How to Prepare For An Open House

Are you planning to sell your house in the near future? When you’re finally ready to sell your home and host an open house, it feels like you are nearing the finish line. However, hosting an open house still requires you to do several things before it becomes a success.

If you plan on holding an open house, here are the 12 steps that you should follow to prepare your home for that occasion.

Make an excellent first impression

Have a Successful Open House With These Tips!

First impressions don’t only apply to when you meet a person for the first time. There are also first impressions that you get from inanimate objects.

For example, when you’re shopping for clothes. You usually pick out the clothes you want to try on based on the impression that they give to you.

The same principle applies to when people are shopping for a house. When a potential buyer is approaching your home, what do you think they see? Look at it from their perspective. If overgrown shrubberies and old paint are flaking off the house’s exterior, it can make your home look old and dingy.

By being more aware of the first impression that your house gives off, you can change a few things to give a more positive first impression. For example, make sure that your curb appeal is on point. Take care of your lawn and landscaping. Brighten up the front door so that it feels welcoming. Remove excess furniture and other possessions from the home that make it harder for buyers to picture their own things inside.

You might even want to consider renting a pod, which will allow you to still have access to your possessions but make your property show so much better.

These are but a few things that you can do. Try and think up other ideas based on how the outside of your house looks. Even with many buyers looking at homes virtually, first impressions can make or break your sale.

Clean the entire home thoroughly

No matter how grand or beautiful your home, maybe you still need to make sure that you clean it thoroughly before you entertain buyers.

Even if you have a quaint home, you can still benefit from cleaning your house first. That’s because it will make your home look good as new to you and your potential buyers.

You can clean your house yourself or hire a professional service to do the work for you so that they can do it efficiently.

Having a clean home will show potential buyers that you cared for the house, and it will show them the potential that your home has.

Do some minor repairs

If you have any minor repairs that you haven’t dealt with yet, now is the time to do it.

Before you show your home to potential buyers, you should take the time to make a list of all small repair issues and fix them. These minor repairs are still going to catch the eye of serious buyers.

So it’s worth it to try and fix them before they point it out to you.

Remove unnecessary clutter

Your home might have more unnecessary clutter than you would think.

Aside from the stray pieces of trash and misplaced magazines, you should also get rid of the smaller knick-knacks around your home. You want the place to be well-decorated, but not filled with decoration.

Try and cut back on the pieces of furniture here and there. Get rid of some of the vases or souvenirs on display. You want to make your home look as neutral as possible. De-cluttering, before you move, is smart anyway, as previously mentioned.

Depersonalize

Speaking of making your home look as neutral as possible, make sure that you depersonalize your home before organizing an open house.

When you look at your family photos and other personal memorabilia around the house, they should give you a positive feeling. However, the same cannot be said for others, especially buyers who come into your home.

You need to get rid of any personal items around the house so that the buyers can picture themselves and their personal effects in the home.

Consider home staging

Sometimes you don’t have the energy for free time to stage your home for an open house. That’s why there are professionals who can produce your home for you so that it’s ready for viewing.

Besides, buyers are used to seeing the picture-perfect interior design. It doesn’t matter whether it’s from an online magazine or other houses with professional staging.

If you can afford it, consider getting someone else to stage your home for you.

Let the sunlight in

Natural light can so easily make a room look brighter and more welcoming. Besides making your home a warmer place, it can also make the rooms look much larger than they are.

As much as possible, let the sunlight in when hosting an open house.

Ensure comfortable temperature

When you’re hosting an open house, make sure that you are running your home at a comfortable temperature.

You want to make your buyers feel as at home as possible. This explains why you need to properly set the temperature based on the weather or temperatures outside.

If it’s too hot out, you should cool your home, and if it’s too cold, make sure that you keep a warm house.

Get rid of any foul odor

When we step into someone else’s home for the first time, we often notice how different it smells from ours.

If you’re selling your home, you should be conscious of his back and make sure that you get rid of any foul odor that might linger in your home. For example, you should eliminate as many pet odors as possible.

Besides getting rid of foul odor, you should avoid spraying too many scents in the house. Some people might have more sensitive sensibilities, so you should keep them in mind and make your home smell as neutral as possible as well.

Organize your cabinets and drawers

If you’re going to display your house and leave your items in there, make sure that you organize them, even the ones that are in cabinets and drawers.

As much as possible, though, you shouldn’t leave your closets, cabinets, drawers, and so on filled to the brim. Take away half of the items in your cabinets so that the storage spaces look more open.

Remove all signs of pets

If you have pets at home, make sure that you get rid of your pets’ signs in the home before hosting an open house.

Not everyone has pets or wants to have pets in their home. Thus, having signs of pets might even deter buyers. That’s why you should thoroughly clean the house to get rid of the pet smell and animal hair.

It would be best if you also got rid of any of your pet’s items, like food bowls or beds.

Put your valuables out of sight

If you’re going to leave your valuables in the home while you’re hosting an open house, make sure that you put them somewhere out of sight.

A safe inside the house is the best place for you to store your valuables.

Remember that your valuables aren’t only cash and jewelry. You should also hide your important documents and personal memorabilia that you don’t want to lose.

Final Thoughts on how to prepare for an open house

By doing these tasks before you open your home up to buyers, you’re going to have the best chance of getting buyers interested in your home. That’s why you should always prepare beforehand.

If you’re planning on selling your house, make sure that you apply these steps first to be successful in selling off your home. Hopefully, you have enjoyed these open house tips.

About the Author: The above article on preparing for a successful open house was written by Jacky Xu. Jacky is the Chief Operating Officer at Maid Sailors Cleaning Service Chicago. Maid Sailors take pride in providing unparalleled cleaning services at affordable prices and will help transform your house into a home.