Most sales representatives will suggest a number of ways to market your home, however, if your agent has decided an open house would be advantageous, here are some suggestions to help make your open house successful.

There are four steps to follow for a successful Open House. The first three are planning, promotion and presentation. Once you've done all that, the only step remaining is to cross your fingers and hope for good weather!

As with most things in real estate, planning is critical to your success. Check your calendar and pick a date that won't conflict with other events that could divert your potential visitors. You won't get many home browsers on Super Bowl Sunday or Mother's Day! Ask your real estate professional for advice on how to showcase your home to its best advantage. Remember, when it comes to showing appeal…less is more. You want to create an atmosphere of spaciousness. Get rid of the clutter to maximize your space. Have a garage sale, empty the closets and take the time to give those things away to charity. Besides making your home look great for showing, it'll give you less to do on moving day.

Remember that a home that looks well kept will create favourable impression. Make sure you cut the grass or shovel the sidewalk as the season requires. Plan on doing a little spot painting to perk up problem areas, oil squeaking hinges, tighten loose screws, and all the other little things that show a home is cared for.

Then it's time to start promoting. Your real estate professional is the expert here, and can advise you what marketing techniques will be used to promote your event. Whether it's direct mail, advertising in Home Guides or the newspaper, or website promotion, your representative will effectively promote your event. However, you can add to the process by partnering in the promotion too. Post notices on bulletin boards in supermarkets, libraries or community centers. Anyway that you can spread the word will add to the process.

For your Open House day, your representative will also counsel you on how to present your home to its best advantage. Leaving on all the lights, having a fire burning in the fireplace, soft background music playing, and coffee brewing all add to the ambience and make a welcoming impression. But as any real estate professional will tell you, the best thing that you can do to make your open house a success is to get out and stay out! All joking aside, you'll get better results when your visitors feel free to poke about, linger, and ask very direct questions of your real estate agent. If you're present, they'll feel more constrained, and your sales representative may not even get an opportunity to identify any concerns they may have, and attempt to offer them options and solutions. So pack up the dog and the kids, and enjoy your day away…trust your real estate professional to do the job right. After all, they're the experts!