If you’re interested in getting the most money for your sellers, you know that how you price the home and how you market it matters. And the way you host open houses can have an impact on the outcome. Ish Ahmed of Palm Beach, Florida and Julie Hess of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania both understand how important it is to have a good strategy around open houses. After all, their purpose is to launch the listing and price it effectively in order to create excitement and increase demand for the home. In their recent sit down, these two stellar agents provided five key pieces of advice for ensuring that open houses get your sellers the biggest bang for their buck.

1. Share your open house and pricing strategy up front with the seller.

When your seller understands that the pricing strategy should work hand-in-hand with the open house strategy from the onset, they can better understand how both should work in tandem to build demand, increase in-person viewership, and drive up the offers without overpricing the home. As Julie says, “I’m not the market, the buyers are the market. Let the market drive the price of your home up.”

2. Plan your open house for a convenient, yet limited time.

When an open house runs for a short window of time, foot traffic is condensed. In other words, potential buyers see each other at the open house and feel more pressure to act. This works in favor of the seller. Another aspect of the open house that’s important to consider? Ensuring that it doesn’t compete with other local events (or must-see sports programs for your area!) that will keep people from visiting the open house.

3. Give as little information as possible when it comes to publicizing the open house.

While it’s essential that you follow your local MLS rules when it comes to providing appropriate details and wording the information about the house, hold back whatever you can. If people see photos and home details before the open house, they’ll have their mind made up about whether they like or dislike the house before deciding to see it in person. You want potential buyers to be curious about your seller’s home and check it out in person during the open house hours. That’s how you drive up urgency around the home – and ideally, the price it ultimately sells for.

4. Offer neighbors an exclusive preview of the home.

Door knock the neighboring houses to invite them to get neighbors-only access to the open house for the hour prior to the official event. Offering something special to the surrounding houses gives you a special opportunity to connect with potential future sellers and show them how hard you work for your clients.

5. Ask for help from other agents to host your open house.

Even if you are a solo agent, consider asking fellow agents to help you host your open houses. By doing this, you can better interact with potential buyers and buyer’s agents that visit your open house to showcase it and answer questions that may arise. This approach benefits everyone involved, including both the sellers and the interested buyers.

What open house strategies do you employ to ensure your sellers receive more than they hoped and asked for with the sale of their home?