Planning an open House?

The first step is to discuss the topic of an open house with your agent. You should also discuss your options regarding who will be present the day of the open house. Some sellers want to be present some prefer to go out or come in and out that day. The choice is yours but your agent should be notified of your choice in advance. If you are not going to be present the agent may choose to take another agent along to the open house that day.

If you feel you are ready to have your agent host one, the next step is to set a day and time for the open house.

The best days to have one are weekend days Saturday & Sundays. Some people feel Sunday is the best day because chances are greater that more people will be off from work that day.

The time is up to you but a suggestion would be Sunday 1PM to 4PM.

Saturday you may want to choose from a time frame from 12PM-3PM or 1PM-4PM.

Once you have the day and time set up, your agent will work on placing the ad in the local newspaper, the ad will run twice on the day of the open house in two sections of the newspaper.

If you feel your type of home may require additional out of town advertisement or ads run in ethnic publications you should discuss that with your agent when setting up the date.

Your open house will be posted on the Public Staten Island Board of Realtors Website as well as the MLS website for Realtors to see. There is also a link to directions that can be accessed from this site.

Your open house will be posted on our company's website.
Your open house will be posted on Zillo.com
Your open house will be posted on Craig's list & many other sites including Trulia.com etc.

Your agent will make up detailed color flyers that will be distributed prior to your open house.
Your agent will make flyers and take them to your open house to be given to all of those who enter that day.

Please make sure on the day of the open house your home is in the best show able state it could be in.

There is additional information that can be found on our website in regard to showing your home &  condition.

The morning of your open house your agent will be busy doing some last minute preparing. Balloons will be inflated, strung, separated and bagged so they can be transported to your home. Open house signs including directional signs will be packed up. Your agent will arrive about a half hour before the open house to set up the signs, ballons, and flyers.

Your agent will also take along a sign in sheet, and various documents & publications.

The sign in sheet will have a paragraph on the very top of it typed in bold:

Do Not Call Compliance: by signing this form and supplying your phone number you are giving A.T. REAL ESTATE SPECIALISTS permission to call you. If at any time you do not want us to call you, please advise us and we will honor that request.

As prospects enter they will be asked to sign in and leave a contact number. This contact number will be used to follow up and get feedback to be given to you the seller a few days after the open house.

How successful will your open house be?
Here are some factors that will affect the amount of showings the open house will produce.

1. Your Price
2. Street appeal
3. Condition
4. Time of year (holidays, winter)
5. Weather conditions (snow, heavy rain)
6. Market Conditions

We hope you found this information useful. Please contact us when you are ready to have an Open House for your property.

Arlene Trunzo, Licensed Real Estate Broker
A.T. Real Estate Specialists LLC
Staten Island, NY Realtor
cmyrealtor@aol.com
718-317-0949 (Office)
917-359-1985 (Cell)

atrealestatespecialists.com