There are two components to setting up your open house: preparing the home itself, and preparing yourself and the materials you’ll need. When preparing the home it’s important to go through each room as though you were a buyer and make it attractive as possible. You may wind up doing some of this work, but it’s the homeowners’ responsibility as well if they want to sell their home!

A checklist for preparing the home:

• Make sure the home is THOROUGHLY cleaned and scrubbed, inside and out.
• Mow the lawn, neaten the yard and PLEASE make sure the owners pick up any dog poop!
• Vacuum all carpets and drapery, air out any door mats.
• Make sure all dishes are washed and put away and the kitchen appliances cleaned.
• Get rid of any clutter (owners may need to get a storage unit for things they won’t trash).
• If closets are messy, cluttered and unorganized, purchase a closet organizer to get them in shape.
• All windows should be cleaned and opened (unless they face something like a brick wall).
• All doors and screen doors should be opened to allow people to walk through the home easily (and we’re serious about screen doors – nobody likes to walk right through a screen door they didn’t know was there).
• Don’t have any rooms off limits, as people may wonder what you’re hiding.
• Get the valuables out of the home and lock up anything that could be easily stolen. (Hate to say it, but it could happen.)
• If the homeowners have pets, they gotta go. To a friend’s house, to the car with their owners, anywhere, but they can’t be in or around the house, as people are allergic to animals, or just may not like them at all.
• If the homeowners smoke, be firm and tell them they need to stop smoking in the home for at least a week or more before the open house. Many people find smoking a filthy habit and are unlikely to be interested in a home with smoke stains and a nasty odor.
• Turn on all the lights in the home – it looks more inviting and people don’t have to fumble around looking for that one light switch that may be in an awkward spot to reach.
• Have soft music playing in the background – nothing heavy or pounding, try and choose music based on the type of visitors to the home. Something like soft rock is usually a good bet.
• If you plan on grilling or preparing food, have things neatly set up and laid out to make as little mess and clutter as possible.
• Have the homeowner bake cookies, or do it yourself in the home. Why? Because to be blunt, peoples’ houses smell. Maybe not bad all the time, but every home has a unique odor. Baking cookies covers that up, puts an enticing scent in the air AND you can offer them to your visitors!

Some of these topics can be bit awkward to bring up with the homeowners, but in the long run you’re doing them a favor by being polite but blunt about what the house needs. Simply tell them that without taking care of certain aspects of the home, it just won’t sell.