Do You Really Need To Conduct Open Inspections?
At Raine & Horne Glenelg we’re people just like you… we understand that opening up your home to complete strangers and neighbours can be stressful. On top of that you’ve got to be constantly cleaning and tidying up your house to keep it in tip top “open inspection” condition, and especially when you have kids; you’ve got to keep on the kids and remind them (over and over) to pick up their toys.

Most sellers don’t like open inspections… you are not alone with any feelings of hesitation.

The truth is though opening your home for inspections is a must. Open inspections are often the first and only opportunity that your agent has to gauge the true level of interest in your property. At an open inspection your agent can sell your home to potential buyers. Your agent can also qualify buyers as to whether they can buy your property, and your agent can even negotiate with your perfect buyers to get you a top price. That’s because buyer’s emotions always run high at ‘opens’.

Here’s why, let me explain…

The art of conducting a great open inspection is to open up your home up for only half an hour to ensure that multiple groups of buyers come through your home at the same time. With only half an hour to view your home, all the potential buyers arrive at the same time and look at each other. This creates an atmosphere of competition for buyers, as they realise that other buyers are also interested in your home. Typically this is where your agent, will pick up strong buying signals from buyers with interest in your property… your agent will begin to notice buyers that start measuring up your rooms to fit their furniture…or notice buyers that park themselves strategically in a bedroom or the kitchen, to ‘eyeball’ other potential buyers whilst they wait until the ‘open’ closes so they can talk to your agent. Open inspections are also crucial for your agent to receive buyers comments and feedback so he can ‘fine tune’ the marketing plan at the start of your marketing campaign and not waste valuable marketing dollars.

The bottom line is… the more groups of buyers your agent can get through your home at the same time, the stronger the competition will be, and the higher the price will be achieved.

Another question regarding opens you may ask is…how often should you open your home?

This depends mainly on the method of sale you choose, and the market conditions for your home. If you choose to auction your home, generally the campaign is shorter than a private treaty campaign. In a private treaty sale there is no set sale date, and therefore there’s no urgency for a buyer to attend the open inspection.  A private treaty campaign can sell in the first week, or take six weeks depending on the strength of the market and the marketing campaign.  Auction campaigns on the other hand typically are no longer than three (3) weeks with a set sale date – the auction day. Therefore buyers have a stronger sense of urgency to attend the predetermined open inspection dates which would be no more than once per week during the auction campaign.

For expensive and prestige property we recommend ‘inspection by appointment’ so we may qualify the buyers ability to purchase before we show them the property. Whilst ‘inspection by appointment’ viewings are not open viewings, we always try to get at least two groups of buyers to view the property at the same time to create a sense of competition.

Before you open your property for inspections, it’s important that you know the secrets all of presenting your property to create strong initial interest from buyers. Discover how to make simple improvements in the presentation of your home to achieve the highest price… read more