If you are putting your home on the market and you're trying to sell it yourself, you want to do everything possible to increase the amount of good offers you receive on that home. You will need to show the home in the same manner as a realtor would so you can start to get offers on it. An open house is a great way to show the house to a lot of people at once. Some people will show up on their own and others may come with their real estate agent. You should follow the advice here to make the home attractive to more potential buyers.

Setting up for a successful open house

An open house allows people to come in and walk through the house. You will be there to meet and greet them, as well as to tell them all the great things the house has to offer and answer any questions they may have.

There are some tricks you can use to make the open house be more successful. While advertising in the local paper can be good, you also want to post a large notice of the open house in the front yard with some balloons. A lot of times people who are in the market for a new home will stop and come in after accidentally driving by and seeing the balloons.

An easy trick to help make the home more inviting is to bake goodies in the oven. Not only will this give you snacks to offer to your guests, but the aroma will give them a comfortable feeling in the home and help them to see it as a place they can call their own home.

Have cards made up with your name and number so you can set them on the countertop. This way, if you are in another part of the house with someone and another person who is interested in the home decides to leave, they can grab your number easily so they can call you later to discuss the home.

Decorating the home

When you are showing the house to potential buyers, you want it to look like a home, not an empty house. Showing a house without any furniture makes it harder for some people to imagine themselves living there.

You want to be sure you furnish the house using appropriate styles of model home furniture. The furnishings shouldn't have a definite style, but should allow for the viewers to be able to imagine themselves living there. For this reason, seating that's comfortable and not decorated in bold patterns is good.

Natural wood tables are a good, neutral choice that will go with just about any seating furniture. Hang some pictures on the walls that go with the colors of the furniture to help tie everything together. A few vases with artificial flowers can really add to the look; keep in mind that using real flowers is a bad idea since many people have allergies.

Showing the home

When people show up for the open house, you should allow them to do some walking around on their own. This gives them a chance to visualize themselves in the home without distraction. As soon as they begin to look toward you or start picking up the pace and going through the home a little faster, then you want to step in and tell them the important features the house has to offer.

Now that you know a little bit more about how you can increase your chances of finding an interested buyer through an open house, you are one step closer to selling it.