This picture cracks me up of people doing the YMCA and having a great time. Okay, so maybe your open house party wouldn't want to get this rowdy, but you do want people to leave feeling glad they made the trip to see your house. At Mattern & FitzGerald we take our open houses very seriously. If you are in the market, or will be to sell your home in the near future- I wanted to give you some tips to think about if considering doing an open house.
- Identify a core group of attendees- there are people of influence in the real estate community that can help get your home sold like realtors, lenders, organizations, etc. Write down a list of key attendees and give them a special invitation to your event.
- Put your best foot forward- make sure your home shines. Try your best to walk the house with the eyes of a stranger, observing everything as you make your way around the house. Be critical because you have one shot to make a good first impression.
- Advertise- there are a ton of mediums available to us today that are relatively inexpensive to get the word out about your event. Internet, newspaper, targeted mailers, etc. Create a budget and maximize it by putting your dollars where you will get the greatest return.
- Have some sort of offer- get people to the door by offering some kind of door prize or benefit for seeing you. encourage people to sign-up with their information in a quick, hassle-free way. Sometimes a name and email is good enough, but a phone number is ideal.
- Follow-up- let's face it, chances are high you won't sell your home that day. However, you now have an invaluable database of influential leads with which to follow-up with. Make sure you do that on a fairly regular basis.
