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Successful Open House Rules for Your North Shore Home

By
Real Estate Agent with The Marla Schneider Team

When The Marla Schneider Team puts your North Shore home on the market, there will be open houses. While these may seem a nuisance that interferes with your busy daily life, they are a necessity for getting people in your beautiful home who may otherwise not have taken the initiative to see it.

Besides the open houses, there will also be agents bringing potential buyers into your home during the week and at different times of the day. Here's a list a list of do's and don'ts for you to follow when it's time for The Marla Schneider Team to hold an open house. If you'll be living in the house while it's on the market, you will be visited by other agents bringing their potential buyers to have a viewing and this list applies at those times as well.

Do:

This tops the list: Your North Shore house needs to be clean, white glove clean. The kind of clean like when your mom comes to visit. And it needs to stay like this ALL THE TIME. Of course if you have a family with little children this can be hard! Normal people will understand that life happens at your house, but keep it as clean and uncluttered as humanly possible.

Do keep the toilet lid down. Although I'm sure that porcelain is shining white and clean, no one wants to see the inside of someone else's toilet bowl. If they are curious, they can raise the seat to inspect it themselves.

Do follow your real estate agent's instructions regarding what you should do when an agent wants to bring prospective buyers over to see the house. Image is everything, baby.

Do make all the beds in the house every day. This is an important habit to get into because an unmade bed denotes overall sloppiness, which is a HUGE turnoff to buyers. This can be one source of great family teamwork.

Do keep your kitchen tidy and dirty dishes out of sight. But remember, potential buyers may be looking in the dishwasher and ovens, so don't pile dirty dishes into them.

Do keep an empty laundry basket that you can use to scoop up anything that needs to be out of sight for the times when a real estate agent calls you from their parked car down the street and wants to bring their buyers by in T minus 5 minutes and counting. If you need to, take this basket with you when you leave the house.

Do know that some people will look in your closets. Avoid shoving all your dirty clothes and kids toys in the closets. People want to see that there's storage space in your closets and won't be able to see past the piles of stuff if you shove messes in there at the last minute.

Do keep the pathways and driveway free from ice and snow. Don't laugh! While this may seem an impossible task in the winter, do the best you can to keep a clear path for your potential buyers to be able to enter your beautiful home. Just before an open house, shovel and de-ice the paths; perhaps putting road salt down to help keep the area clear for the duration of the open house. Keep the Pathways Clean

Don't:

Don't cook foods that leave a lingering and distasteful smell in the air. Baking chocolate chip cookies will only go so far to mask a cooking odor that hangs in the air like fish. Unless you are prepared to turn down an agent when they want to bring potential buyers in during dinner hours, keep cooking less desired aromatic dishes to a minimum.

Don't leave things lying around that buyers can trip over like: hoses, wires, baby toys, or pets. Which brings up my next point ....

Believe it or not, some people will not appreciate your cat or dog in their new potential home. It's really best not to have any pets in the house during an open house if you can swing it. You never know how someone feels about certain animals; including hamsters, mice and all reptiles.

DO NOT hang around during an open house. Prospective buyers tend to get a little antsy when the owner follows them from room to room. After the open house, your realtor will give you a rundown of who came by and how they felt about your home. During the open house, go to a movie, the park or shopping. Please stay away during the open house and let The Marla Schneider Team do their magic.

Don't forget that you can always hide stuff in your dryer and even in the trunk of your car. Potential buyers will be none the wiser and they will be able to see your house for all it's worth without trying to overlook the clutter.

Happy Open House!

Comments (2)

Kathy Nielsen
http://atlantahomestaging.net - Marietta, GA
Atlanta Georgia Home Stager

Great advice, Maria. 

I especially liked the one about avoiding foods that leaves a lingering odor.

Kathy

Dec 29, 2010 03:04 AM
Marla Schneider
The Marla Schneider Team - Glenview, IL
Move with Marla

Thanks, Kathy. Hopefully, you house will only be on the market for a month or too.  Pretend it's Lent and give up fish, cabbage, chitterlings, etc. for the duration - or eat out!

Jan 03, 2011 01:04 AM