Four Mistakes To Avoid At Your Open House
If you are trying to sell your home, open houses can garner a lot of interest and hopefully bring in multiple offers. There are plenty of things that you can do to get your home ready for this, but also some things your realtor might recommend you avoid. Here are four mistakes you should try not to make at your open house.
1. Sticking Around
You have hired on a realtor to showcase your home, so let them do their job. It can make potential homebuyers nervous or on edge if they know that the owner is there. They may not feel comfortable asking questions or won't be as inquisitive about your home because they won't want to offend you. Don't scare off potential buyers before they even give your home a fair chance.
2. Leaving Evidence of Pets
Since you will be off-site for your open house, be sure to bring your pets and any evidence of them with you. You never know what kind of allergies or aversions people might have, but a dog bowl or a cat box can quickly turn people off. If you have shy cats, get them in carriers and into a safe room at a friend's house, or bring them to a boarding facility for the day.
3. Too Much Clutter
If you are living in your home while it is up for sale, depersonalizing this before your open house is a must. Remove all personal photos and artwork since these can be distracting. If you can, rent a storage unit or keep these items at someone's home. Boxing up items and keeping these in closets will just make these spaces look smaller and will detract from the size of storage areas in your home.
4. Deeming Areas Off-Limits
There shouldn't be part of your home that is off-limits during an open house. You might think that getting personal items stacked in a bedroom or garage is a solution for staging the rest of your home. This will just raise questions by potential homebuyers as to why they can't see a certain space. Those who are serious about making an offer will want to see the home in its entirety.
Open houses need to be done in a strategically in order to be as inviting as possible to potential homebuyers. Don't inadvertently derail your open house and scare away interested buyers with silly mistakes. Listen to advice from your realtor and try to get your home ready and looking its best for the market.
