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How to Host an Effective Open House

Updated: Sep 13, 2022

Hosting an open house may sound easy but there are strategies behind a successful one. It's true that a house rarely sells through an open house. For real estate agents, open house can be a great opportunity for lead generation and branding building.



Should You Host An Open House?

How do you know if you should host one in the first place? Consider the following:

  • Is it the right market to host open houses?

  • Does this property show well? You may not want an open house if there are clutters everywhere.

  • Location - is the property in a high-demand neighbourhood or a remote location?

  • Does it work with your seller's schedule and situation?


Marketing Your Open House

It's extremely important to properly market your open house to make sure there's a good turnout. Public open houses are generally on weekends from 2-4PM. Here's a list of items to consider:

  • Register open house on MLS boards the property is listed on

  • Consider door knocking in the area 1-2 days before your open house to invite neighbours. Also serves as lead generation & brand building.

  • Post on all your social media platforms

    • Create a Facebook event for the open house

    • Use relevant hashtags - #openhouse

  • Post on your website

  • Consider running ads & sending postcards/flyers


Open House Preparation

Here's a list of items to make sure you're ready for the open house:

  • Sign-in sheets & pens. Here's a very simple version that gets the job done:

Full Name

Phone Number

Email

Address

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Download printable version:


  • Open house signs

    • Check map of the neighbourhood to see where signs should best be placed

    • Make sure to have signs redirecting people from high traffic streets

    • Always try to place maximum allowed number of signage per city bylaws

    • If you don't have signs or don't have enough, SQ Marketing can make generic or custom designed ones. Contact sqmarketing@sutton.com.

    • SQ has limited open house signs that can be signed out on a first come first serve basis

  • Property flyers/feature sheets

  • Your business cards

  • Sign holders for use inside the house

  • Hand sanitizers, masks and/or disposable gloves

  • Refreshments - if applicable

  • Consider bringing work laptop

  • Review & update qualifying questions for leads. Download here:

  • Make sure the seller is away for the open house. This allows the buyer to relax and get emotionally involved with the home.

It is very important to capture visitor information. One, for security and tracking purposes. Two, growing your database. It is also highly recommended to bring a work laptop with you so you can prospect if it happens to be a quiet open house. You'll be making the best use of your time there.


Day Of The Open House

Many agents put out their open house signs early in the day for additional marketing.

  • Put out signs in the morning

  • Arrive 10-20 minutes prior to start of open house to set up

  • Place feature sheets and your business cards at strategic locations in the house

  • Hand sanitizers at front and/or throughout the house

  • Try to make small talk and connect with visitors who aren't working with an agent

    • Be sure to take notes and input into your CRM afterwards

  • Consider prospecting with your work laptop if it's a quiet open house

  • Make sure everything is returned to its proper place after the open house

  • Remove signage



There you have it! You've just had a successful open house. Now what?

The answer is follow up. Enter leads and your notes into a CRM immediately after the open house. Call the next day to thank them for coming to your open house and set regular follow ups for potential clients. This is extremely important and most agents tend to forget when things get busy.

Many buyers who are in the market like to attend open houses on their own. If you're able to convert 1 out of 10 buyers, that's $22,500 in commission on a $900,000 property. Bonus points if you're able to sell the listing at an open house!


If you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out to SQ Agent Services team - equantum@sutton.com / 905-822-5000.

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