Preparing for an Open House

When selling your home, open houses can be particularly stressful.  Assuming the open house has been marketed well (another potential source of stress), you’re going to have a significant number of strangers wandering around, opening closets, and making judgments about your home.  To prepare, many people either try to fix every single potential flaw, spending days and a lot of money upgrading their home, or they are resigned to the fact that there’s just so much to do, a potential buyer is just going to have to love the place the way it is.

These tips may help you tame the seemingly never ending to-do list with some specific things to work on that can go a long way toward impressing home buyers.

Spruce up the Outdoors

This means mowing the lawn the day before, trimming hedges, and talking to your Realtor or Stager about potentially covering up any brown patches with turf or some form of decoration.  Especially important is making sure your house number is easily visible from the road.  You want to avoid a home viewer’s first impression of your home to be that it’s very hard to find.

Spend some time working with the front door.  It should look warm and welcoming, so make sure that any lights are functioning properly.  Even if you don’t intend to use those lights, buyers are notorious for walking around flipping switches.  Consider repainting the door if it’s starting to look drab.  A fresh coat of paint can make it look like a brand new door.

Declutter Closets

One thing many buyers look for in a home is good closet space.  Regardless of the size of your closets, packing them full of coats, clothes, and shoes does nothing but make them look cramped.  You can keep several items in each closet, but make sure there’s plenty of room to move things around, creating the illusion of excess space.

Scrub Surfaces

Nothing turns a potential home-buyer off as much as finding mold and grime.  The cleanliness of a house is often equated with its upkeeping, so finding just a little dirt can translate in a viewer’s mind as a home with substantial problems hidden away.  If you don’t want to take the time to ensure every tile and mirror is immaculate, consider hiring a cleaning service for a day.

Store Excess

While cleaning out your closets, store some furniture as well.  Most homes can get away with about half the furniture they currently have and still look comfortable.  You can rent a storage unit while the house is being shown while keeping the bare minimum necessary in your home.  Just like closet space, the more room to move around, the bigger the room looks.

Most importantly, try to distance yourself emotionally from your home.  People are going to find flaws with the house, in part because it’s a real house and not a made-up Barbie dreamland, and in part because they are considering several homes, and they’re trying to compare them objectively.  The more objective you can be about your home, the better you’ll be able to respond.  Consider letting a Realtor show the home while and your family goes to a double feature.

In short, presenting a home for a showing is a lot like going on a first date.  You want to dress to impress, stow any excess baggage, then prepare for some exciting offers.