A great open house isn’t just about unlocking the door and hoping for the best. Without proper preparation, strategic marketing, and solid follow-up, agents risk low turnout, uninterested visitors, and missed opportunities. Have you ever hosted an open house where no serious buyers showed up or where you had no idea how to follow up afterward?
A well-planned open house can generate leads, build connections, and create urgency among buyers. The key is in the details—before, during, and after the event. Ready to stop wasting time and start running high-converting open houses? Here’s your handy dandy index:
Table of Contents
Open House Checklist for Agents: Before Open House
1. Prepare the Property
Creating a comprehensive checklist is a great first step to making sure you have all your property preparations in order. Start by clearing out spaces to showcase your home’s space and flow. Deep clean every surface, from the floors to the windows, to the bathrooms, to ensure you leave a sparkling impression.
The outside requires some work as well; increasing curb appeal with landscaping and cleaning up exterior areas can help get people in the door. Setting the right temperature will make your guests more comfortable and keep them focused on their visit!
2. Arrange Professional Staging
Hiring a professional staging company can make a huge difference on the property. They get really creative with simple yet tasteful furniture and decor to make every space feel warm and inviting, showcasing the home’s best features.
When staging items, think about how the room will function, too. Virtual staging might interest younger, tech-savvy buyers. It’s a value-added service that adds a contemporary, high-tech edge.
3. Schedule a Photoshoot
Hiring a professional real estate photographer is key to showcasing your property. Working during the time with the best lighting conditions creates the most dynamic and vibrant images, which are essential for any marketing collateral.
Make sure each and every room is staged and spotless, ready for the photographer to arrive.
4. Design Marketing Materials
Creating eye-catching flyers and brochures helps too. They need to be rich in property specifics, photos, and amenities in the area. Attractive, consistent branding across all materials is a must, with contact information prominently displayed to make it easy for prospective tenants to inquire.
5. Notify Neighbors
The more you can inform your neighbors about the open house, the more local interest you’ll have. Delivering flyers or postcards and connecting face-to-face builds neighborhood relationships.
Using door hangers introduces a new element of outreach.
Marketing and Promotion
An effective marketing and promotion plan will ensure an open house gets the most exposure possible. This includes using earned, paid, and owned media to engage with the public at every turn. Social media and real estate websites are free and effective advertising outlets.
Developing compelling narratives that showcase the property’s unique qualities and advantages will draw in serious buyers. Keeping a pulse on engagement metrics will allow you to gauge the effectiveness of these marketing initiatives.
1. Boost Social Media Presence
Sharing posts on Instagram and Facebook from the communications team’s account can help generate interest in the open house. Hashtags that are popular in the real estate space, as well as the local area, help widen your potential reach.
Creative storytelling through Instagram stories or reels can provide behind-the-scenes looks at the property. Motivating followers to share user-generated content builds awareness.
2. Send Email Announcements
Compelling email announcements reach your entire client list and help get the word out about the open house. Highlighting some of the key features and content, and including a prominent call-to-action increases attendance.
Email list segmentation allows you to target different demographics. Reminder emails a week or two out from the event date can help boost the expected turnout even more.
3. Advertise on Real Estate Platforms
Publishing to major real estate platforms like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia increases the potential audience even further. Paid advertising opportunities help to improve visibility.
In a competitive landscape like rentals, detailed property descriptions and high-quality images are vital to capturing the most interest. Using performance metrics to track performance and return on investment determines which paid platforms provide the most successful outcomes.
4. Engage Existing Clients
Inviting your existing clients to the open house builds referral business. Sending personalized invitations shows your clients you care about them.
Providing their customers with updates on new listings and local market trends makes them feel in the loop. This creates loyalty and future business opportunities.
Two Days Prior to Preparation
Making a to-do list is the best way to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. It plays a critical role in ensuring that all of our ducks are in a row two days prior to the open house. This means ensuring all marketing materials are available and shared to ensure the greatest exposure.
Flyers, social media posts, email blasts, etc., all need to be carefully proofed to ensure they are effective and free of mistakes. Performing a final walkthrough of the property is key. This gives us a guaranteed clean house.
Keep it all clean, and be prepared to make some quick fixes. Today is the ideal time to tweak or finalize any last-minute improvements. Think about including some live flowers or changing up your space with new decor to make your space even more attractive!
1. Preview on Instagram
Give a behind-the-scenes look at the open house on Instagram. This is a great way to build excitement around your campaign among your followers. Share visually appealing content such as photos or virtual tours that showcase the property’s unique features.
In addition, adding countdowns to your stories is a great way to create buzz. Offer a referral incentive, like having your followers tag friends who would be interested.
2. Conduct Local Outreach
Partner with your chambers of commerce and other local businesses and organizations to help promote the open house. Deliver pamphlets to local shops and coffee shops. Building relationships with your local community members can go a long way in getting to those first-time buyers.
Promoting the event wherever you are with local audiences is a savvy move to get more people through the door.
3. Review Interaction Scripts
Write talking points or scripts if you want to have active engagement with visitors. Develop and practice responses to common questions about the home, property, and neighborhood. Customize these scripts to speak to any objections that your would-be buyers may have.
Rehearsing with fellow staff can help build confidence and ensure a clear and effective delivery during the open house itself.
4. Prepare Sign-in Methods
Create a sign-in sheet to gather visitor information. Digital sign-ins provide a more high-tech approach to data gathering. Make sure visitor privacy is always protected.
Use this information to both determine interest and focus future marketing efforts.
Open House Day Essentials
When you plan an open house, the name of the game is having all your ducks in a row. Start by making sure you have everything you need on hand. This means property brochures, pens, sign-in sheets, and business cards. Each item needs to be pretty close to perfect for when visitors walk through the door.
Secondly, ensure the property is professionally cleaned and staged. A clean, well-staged home will go a long way. Walk through your checklist to ensure that each and every item is done well in advance of the day of the event. Getting there early allows you to get things set up and address any last-minute changes or needs.
1. Install Directional Signs
Directional signs are essential. Location is key, so use them to channel visitors. Signs need to be large enough to be read easily from the road, but inviting up close and personal.
Make sure they comply with local regulations regarding placement and visibility. Adding something like balloons or flags can really make them pop.
2. Display Welcome Materials
Producing that first warm welcome is key. Have welcome materials ready at the door. Consider including brochures, business cards, and sign-in sheets.
Refreshments and snacks go a long way to making it an uplifting experience. Welcoming signs can help ease guests’ discomfort.
3. Offer Refreshments
Refreshments go a long way toward making guests feel comfortable. Provide light refreshments or refreshments that are easy to enjoy while walking around.
These can act as great conversation starters. Be sure to keep the area clean during your event.
4. Engage with Visitors
Connecting with your potential visitors is key. Welcome people and ask probing questions to uncover what they’re looking for.
Provide vivid descriptions of your property. Make sure that everyone else is prepared to help with any questions.
Post-Open House Activities
1. Collect Visitor Feedback
Consider administering a feedback form to attempt to get a more accurate picture of overall visitor impressions. Whether you use a formal survey or a more informal conversation, find out what worked and what didn’t for your guests.
Pinpointing these shared themes or recommendations is essential because it aids in honing future events. By formalizing this process of feedback documentation, you will have useful communication tools for future planning and for attracting and improving future open houses.
If you get a lot of feedback saying that the signage was confusing, then you can make sure to improve that when you do your next event.
2. Update CRM with Contacts
Make sure all visitor information is quickly input into your CRM system. This step is crucial for ongoing engagement and post-event follow-up.
Segment these contacts based on their interest levels and potential buyer status. With the right CRM tools, keeping track of interactions and tailoring future communication becomes a breeze.
It’s equally important to adhere to data protection regulations when storing this data, to protect your audience and company.
3. Follow Up with Leads
Follow up promptly with leads generated at the open house to capitalize on the interest. Create tailored follow-up communications based on each person’s unique experience, providing additional information on properties or answering any outstanding inquiries.
This targeted, personalized touch is key to continuing to build those relationships and turn more potential buyers into actual sales.
4. Analyze Event Success
Look at attendance and comments to measure the success of your open house. Analyze outreach efforts to determine their effectiveness and figure out what you can do better next time.
Take these learnings and apply them to future events to come up with more realistic goals and pave the way for repeat success.
Key Takeaways
- Preparing a property before an open house involves thorough cleaning, decluttering, and staging, ensuring an inviting atmosphere for potential buyers.
- A good home stager will bring in neutral but elegant furniture and decor that emphasizes the home’s best features and downplays any flaws.
- High-quality photography is essential. For instance, scheduling a photoshoot during the best lighting conditions enhances the quality of your marketing materials.
- Creating stand-out marketing collateral, from flyers to brochures, gets the most important property information in front of potential buyers quickly.
- By engaging with neighbors and employing some local outreach tactics, you can boost your open house attendance and foster valuable community connections.
- After the open house, collecting feedback and updating your CRM with visitor data is essential for improving future events and nurturing leads.
That’s a Wrap!
A successful open house doesn’t happen by accident—it’s all about preparation, engagement, and follow-up. From staging to marketing to post-event outreach, every step plays a role in converting visitors into serious buyers. Plan ahead, create a great experience, and keep the momentum going to turn your next open house into a lead-generating machine!
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Frequently Asked Questions
What should agents do before hosting an open house?
Agents need to clear out and clean up the home, take care of any repairs, and stage the home to play up its best features. Creating a detailed checklist will make sure you don’t forget anything.
How can agents effectively market an open house?
Use social media channels, email blast invitations, and open house listings on real estate websites to promote your open house. Creative marketing engages the most potential buyers.
What preparations should be made two days before the open house?
Ensure any signage you’ll need is prepared, double-check all promotional materials, and plan for any last-minute staging that may be necessary. Confirming all of these details makes for a successful event.
What essentials should agents bring on open house day?
Have property brochures, sign-in sheets, and refreshments ready. These items will help make your open house more inviting and informative for visitors.
How should agents follow up after an open house?
Follow up with personalized thank-you emails and change the status of the property to “under contract” on all online platforms. Follow-up helps build positive relationships and keeps prospective buyers in the pipeline.
Why is a post-open house activity plan important?
It allows agents to measure the event’s impact, collect feedback, and plan for their next open house. This creates an ongoing cycle of improvement and greater sales opportunities.
