What Should I Do During an Open House in Minnesota?
A seller called me from her kitchen in Eden Prairie on a Saturday morning with a question that had a specific and somewhat urgent quality to it because her open house was scheduled to begin in four hours and she had not yet worked out what her plan was for the day beyond making sure the house was clean and leaving. She was thirty-eight years old and had never sold a home before. She had a clear sense of what she needed to do to prepare the home for the open house, having gone through several private showings in the previous week and having developed a functional showing preparation routine. What she did not have clarity on was what she was supposed to do during the open house itself, specifically where she was supposed to go, for how long, whether she should be reachable, and whether there was anything she needed to do before she left that was different from what she did before a standard private showing. “I know I am not supposed to be there,” she told me. “But I do not really know what else I should be thinking about. Is there a checklist for what the seller is supposed to do on open house day? And is there anything about the open house preparation that is different from getting ready for a regular showing?” Her question was practical and well-framed, and the honest answer involved both the preparation differences that make open houses distinct from private showings and the specific things a seller should and should not do during the open house period itself. Here is the complete picture. How Open Houses Are Different From Private Showings Before addressing the seller’s specific responsibilities on open house day, understanding how open houses differ from private showings provides the context that makes the preparation differences meaningful. A private showing involves one buyer or one buyer household accompanied by their buyer’s agent, visiting the home at a specifically scheduled time with ShowingTime confirmation. The seller knows roughly when the buyers will arrive and when they are likely to leave. The interaction is one-on-one between the buyer party and the listing agent or, more commonly, with only the buyer party present using a lockbox for entry. An open house involves an unspecified number of visitors arriving over a defined window, typically two to three hours, with the listing agent present throughout. Visitors may be accompanied by their buyer’s agent, may come alone as unrepresented buyers, or may be neighbors or curious community members who are attending without purchase intent. The listing agent hosts the open house, greets visitors, answers questions, collects contact information, and manages the flow of the event. This difference in structure produces several specific preparation and behavior differences for the seller. The volume of visitors at an open house is greater than at any individual private showing, which means the visual and sensory presentation of the home needs to be at its highest standard rather than merely its daily-reset standard. If there was ever a day to go the extra mile on presentation, open house day is that day. The duration of the open house, typically two to three hours, means the seller needs to plan for an absence that is meaningfully longer than the one to two hour absence of a typical private showing. The destination planning for open house day requires more thought than for a standard showing. The listing agent’s presence throughout the open house means the seller’s departure does not leave the home unsupervised, which addresses the security concern that sometimes makes sellers reluctant to leave during individual private showings. The Open House Day Preparation: What Is Different The open house day preparation builds on the same foundation as the standard showing preparation but adds several specific elements that are appropriate for the higher traffic and higher visibility nature of the event. The presentation standard for open house day should be higher than the daily reset standard that private showings maintain. This is the day when the listing should look as close to listing-photo quality as the occupied home can practically achieve, because more eyes will be on the home simultaneously and because the competitive comparison between homes is most direct for buyers who are attending multiple open houses on the same afternoon. Specific open house day additions to the standard showing preparation include fresh flowers or a simple floral arrangement in the kitchen or living area, which add a moment of beauty and freshness that is worth the modest cost on open house day specifically. This is one of the rare occasions where a small atmospheric investment pays an impression return that exceeds its cost. Ensuring that all lights in the home are on, including lamps, under-cabinet lighting, and any accent lighting that is available, produces a brighter and more welcoming appearance that is particularly important on overcast days when natural light is limited. Walk through every room and turn on every available light source before leaving on open house day. Window coverings should be opened fully to admit maximum natural light, assuming the view from the window is neutral or positive. In rooms where the window view is toward another home’s wall or a less appealing element of the exterior environment, leaving the covering partially closed is appropriate. Temperature management on open house day is more important than for individual showings because the home will be occupied by multiple visitors for an extended period and because the thermal mass of the home changes with the traffic volume and duration. Setting the temperature slightly cooler than the household’s normal comfort level, approximately sixty-eight to seventy degrees in winter and sixty-five to sixty-eight in summer, accounts for the warming effect of multiple visitors and ensures buyers are comfortable throughout the event rather than progressively warmer as the open house continues. The kitchen should be in immaculate condition, specifically because many listing agents set up a simple refreshment station in the kitchen area