Open House Sales Tool: Slideshows
Any real estate market is a tough market when you’re trying to sell your house. Find out how to use a photo slideshow as a sales aid when having an open house. Show out-of-season plants, past home improvements, and decorating highlights.
Any real estate market is a tough market when you’re trying to sell your house. You need to use every advantage possible to realize a top dollar offer. Having an open house can pull in dozens of potential buyers, but if you do nothing to stand out from the crowd, these buyers won’t be impressed. A large television with a photo slideshow is an upscale, high-tech way to give your buyers added information while making sure your home is the one they remember at the end of the day.
What to Show
Potential buyers at an open house will see everything up close, so adding redundant information about the house wastes time on a slideshow. Instead, show what the buyers can’t see. If you’ve made significant improvements on the house, show a progression of pictures from what it used to look like to what it is today. This will impress them with the investment you’ve put into the property. Plants and landscaping add curb appeal and value to a home, but it’s a rare yard that looks the same year-round. Put together a collection of photos to show what the yard looks like in other seasons. What do those green hibiscus plants look like in full, glorious flower? What color purple are the blooms on your Florida dogwood? How well does the awning over the patio shade a barbecue party in April? If a picture is worth a thousand words, you can tell them volumes with a slideshow full of photos from other times.
How to Do It
Collect all the photos you might want to use in the slideshow. Upload the digital ones to your computer, and scan the paper ones. Load them all into a simple photo-editing program. Crop and resize the photos to make the best impression. For example, cut out the part of the picture that shows your kids wandering into the shot, or zoom in on the blooms of a plant you’re particularly proud of. Add simple captions, if needed, such as “In October” or “Dahlias in Front Yard.” Open your DVD burner program and load the photos into it in a logical order. Make a DVD, using attractive transitions between the photos, as well as between the sections of pictures. If you decide to add music, make it something quiet that will work as background music. Preview the entire show to make sure it makes sense and looks good together. Burn a DVD of the program.
Hook up a DVD player or PS3 to the television if there’s not already one there. Load the DVD, turn on the television, adjust the sound to a low level and allow the slideshow to play continuously throughout the open house.
Photo Source: Stock.xchng
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