Halloween: decorate your home to boost viewings!

Has your property been on the market for a while but viewings are few and far between?

This is your chance to turn the viewing of your property into an event!

How? Halloween is approaching and both children and adults are always amazed by the terrifying decorations put up for this occasion… By decorating your home you create the event and a good number of potential buyers will be keen to visit, while enjoying a pleasant family outing. This is what we call an “open-house”. Your property is open access for the day, anyone can come and view it without a prior appointment, your agent stays on site and collects offers at the end of the day.

How is an “open-house” organised?

Straight from the United States where it is very widespread, this free, one-off practice attracts prospects and generates interest in a property. However, you should plan in advance by liaising with neighbouring shops, or communicate through boards placed on strategic routes or via word of mouth. On the day, the estate agent welcomes visitors directly on site with a document detailing the property’s features. Visitors are asked to leave their names and email addresses, which means if the property does not match their plans, they can be sent a listing of other properties more suited to their requirements.

Organising an “open-house” on a special occasion

It is very interesting to organise an “open-house” on a particular date, particularly during a festive event like Halloween. Indeed, we often see houses decorated at this time of year and the desire to stop is always there. By planning an “open-house” and communicating about it, many families will want to go along to enjoy a pleasant time. Regardless of whether they are looking for a property, they can then talk about it to others - word of mouth is a very important lever in property sales!

How to decorate your home without breaking the bank?

There are many tricks that allow you to create superb Halloween decorations without breaking the bank:

• Balloon and tulle: simply inflate several white or transparent balloons and wrap them with black tulle gathered at the base.

• The pumpkin: a great classic that always has an effect, even more so when carved and filled with tea lights!

• Thistle: this flower can fit perfectly into your Halloween decoration

• X-rays: old X-rays placed around will make a splash

• Autumn leaves: you can gather recently fallen leaves and, with your children, draw monster faces on them

• Branches: make mini-witches’ brooms from branches in your garden

• Candles: melt red candle wax onto white candles to give them a blood-stained appearance

• Paper: bats, pumpkins or ghosts - many shapes can be cut from paper and then used as bunting

• Sheets: they can be used to make ghosts in every corner of your house

• Fake cobwebs: these are easily found in all specialist shops and are inexpensive