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by: ConnieSanders
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If you have your home listed with a real estate agent you will probably want to hold several open houses so people can view your home. You only get one shot at each potential buyer that looks at your home so you certainly want to do it right.

The best time to have an open house is Saturday and/or Sunday from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. Make sure you have advertised the open house in all the local papers and that you have plenty of open house signs and flags set up through out the neighborhood. You may need permission for the placement of some of your signs so do your homework before the day of the event. It's a sad thing to go to the bother of an open house and have no one show up. Sign placement is very important.

Today is the day. Turn on the lights in all the rooms and open blinds and/or curtains to let in as much light as possible. Have soft background music playing in as many rooms as you can. Crank up the fireplace if you have one. Park all those cars away from your house. Get them out of the garage too. Water the lawn front and back just prior to the open house starting. If you only have concrete water it. Just dirt, forget it! Keep pets secure and out of sight. Better yet, take them to your sister's home for the day. Bake a batch of cookies or something that smells homey during your open house but don't make a mess.

Put a guest register set out in the entry and have every potential buyer and/or warm body that comes through the door fill it out. Including the nosey neighbors. You need this information. It is a good idea to call each one later to get feed back, inquire about their intentions, or to call them back in the future when you have lowered your price. Just kidding. However, that is not a bad idea if you do change the terms.

Immediately after your guests/neighbors sign the register you should at that time give them the flyers for your home. This is very important. You must have two flyers. One quality flyer about your home and it should have a few pictures taken after you cleaned it up and before the kids got home. The other flyer should contain financing options. You can actually have both on one sheet if you can figuar out how to put them in the copy machine so the top is the top on both sides. You must have both and here is why.

Your home flyer is important because when people shop for a home by viewing open houses on a Saturday or by traveling with a real estate agent, after the third home, they get the details confused between the homes they have viewed. It is a fact. That is why you need a quality home flyer and it should have pictures of both the inside and outside.

Financing options flyer. People in the market to buy a home are interested in two things: how much their payments will be, and how much cash they need for the down payment and closing costs. If you are a For Sale By Owner you can get free help from a mortgage broker. Many have free FSBO programs and will actually create both flyers for you.

One more thing. It doesn't happen a lot but it does happen. Be aware of thieves and degenerates. Put your valuables away and keep them out of sight. Even better, keep them at a friend or family member's home. Remember, you are inviting strangers into your home.

Holding an open house can be productive so just roll up your sleeves and do it, but do it right. Enjoy.

About the Author

Connie Sanders knows that if you are selling your home yourself even small things can be a challenge. That is why she owns a For Sale By Owner web site that is free for the seller. Connie also offers free consultation so contact her on the site. http://www.fsbobasics.com Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory

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