What is an open house?
Open house events are a great way to market your property. Whether you’re looking to sell a beloved family home or an inherited property that’s in dire need of modernisation, an open house can be your route to achieving the best price in the fastest possible time.
So, what is an open house? Essentially this is a timeslot for multiple viewings. Prospective buyers are given appointments on the same day or are invited to drop in within an agreed timeslot – sometimes both. Not only is this a convenient way of showcasing your home to a wider audience – after all, you’ll only have to tidy up once – it also allows your estate agent to create a competitive buzz around your property. It’s no wonder that open houses usually result in the highest sale prices.
How to do an open house?
At Wards, we have organised thousands of open houses – you could say we’ve become pretty good at it. Although every open house is different, there are three tactics which we find work every single time:
1. Make your house a home – Okay, so fresh coffee and cut flowers may seem cliché, but you’ll be surprised at how these simple, homely touches can boost the overall appeal of your property.
2. Spread the word – The key to a successful open house boils down to one thing: marketing, marketing, MARKETING! Make sure your agent is doing all they should to make yours a success.
3. Go out for a couple of hours – Yes, that’s right. Although we normally recommend you stay home for viewings, an open house is an entirely different prospect. Your presence may stop your viewers from visualising this as their home and exploring as thoroughly as they should. Give your open house a miss and let us do the hard work for you.
Do open houses work when selling a home?
Although there is no magic bullet to selling property, an open house – alongside other marketing – is the single most effective tool for showcasing your home.
In fact, we have so much faith in them that when you sell your home through Wards, we’ll always offer to arrange open house event. What’s more, we can combine your open house with another tried-and-tested strategy – sealed bids.
What are sealed bids?
Put simply, the sealed bid process is the best way of generating maximum interest and for a seller to receive multiple offers for their home.
Buyers are encouraged to submit an offer by an advertised closing date along with details about their financial and buying position. Essentially, potential buyers have to lay all of their cards on the table, helping you to decide which offer is right for you.
So, at an open house event, buyers are invited to view your home and, if they’re interested, make a sealed bid. Although we’ll advertise a guide price for your home (for instance, ‘Offers in excess of £200k’) we’ll largely leave it up to the buyer to decide how much they wish to offer. If your open house is popular, your buyer may be motivated to offer well over the guide price to ensure their bid trumps all others.
When the bid closing day arrives, we will meet to open and review all the offers and decide which one, if any, you would like to accept. Simple.
find out how we can arrange your open house