An Open House Is a Great Idea During the Holiday Season

A holiday open house can be a great way for you to market a seller's home. Festive seasons are about celebrating, and what better way to celebrate the home buying process than with creative prop-tech tools that highlight a property's features?

Regular open houses during these busy times of the year can turn into long, tedious weekend afternoons filled with nothing more than the sounds of the season and daydreaming of sugar plums. But you can host a virtual open house every day of the week as an additional way to present your listing. Potential buyers can enjoy shopping for their new home online alongside looking for that oh-so-perfect gift for their special someone.

Wrapped and unwrapped

What can you do to make a home more attractive to potential buyers during a time when home sales typically decrease? A great Christmas open house idea is to combine before and after décor in your real estate marketing photos to allow potential buyers to visualize both versions.

Have the property's interactive floor plans available on your mobile device so you can easily emphasize the accurate square footage of each room and email the information directly to the buyer on the spot. Side-by-side virtual tours that encompass the "unwrapped" look of the home and the decorated version with all the trimmings are the perfect way to encourage the buyer's emotional connection. Their traditional open house experience is reinforced through a subsequent virtual open house incorporating 3D videos.

Sales stats by season

The four months from May to August see the highest volume of home sales nationwide. According to the National Association of Realtors®, 40% of total annual home sales happen during the summer season. Summer is the ideal time to move; with school drawing to an end, the desire for relocating is also at its peak. This leaves the winter months a bit of a challenge with lagging sales at only about 70% of the volume of the summer months. However, that 70% still represents a substantial number of ready and willing buyers who take the plunge into the real estate market despite the trends. Although the volume of sales is down during the winter months, a holiday open house is not out of the question. You may not have as many buyers and sellers, but the ones you do have want the best tech tools to showcase a home's features. 3D tours and virtual open houses are the optimum way to help a home sell faster during the slow season, high season, or any season.

Less inventory means more demand

According to Bankrate.com, the fall and winter are not great times to sell a home. This doesn't mean homes are not selling, it just means that people are focused on other things like travelling for an annual vacation or wrapping up the first semester of school and wrapping presents instead of thinking about a Christmas open house idea.

Sales opportunities don't have to take a back seat to seasonality in real estate. Less inventory can put your seller's property out front when you use 3D tours to market their home. When buyers are looking at this time of the year, you know they are serious. Virtual open houses capture the eye of the holiday shopper and with the added value of an interactive floor plan, you might just have found the perfect gift for both your seller and buyer. Your seller will be delighted with fewer interruptions in their day due to online showings and 3D tours, and the buyer will love viewing your holiday open house in an easy online format.

The biggest holiday of the year

Every culture embraces its own unique set of holidays, but with Christmas being the most celebrated holiday, followed closely by Thanksgiving, you may think a holiday open house is off the table. Remember, open houses are a way to invite potential purchasers into a home to experience what living there would be like. The holiday season is a time when many households bake up seasonal specialties, so why not schedule your open house around the day something fresh has just popped out of the oven? The lingering scent of home baking can trigger emotions and a sense of familiarity, making the home more appealing to the potential buyer. Follow up with virtual tours where the buyer will reinforce the memory of the home's fit and flow after the open house.

Preferential treatment

When it comes to a Christmas open house idea, every seller will have a different opinion on whether or not they prefer in-person or online viewing. But one thing is for sure, having a virtual showing is the perfect way to attract qualified buyers, hold their interest, and satisfy their curiosity about every square foot of a home. The buyer forms a connection while reviewing the interactive floor plan and virtual tour from the comfort of their own home. Your seller will appreciate the preferential treatment you give them by allowing them the freedom to celebrate the holidays without constant hassle from unqualified leads.

The holiday season is a time for sharing, and it is easy when you are prepared with the right prop-tech tools. Virtual tours and interactive floor plans are the best way to share details of your listings and lead the way to successful holiday open houses with little to no humbug!