Hey, guys. This is Liz. I wanted to share a little bit about some of the preparation
that we did for an open house that we just hosted today from two to four. And it's for
a fix-and-flip that we just recently finished. We actually listed the property on Thursday.
And then we actually then did the actual open house on a Sunday. So I just wanted to share
some of the things that helped me prepare, because I kind of helped prepare some of the
details, and kind of like the things you need to have a successful open house. And we thought
it was a successful open house.
So a couple of things. Number one, you always want to get to the property about an hour
or so before the open house. You don't want to be rushing around. The open house started
at two. We got here at one o'clock. I think that's a really important reminder for people.
Second thing, I have an open house checklist. You always want to have a checklist for everything.
I'm a big fan of checklists. I told my husband, "I made a checklist," and he's like, "Of course
you did." So I want to share some of the things I have on my checklist with you. First thing,
because you do want to create a flyer. Obviously, we listed this house on the MLS, but I also
created a flyer. I hand-delivered these to all of our neighbors. And the first question
my husband actually asked me is, "Why are we giving this to our neighbors?" The neighbors,
obviously, in the community that we did this project. I said, "It's so important to have
the neighbors invited to the first open house because they could be some of your biggest
fans."
Obviously you'd think they may not want to buy a house. But number one, they're in the
community. Number two, they might have friends and family looking for a house. And number
three, you never know. One of the neighbors actually came to the house and said, "Keep
me posted. If this house is not sold in 30 days, I might be interested." So you never
know. So my recommendation is to hand-deliver, a day or so before the open house, hand-deliver
an invitation to all the neighbors local in the community. So that's just one quick tip.
So a couple of things that are on my checklist here, my handy [inaudible 00:01:58] checklist.
Number one, you always want to bake something in the house about a half hour or an hour
before your open house. So I baked some cookies... Matt, show them the cookies. Can you show
them the cookies? These delicious cookies. I'm going to make all of you hungry, as you
look at our cookies here. But I didn't make this idea up, but I'm just sharing with you
what I did. I baked some cookies, and it's nice because it's the smell also is the helpful
piece there. Plus it's nice to put something out to eat that's warm and fresh. You don't
want to just open an M & M Donuts. To me, plastic wouldn't work. You want to bring nice
dishware, so to speak. It's not plastic. I mean, it's not fine china, but it's nice,
right? So you want to make it presentable.
Second thing is you always want to bring some fresh flowers. I think that's also a nice
touch. Something that's presentable. Number two, you always want to open all the lights.
You can see there's a lot of lights in this house because it's a very big house. It's
a 7,200 square foot home. So literally, there's a lot of lights. And so we literally put all
the lights on, and you always want to open all the windows. So all the shades we opened
up as well. So there's light. It's a beautiful day here in New Jersey, or PA, excuse me,
is where actually we are right now. And it just opens up the home. So that's another
quick tip.
Couple of other things is you usually have drinks. Water's fine. Just something for people
to drink is always a nice gesture. Something else that I did, I wasn't sure if people use
the bathroom. We don't do a ton of open houses. I wasn't sure if people come and they use
the restroom and what have you. So I brought soap, I brought towels for their hands, and
a little trash can for the bathrooms. So not for every bathroom, but for a couple of the
bathrooms. Something to think about.
The other thing I would highly recommend to you, and I think this is probably one of the
most helpful tips that you can think about. So I did some research ahead of time. And
this is in a very prominent school district in Pennsylvania. It's the Council Rock School
District. So I did some research and found all the realtors that have sold a home for
around our price range in the last six months. So I kind of had a shortlist of all the realtors
that are in this market that have sold a home around the size of this home. It's a six bedroom,
six and a half bath home. So I wanted to find realtors that are playing in that space, so
to speak. And who else would have other buyers that are looking for a home like this?
So I had this hot list of about 30 to 40 realtors, about 35 realtors. So I personally emailed
each of them. I spent the hour or two it took, and I emailed each of them that they were
invited to the open house, and we'd love to have them here. So you think, "Well, who's
going to read my random email? They don't know me." I got two realtors email me back.
One said, "Thank you so much. I have two buyers looking in that area. I'll keep you posted."
The second one, him and I actually went back like three times together, I mean, a back
and forth email exchange about his interest in really wanting to get his team of six realtors
to come out in the next week to come look at the property.
So the little things make a difference. So number one, create a checklist for your open
house, and have some personal touch. I had music playing in the background, my little
iPod, all right. So it's just a touch, right, and what have you. Second thing is make a
flyer and invite the neighbors. Hand-deliver it. We were so accustomed to putting things
on the internet, and that's great. We did that too. But the hand-delivering aspect is
a good piece to that. And the third thing is to do some research and find the realtors
who are selling homes like the one you just fixed and flipped, in the trading area that
you're in, and then send them an email. You need to get all that information on the MLS.
Send them an email and invite them to the open house.
So those are my tips for the day. I hope that's helpful. And as always, please share any questions
you have in the comment section below. And as always, thanks for watching, and I hope
you learned something. Thank you.