. A sign on a busy street corner will attract attention to your neighborhood, interested people will visit the different open houses and this can attract a larger crowd of possible buyers.
5. Give a Limited Time Offer
You can give a limited time offer to buyers to persuade them to buy your house before someone else does. If you can, subject to local regulations with which your broker will be familiar, you can offer to pay for a portion of the interest rate of their mortgage for a specified duration, credit a percentage you receive from the sale of the house to their closing costs, or prepay insurance or property taxes for one year.
6. Try Co-Op Advertising
Subject to local regulations, ask your agent to contact anyone who can earn money when your house sells. This includes property inspectors, mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, and appraisers. They can pitch in to help advertise your open house. They will benefit from it greatly as their contact information will be included in the ad.
The Home Program matches home sellers and buyers with pre-qualified major brand local real estate brokers. Homeowners rely on our industry knowledge and experience for the introduction, and enjoy the cash bonus of up to $10,000 we pay homeowners after closing. Since we began in 2006, our Cooperating Brokers have helped clients sell and purchase more than 10 million homes. We’ve paid out $ Millions to our Homeowners.