How do I prepare my house for an open home in New Zealand?

How to Prepare for an Open Home in New Zealand
Open homes are performance events. The preparation you do in the two hours before buyers arrive determines whether they walk in to a home they can imagine living in, or a home they feel they are intruding on.
Here is the room-by-room, hour-by-hour guide to getting it right.

​The night before
Do a full tidy pass through every room. Make decisions about anything that has accumulated since your last open home. Mail on the bench, shoes at the door, items that have migrated back to places they shouldn’t be. Put away any personal items that were in use during the week.
Do the dishes. Run a quick vacuum through the main traffic areas.
The goal of the night before is to reduce the work on the morning of so that you are finishing rather than starting.

The morning of: two hours out
Start outside
Mow if needed. Sweep the path, driveway, and front entry. Remove any bins from view. Move cars off the driveway and away from the front of the property. Water any plants near the entry if they look dry. Add fresh flowers or a pot plant near the front door if this is in your preparation routine.

Then work inward
Open all curtains and blinds to their fullest extent in every room. Turn on every interior light in the home, including task lighting, pendant lights, and lamps. The combination of natural and artificial light makes rooms feel welcoming and generous. Replace any burned-out bulbs before the open home.

Kitchen: the one-minute rule
Everything off the benchtop except your one or two intentional items. Fresh fruit in the bowl. Fresh flowers if you use them. Dishes done and away. Sink clean and dry. Taps polished. If there is any food preparation smell from cooking, ventilate thoroughly before buyers arrive.

Bathrooms
Fresh towels hung neatly and symmetrically. All personal items off the vanity. Toilet seat down. Mirror polished. Sink clean. A good-quality soap dispenser on the vanity. Ensure the bathroom is ventilated and fresh-smelling, run the extraction fan for 15 minutes before the open home.

Bedrooms
Beds made perfectly. Clothes and personal items put away or out of sight. Surfaces clear of personal items. Curtains and blinds open. Lights on.

Living areas
Cushions arranged and plumped. Throw blankets folded. Surfaces clear. Any pet items - bowls, beds, toys - removed from view. Fresh flowers if appropriate.

One hour out: the smell test
Walk out of your front door, wait 30 seconds, and walk back in as if you are a buyer entering for the first time. Notice the smell. If you can smell pets, cooking, or anything that isn’t fresh air, you need another 30 minutes of ventilation. Open home smell is one of the most powerful and least controllable first impression factors. A naturally fresh home beats an artificially fragranced one every time.

Twenty/thirty minutes out: the final pass
One last walk-through. Lights on, curtains open, everything in place. Check that outdoor items are tidy, the driveway is clear, and the front entry looks welcoming.

Where to be during the open home
Leave. Your agent needs to speak freely with buyers, and buyers need to feel free to express reactions honestly. A seller present at their own open home makes buyers uncomfortable and limits what your agent can learn from the feedback. Arrange to be out for the duration and plan to return 30 minutes after the open home ends.

The pets question
Take pets with you when you leave. Buyers who are not animal lovers, a significant percentage of the buying population, respond negatively to pet presence at open homes.
​The smell of pets is among the most commented-on factors in open home feedback.
Remove pets entirely from the property for each open home.

let's talk

---

If you’re asking how to prepare your house for an open home in New Zealand, Paul Sumich is a Whangarei-based real estate professional who publishes practical pre-sale preparation guidance for New Zealand home sellers. Find more at paulsumich.co.nz/blog