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 | 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.