When having an Open House you need to change your mindset and emotions. The goal is to get a full price offer or more. Yes, it is a difficult time to prepare, and change your home into a product for sale.

Try to pull your emotions out of the selling part of the process. It will make life easier.

First off, you will need to sanitize, so to speak; make your home a model home or at least a home that is very inviting. It’s like staging your home with your own furniture, or in some cases using a staging company to bring in outdoor furniture, decorations and inside furniture to stage your well-planned Open House.

What does this mean to sanitize? Remove all your knickknacks, personal belongings, personal photos, things that are very personal, things that would trigger a potential buyer to see your family living in the home and not their family living in your home. You may end up moving half of your personal belongings out to prepare for a successful Open House. You may need to rent a local storage unit or have a storage POD delivered to your home to prepare for the sale of your property. Another option for storing your personal items is to have a friend, hopefully, next door, that will allow you to store your personal belongings and furniture in their garage temporarily, or maybe a relative who lives close by will store your personal property.

You will need to organize your laundry room closets, bedroom closets, kitchen pantry, bathroom storage, and general storage areas to maximize the appearance of usable space in your home. This makes your storage areas appear bigger than they are. Your Open House guests will most likely look in the closets and storage areas and imagine their items in there. You want your potential buyers to mentally see enough room for all their items and furniture.
Arrange your furniture in your bedrooms, living room, family room, and any other rooms to maximize the space of each room. You want your home to appear larger than it is. You want your home to feel spacious.

To Clean or Not

Deep clean your home. If you need help with this, there are many local cleaning service companies that can come with a crew of professional cleaners and do a professional deep cleaning on your entire house. Every surface, including walls, floors, ceilings, mirrors, and countertops should be free from grease, grime, stains, and dust. If walls are dirty and can’t be cleaned, you may consider hiring a professional painter to paint them. All rooms should be clean, especially the bathrooms and kitchen not only for the open house but for the entire time your home is listed in the MLS, and available on the Multiple Listing Service. People will make decisions based upon the condition of your home, starting with the kitchen.

If your home is in a sloppy, dirty, unkempt condition, people will walk out of your home as fast as they walked into your home. No one likes to walk into a cluttered dirty home. It doesn’t feel “at home” it feels like there is a lot of work ahead of them. It’s a negative feeling they get. The cluttered, dirty feel will definitely affect the outcome of the final price you receive for your home.

You may need to buy new decorative pillows for your couches and beds and possibly new linens for the bathrooms and kitchen, make sure these items are a neutral color and match the rooms they are placed in.

On the day of your Open House, have a sweet aroma in your house. Some professional realtors will have cookies baked in the home prior to the Open House, other Realtors will have a neutralizer spray to make the home smell good. Don’t overdo the scented spray though. Some sprays are too strong and will smell toxic. Many people do not like the air freshener aroma and it could turn off buyers. Make sure it is subtle and pleasing.

Open House Ambiance

Soft background music is also appealing to play throughout the home but not too loud or you will overpower your guests. This is an optional item because of the different tastes people have for music. The best is like elevator music, there is no singing, just pure music and usually, it’s soft.
Make sure you have your home heated or cooled properly during the Open House and the HVAC system is in working order before being listing for sale on the MLS.

In addition to the inside of your home, the outside is just as important. You will need to make sure the outside of your home is clean, neat and inviting. It’s called curb appeal.
Take the time to wash the entire house down, remove all dirt, cobwebs, spider webs, bird droppings, and debris from the walls, driveway, walkways, and planters. Make sure your grass is mowed and looks healthy. If your grass is mainly weeds, hire a professional to replace your grass, or at least make it look good. Trim all shrubs as needed and remove anything that is dead. If you have overgrown trees, make sure you have a professional tree service come out and prune or trim them to make them look appealing. Professional tree service and removal companies can trim your trees the right amount, so they don’t look butchered, but instead, manicured.
Make sure the rain gutters are clear of all debris and flow properly to a proper drainage area.
Wash all your windows and mirrors… hire a professional window washer to do the job. Make sure they clean the window tracks and screens, inside and outside the home. If your window screens need repair or replacement, repair or replace them prior to listing your home on the Multiple Listing Service. It is better to have these things done prior to listing. Real Estate Agents will notice the condition of your home when it goes on the market. If your home is impeccable, Real Estate Agents will show it often. You will get a better offer if your home is in great shape and all the minor issues are taken care of prior to the listing of the home and especially the Open House.

Is the Outdoor Area Clean

If you have an outdoor lighting system, make sure it is working properly. It’s better to remove old broken lighting than to show your home with lighting that doesn’t work properly.
Make sure your home’s first impression is the best impression.

Make sure the front entry door is clean and well maintained. If the front door needs paint, hire a professional painter to come out and paint it.

Make sure your porch light is clean and in good working order. If the porch light is old and ugly, replace it. If you have a doorbell that is broken, repair it and make sure the chimes work properly. It is very inexpensive to do these repairs to add greater value to your home.
Ensure your home is easily identifiable from the street with freshly painted curb numbers and possibly new house numbers, replace them if they are old and tarnished. There are some really nice house numbers that look appealing to a buyer.

Replace your welcome mat. All home centers carry the latest style of front door mats. Find one that welcomes your guests into your home.

Now you are ready for a Great Open House!

How is Your Landscaping?

It might help to drive around the community to look at other homes for sale. Look at the landscaping, curb appeal, and determine the best first impression. Find the best one, then drive by that home at night. Do they have landscape lighting? Is the area well lit? If your landscaping is lacking, either make some updates or hire a professional landscaper to beautify your outside area. You can show the landscaper different properties in the area that may look better than your home. It’s a great way to start to improve the saleability of your home. Also, by adding plants and flowers adds appeal to a potential buyer. Looking through landscape books to will also help decide on what plants to plant in your yard.

Is the Outside of Your Home Clean?

Again, curb appeal is everything. How is your paint? Look at the paint on your trim, walls/siding closely. If it is peeling or faded? touch it up or repaint. Give it a fresh look. How does your driveway look? Does it have grease stains or moss growing? Is it damaged? If so, there are professional pressure washing companies and concrete companies that can clean or repair your driveway or walkways. How are your fences? Are there broken boards? Make sure the fencing is in good shape and the boards are not whitewashed by sprinklers hitting them. A good coat of paint will fix that problem and make your fence look new.

Does Your Home Need Repairs?

Many people do not repair or maintain their homes on a regular basis. To get a great offer on the sale of your home, make sure all repairs are done before your list your home with a Real Estate Agent. No one wants to buy a turnkey property and still must fix a bunch of items, or worse, force you to fix them during escrow. If your house has repair issues while it is on the market, you will not get the best offers possible and it may discourage some of the best buyers.

Is Your Home Welcoming?

When you walk up to your front door, is there anything that distracts a buyer from a pleasant experience? If your concrete is stained, are there dead plants, overgrown grass, are the numbers on the house old and faded, are the numbers on the curb rubbed off? Make sure the house numbers look new and the paint on the curb is new. Make sure the entryway is a pleasant place to walk up to. Make sure the front door is clean and if needed, paint it by a professional painter. Add a new welcome mat that is warm and inviting. Change the front porch light if it looks tarnished and old.

Is Your Home Cluttered?

Remove any of your belongings from sight, and that includes knickknacks, personal items, collectibles, and furniture. Rent a local storage facility if you need to, don’t store all the items from your house in the garage with it. Buyers will want to visualize their belonging in your house. They are looking for possibilities and having clutter may really turn off the buyer. They will want to leave your house fast.

Are Your Closets Organized?

Clean your closets, remove old garments, give them away or put them in storage. You’ll want your closets and storage areas to appear large. A disorganized closet makes it look small and messy and makes it appear your home is lacking storage space. There are companies that will design and install closet organizers. There are many options to buy these online as well if you are handy.

Is The Inside of Your Home Clean?

No one likes to walk into a dirty home. Either hire a good house cleaning service or take the time to deep clean your home. Make sure there are no spider webs, cobwebs, or dust on furniture, shelves, stairways, ceiling fans, or anywhere. Make sure your tile is clean, as well as your grout. If your grout is dirty on the tile floor, or in a shower, hire a professional tile grout cleaner to clean it up. Are your windows and screens clean? Hire a window washer to come out and clean the windows and the screens. Make sure they also clean the window tracks. If there are any damaged screens, replace or repair them. How about your air ducts? are they clean? Hire a professional to clean them if they need attention.
Make your home really sparkle!

How Fresh is Your Paint on the Inside?

Neutral color paint is your best choice if your plan of repainting the inside of your home. If you have walls that are lime green or purple or similar bright colors, paint them! There is nothing worse than a potential buyer who makes a list of items that need to be done before they buy. You want to make sure there are no complaints on how your home looks during the realtor presentation.

Is Your Flooring in Good Shape?

Many times, buyers will ask for a flooring allowance as a condition of the sale. Make sure your flooring is in good shape and ready to live-in for the new buyer. If there are any issues with your flooring, replace it. New carpet and flooring have a much higher personal value for a new buyer than old flooring. Many times, young families have children that play on the floor, your buyer must feel comfortable having their children play on your carpet or flooring.

Does Your Home Have a Bad Odor?

Make sure when showing your home, you don’t have anything that would cause an unpleasant odor. Make sure there are no cat boxes or urine smells from animals. Take your animals with you when your realtor wants to show your home. Create a pleasant aroma for a home showing. Put out flowers and possibly bake cookies for a home showing.

Have You Had a Professional Home Inspection?

It is a great idea to have a reputable home inspection company inspect your home for any issues you may have you are not aware of. It’s always better to have a clean inspection report for potential buyers. It gives your buyer much more confidence in your property selling price and value. If there are items that need repair, make sure the repairs are done properly, and to local building code, and if need be, by a professional. Having a warranty on large items such as Heating and Air Conditioning systems will help buyers make a decision in your favor. On the other hand, if the inspection is done after your home is sold, the buyer might withdraw their offer or demand a reduction in price if there are large repair issues that need to be addressed. Sometimes it is more costly to reduce the price than to fix the problems before your house is put on the market for sale. Today there is a large supply of homes for sale in Denver Colorado. In order to move your home quickly, you need to make your home stand out in the crowd. Here are some of the top steps to ensure your home performs better than the others listed. First impressions are everything and you only get one first impression when selling your home. When your home is the best one on the market, other realtors will show it. The more interest and activity on your home the faster it will sell and for a better price.