Are you planning to sell your home in Valrico? Open houses can often maximize your home’s exposure, ultimately leading to a quick sale — if done correctly. Read on for five easy tips to implement for a successful open house in Valrico.
Make your home showroom-ready
During an open house, many people will walk through your home, checking every nook and cranny, trying to visualize their future lives there. You can help them do that by staging your space. A staged home can often sell faster and for 25% more. Consider the following tips to learn how to make your home look its best to captivate and turn passersby into buyers.
Get your home inspected
Before packing and cleaning, you need to inspect your home. Consider hiring a professional home inspector who will thoroughly inspect your home from top to bottom to ensure that it is structurally safe and satisfies all codes. After all, you don’t want to be in the middle of negotiations when you find out something is wrong with the home. A home inspector with experience inspecting Valrico homes for sale can find even those issues that might not be immediately visible to the naked eye.
For example, some homes in Valrico might have problems with the roof due to the heat and humidity, and regular maintenance is often needed. Or, if you have done renovations, then a home inspection can assure you that it is up to code. Ultimately, by getting a home inspection, you can give buyers the peace of mind that your home is safe so that the sale can proceed much more quickly.
Clean, declutter, and depersonalize
Once the repairs are completed and the cracks sealed, the next step is to clean and declutter your home. Consider hiring a professional cleaning company that can deep clean your home in a timely fashion. You should go through your home and consider whether you should keep, donate, or throw away certain items. Consider also removing personal items such as family pictures, trophies, awards, and other souvenirs. You want to remove these personal artifacts so that home buyers can see themselves and their lives in the home instead of yours. By eliminating the items that make your home uniquely yours and converting it to a more neutral space, your home can appeal to many buyers.
Don’t forget curb appeal
From ensuring the lawn looks pristine and well-manicured to washing the windows, so they shine, you must consider every detail of the outside of your home. Powerwash the driveway, repaint the front door and mailbox, and rearrange the furniture on the porch and patio areas. Remember that buyers’ first impressions will be formed as they walk up the driveway, so make sure your home’s facade looks fantastic. With a positive first impression, home buyers will likely carry that with them as they tour the rest of your home.
Tell the right people
An open house likely won’t be successful if you don’t tell people that you are having one. Before having an open house, you need to consider marketing. First, think about who your target demographic is. For example, many single-family ranch-style Valrico homes for sale often have spacious interiors with plenty of square footage, making them ideal for families.
Once you determine the target demographic, you can distribute high-quality marketing materials to let prospective home buyers know the date and time of your open house. Consider asking your real estate agent to send out an email campaign to their network of buyers. Your real estate agent can also post the date and time of the open house on their website and social media pages. You can also create and post flyers around your neighborhood. By carefully considering the marketing, you can attract as many people as possible to your home for a quick sale.
Choose the right time
Did you know there is a less-than-optimal time to schedule an open house? If you schedule your open house when many people are at work, there’s a chance your home won’t see many buyers. That is why you need to choose the right time and day carefully. Generally, the best days to host an open house is during the weekend when many people are off work and have more time.
Consider scheduling the open house in the early afternoon when many run errands. This way, they can quickly visit the open house before or after errands. In addition, consider scheduling the open house within a smaller time frame of three or four hours. This means that you can make your open house event appear busier than it is, as many buyers will be walking in and out, which could entice some to make an offer on the spot.
Add finishing touches
A few hours before the open house, add some finishing touches to boost the appeal of your home. Consider adding a few fresh bouquets to the dining room and coffee tables. When home buyers walk into your home and see a beautiful vase of flowers, they likely form a more favorable impression. In addition, flowers can make a home appeal more vibrant, authentic, and cozy. Consider also baking a few cookies before the time of the open house. You can then pull the freshly baked cookies out of the oven, giving your home a warm smell. You can set the cookies on an ornately designed plate for home buyers to enjoy. Just don’t forget to offer some refreshments as well.
Stay away from your home
It might seem counterintuitive, but skipping your own open house can be helpful! Instead, let your listing agent attend and interact with the potential buyers. Sometimes buyers get nervous when they see the seller, which might even prevent them from asking specific questions. To make buyers feel more at ease and comfortable, consider opting out. Your real estate agent will highlight your home’s best features to the right buyer, answer any questions, and hopefully wrap up the sale that day.
Want more open house tips for sellers? Are you planning on selling your home in Valrico and looking for the services of an excellent real estate agent? Then, schedule a consultation with realtor Jason McIntosh at the award-winning McIntosh Group, who can provide expert guidance on everything from innovative marketing strategies to effective negotiation tactics. The McIntosh Group can sell your Valrico home quickly and for top dollar!
*Header photo courtesy of Shutterstock