Top 5 Open House Prep Tips

This post comes to us from the HomeFinder.com blog:

If your open house prep list involves preparing a stack of listing flyers and making sure your clients shovel the driveway, it's time to update your strategy. While marketing materials and home aesthetics are important for a successful open house, these five open house prep tips will ensure a seamless event from start to finish.

1.) Counsel your clients: Educate your clients on best practices to prepare their home for an open house. Once the home is in open house condition, consider giving them a place to go while you host the event, like passes to a local museum, a gift card to a nearby coffee shop, or matinee movie tickets. Also, don't forget about the pets – offer your sellers daycare options nearby, so their furry family member has a place to go!

2.) Digitize your marketing: Share your open house listing information across your social media networks to increase its reach. Include the address in a Google Maps format so buyers can easily access it on their mobile device when driving to the event. Supplement the listing information using a video app like Magisto. You can showcase your listings' special features, as well as easily share across your social media channels.

3.) Assemble an expert team: Have a network of experts an email away, in case a motivated buyer is ready to make an offer (particularly if the potential buyer is from out of town). Be ready to share your recommendations on the area's go-to appraiser, mortgage broker, insurance agent, moving company or if they are looking to give the home a new look, a home remodeling company or interior designer.

4.) Plan ahead for the follow-up: Don't wait until you're back in the office to contact potential buyers. Use an app like Open Home Pro to automate follow-up communication with visitors before they have even left the property. The app will email listing information to potential buyers during the open house and identify hot leads (who is qualified for a mortgage, who doesn't have a real estate agent) post-event. The app will also automatically send potential buyers important information like a price decrease.

5.) Prepare for the next open house: If your listing didn't sell, consider it a learning opportunity. Open Home Pro will let you track all of the feedback you heard from visitors and let you share it with your seller. If the unanimous feedback was the house is priced too high, this feedback could help your seller lower their listing price.

Want to boost your client relations tactics before your next open house? Learn how to get back to basics and engage with customers with our 2014 Client Relations Resolutions.