The ABC of Open Houses in Burbank
The thought of spending such a big amount of money on a property is daunting for first time homeowners or landlords. Fear of buying the wrong house; making the wrong deal; and losing a chunk of money because you didn’t notice the falling roof or mould in the basement. We totally get it. That’s why open houses exist. Now you might be thinking, why have open houses when the internet is there to give you 360 degrees of house view sitting right there in the comfort of your couch? Well for one, open houses give the look and feel of the house which a screen view wouldn’t. Another point to consider is you get to check the neighborhood out while you’re at it. Instead of estimating the space, you get accurate measurement of when furnitures and other items fit in the house. Convinced? Right, let’s move on to the ABC of open houses.
A. What is an open house
An open house is when you decide to allow potential buyers to visit your house on a scheduled day and date. The seller or an real estate agent can arrange for the open house. It’s a great way to advertise your house for sale by meeting the buyers, educating them about your house, and allowing them to check the house as if they are living there.
Open houses are also arranged by property developers of new projects. These are often scheduled to attract real estate agents to create awareness of the new project and help launch to the public.
B. How to Conduct an Open House
So, you’ve decided to have an open house. The first thing you need to do is clear your house of all personal items, clean all rooms, bathrooms and kitchen of any “bad mark” that will turn the buyer off. For example greasy hob, scum in the bathroom or messy bedroom.
Next, make a schedule of how many open houses you plan to have. Usually, people arrange open houses during the weekends when buyers have free time to go house hunting with their families. Also, it makes sense to have open houses when the weather is a bit cool but not too hot or too cold.
It’s up to you to make your open house a fanfare or just another selling tactic. Arranging for refreshments, having flyers, and actively inviting the neighbors to help promote your open house are some ways to make the event work for you.
When visitors do come, be sure to interact with them, let them know what’s great about your house. At the same time get their feedback about what they didn’t like. This will give an idea of what can be fixed to fetch a greater price for your property.
C. What to be Careful About
Homeowners are usually skeptical about opening their house to strangers, and they have the right to be. After all, you’re allowing all sorts of people to come into your house at the same time when you can’t really keep track of who is who. For that reason, we recommend that always have more than yourself present during an open house. This way, if you’re busy with a potential buyer, someone else is keeping an eye on another visitor.
Keep personal belongings out of the way, locked preferably. It’s not about being messy or disturbing the buyer only. You don’t want anyone to pilfer your favorite German crystals, would you? Be safe than sorry, is all we recommend.
Sometimes it’s best that you hire a professional real estate agent conduct an open house for you because they are pretty adept at these events. They make the process smooth for you from answering difficult questions from visitors like paperwork, neighborhood, pricing and so on.
In Burbank, where there are a lot of single-family dwellings and community living, open houses can help sell your house faster because visitors can check other open houses in the area at the same time. To find out where open houses are in Burbank just contact our agent, and we’ll be sure to guide you.
