How to Host Your First Open House

Your first job is always stressful, especially if you are working in sales. Additionally complicating things is just how much more complex working as a real estate agent is! So, to help here’s how to host your first open house as a real estate agent!

Do your due research

The first step you need to overcome to host your first open house as a real estate agent successfully is… research! You need to know absolutely everything about the property you’re in charge of. The benefits and drawbacks of its location. The state of the yard, interior, and exterior. Even the history of repairs and renovations as well as the past owners. All of this can and does affect the price of a property in the end. If you want to perform to the satisfaction of both yourself and your client, then you’ll need to be prepared to tackle any questions and concerns the buyers might have and come to you with.

Make sure the house is spotless

The next step to hosting your first open house as a real estate agent successfully is simple prep work. Namely, making sure that the property is clean and tidy. This will ensure that it looks as good as it can and that it’s ready for some decorating and reorganization that will allow you to touch it up and make it more appealing. After all, finding your first real estate client is not easy, so you should do your best to complete the job with glowing results! And painting the property in a good light will make this task easier.

Know how to arrange the rooms

Understand that while some decoration is good, making a home look lived in is actually detrimental to selling it. It is a slightly illogical part of organizing an open house. People want to see the house look pretty and get a solid idea of what it would like to live in it. And yet, they don’t want to feel like they’re intruding into someone’s home. At the same time, if you decorate too much, the ambiance might not be to the potential buyers’ liking. So, the answer is to decorate lightly and ‘neutrally.’ Think of furniture magazines and catalogs and how pretty yet impersonal they look. That’s your goal! Of course, the Brooklyn Movers New York experts advise being careful at this step when moving furniture or similar. It is easy to damage or scuff something if it’s your first time doing the work.

Give yourself enough prep time

Whatever you do, don’t rush into organizing the open house as soon as possible. Even if your client says, they want the sale done quickly. You can do none of the things we’ve already mentioned in a day or two. It would help if you had time to research and settle on an excellent design or neutral theme for the property. You also need time to organize everything, spread the news, and drum up attention. If you try to rush things, you won’t be prepared, and the turn-up would likely be entirely underwhelming, which might negatively reflect on the cost of the property!

Always be entirely upfront

There is always an understandable temptation to make the property sound better than it is. And to an extent, that’s fine. You can’t stand out as a real estate agent if you don’t know how to make the best of the properties you’ve worked with. However, lying or covering up facts about the house is not permissible. If you deceive buyers into thinking it is in better condition, you can lose your reputation immediately.

Show off the home’s best features

What you should do instead to host your first open house as a real estate agent successfully is mention the bad… and then show off the good! Mention the stellar location of the property. Or the fact that the foundations are extremely solid and that there are lots of low-cost improvements possible to give them some ideas of what they could do once they’ve made the purchase. Even a fixer-upper can be painted in a good light with all its flaws exposed. 

Take measures to make use of the internet

If you want to be the best possible real estate agent, then you’ll have to make use of all possible resources. And the internet is a very important resource indeed! Not everyone can make it to an open house. Even if they could have, some people just prefer house hunting online. In order to reach such an audience, a virtual tour is necessary. If you are not sure how best to stage one at the start of your career, then filming one of your open house tours is a pretty good first step. It will help you reach out to wider audiences, and it will even provide you with a chance to practice and notice problems you could have missed in preparation for the real deal.

Arm yourself with pamphlets

Pamphlets! They’ve been a staple for ages, and for a good reason. They can cover the most basic and common questions buyers might have. And they are a fantastic cheat sheet in case you are nervous and afraid of missing out on mentioning something important in your open house tour. 

Make yourself available for further inquiries

The step you must never forget when trying to host your first open house as a real estate agent is to make yourself available to buyers once they’ve left. Hand out cards. Direct them to your directory listing. Leave them your number so they can contact you! Whatever you prefer, make sure they have the ability to reach you with further questions and inquiries about the property. 

Final word

We hope that you’ve found our guide on how to host your first open house as a real estate agent helpful. As long as you take your time, plan properly, and always do your due diligence, you will do just fine in the profession!