How to Make Sure Your Open House is Well-Attended

An expertly-conducted open house can clinch your home sale. For starters, it’s a great way to increase visibility on your listing and shorten its overall time on the market. The more people know about your home, the more likely it’ll sell faster. Open houses also have the potential to reduce marketing costs while helping your home stand out from the rest. Many potential buyers prefer seeing a home for themselves instead of relying on just photos.

How should you go about holding an open house? At a minimum, you’ll want to plan ahead, prepare your home, promote your listing, and follow up with potential buyers. Yet a successful open house takes more than just cursory knowledge. Read on to learn expert agent Claire O’Connor’s advice on what makes or breaks a successful open house.

From your first consultation, Claire will receive your goals, make a loose timeline, and establish a baseline for communications. If you’re like many clients, you’re buying and selling simultaneously. Working with a sensitive timeline, the team will meet your needs with the most efficient sale possible — at no sacrifice to the bottom line. O’Connor Estates firmly believes luxury sellers deserve the maximum profit from their sales.

When it comes to luxury home sales, discretion can go both ways. As a seller, you might prefer to “pocket list” your home (that is, make it available off the market). On the other hand, some of your buyers may want to schedule private showings. Private showings signal high interest and can accelerate your days to market. When dealing with potential buyers, Claire draws upon local expertise extending to specific neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades.

Timing is everything when it comes to hosting a successful open house. When scheduling your event, strongly consider early weekend afternoons. Most buyers don’t work Saturdays or Sundays, making these the best fit for showings. You should also schedule your open house to give buyers enough notice.

Readying your luxury home for the market is a feat of logistics with many moving parts. There should be a logical reason for everything you do. Claire and her team bring each client unparalleled organization and resourcefulness. With Claire, you can easily adjust the following steps depending on your house’s unique demands.

To heighten your home’s appearance, follow the three Ds: deep clean, declutter, and depersonalize. Deep cleaning a house is exactly as it sounds — you clean every inch of the home, even the places you don’t see. Decluttering means tidying up, while depersonalization means removing distractions (including pets). In other words, you want each room to appear like new and ready for new occupants. Claire can connect you with professionals if you would rather focus elsewhere.

The final preparation is home staging — strategically using decor, furniture, and interior design. Your goal is to emphasize your home’s best assets during your showing and in online photos. Many buyers are more likely to attend open houses for staged homes. Moreover, staging your home and taking studio-quality photos is a great way to garner interest in your open house.

In Claire’s experience, marketing is vital to a well-attended open house. Spreading the word about your open house is the best way to increase attendance. To that end, O’Connor Estates will create and promote a listing on Claire’s website and across social media platforms. Claire will also cross-promote your listing to in-network buyers in Sotheby’s international buyer pool.

The online listing is your primary marketing tool early in your sales process. The best listings combine professional photos, compelling descriptions, and an optimal listing price. To determine your list price, Claire and her team analyze houses similar to yours and calculate a figure that reflects your home’s market value.

When marketing your open house, the goal is to draw many prospective buyers who are motivated and qualified. A local expert like Claire knows what buyers are looking for and will adjust her tactics accordingly. She will make your sale known via word of mouth to her connections, key players in the local community. Claire can also leverage the Sotheby’s brand to reach luxury buyers worldwide, many of whom are familiar with Southern California. Ideally, once you’re in negotiations, you have more than one motivated buyer bidding on your house.

Most of your open house preparations demand an objective view of your property, but from here, it becomes essential to make emotional connections between your buyers and your house. The following are excellent ways to make a great first impression.

People love a warm, receptive host. As your representative, Claire will greet every guest as they arrive. A bit of personality can go a long way toward encouraging buyers to do business. Should you choose to be present, you and Claire will meet buyers and evaluate which ones have the most potential. Conversely, if you’d rather not be present for showings, Claire can conduct them solo and inform you afterward.

Open houses can last a few hours, more than enough time for snacks and a drink. To wow guests, order catering from a local restaurant or cafe. You can spin that into a conversation about restaurants local to your community. Depending on the season, you might settle for simple provisions like water, juice, coffee, lemonade, hot chocolate, sandwiches, crackers, or charcuterie boards.

Another way to encourage buyers is to ask your real estate agent to print brochures for Claire to hand out during the event. These brochures should include details about your home, local amenities and attractions, your personal contact information, and your agent’s contact information. They’re an excellent way for guests to keep in touch and serve as a reminder to submit an offer if they’re interested in buying the home.

In the days following your open house, staying in touch with buyers you met is crucial. Claire will contact them to elicit a bid on your home. She can send requested information, coax questions, and schedule private showings. As Claire’s client, you also gain access to Sotheby’s referral network — a perfect fit for someone like Claire, who holds dual citizenship and has visited over 50 countries. In the endgame of your sale, you both will evaluate offers, negotiate, accept an offer, and close the deal.

Most of this blog has focused on concrete ways Claire and O’Connor Estates can facilitate your sale. It’s also worth noting what Claire’s clients have to say. Sellers consistently describe Claire as trustworthy and business-savvy, someone whose local knowledge makes the city’s competitive market manageable, even favorable, to sellers. Claire loves where she works, and if you’re moving elsewhere in Los Angeles, she can easily recommend suitable neighborhoods and properties.

To learn more about open houses and how to sell your home, reach out to the best Santa Monica real estate agent — Claire O’Connor. With years of experience buying and selling Pacific Palisades homes, Claire is a reliable agent who wants the best for her clients and is always available to assist them. Schedule an appointment with Claire as the next key step in your home sale.