A successful open house takes preparation and a solid marketing strategy. Consider using our step-by-step open house checklist to keep the planning and execution process stress-free.
Hosting an open house may be intimidating, but it’s incredibly beneficial for new agents. An open house is an excellent place to generate leads and network with potential buyers or buyers’ agents.
Seasoned listing agents benefit from hosting open houses, too. For example, an open house can improve a real estate professional’s brand and reputation, especially if the event produces a qualified buyer.
Several simple steps contribute to our complete open house checklist. Look at our recommended steps below to help create your own open house checklist!
How to prepare for an open house
Preparing for your first listing will take more work and planning than the ones to come. To start, you may need to hire landscaping, painting, staging, and real estate photography vendors.
Once you find vendors you like, use those companies to prepare your future listings’ open houses.
Additionally, save the initial marketing flyers, door hangers, and social media posts you create as templates for all your open houses.
Using trusted vendors and successful marketing templates lessens any stress associated with preparing for an open house.
Open house checklist
Our open house checklist is short and sweet. We consolidated the list into five simple steps. Keeping this checklist brief helps you recall what’s most crucial during a time crunch.
Step 1: Set a date for the open house
After you win the listing, take time to discuss the next steps with your sellers. Decide on a week to host the open house, and set a date so you can start the listing preparation and open house marketing strategy.
The best time to host an open house is Saturday or Sunday between 11am and 3pm.
Step 2: Prep the home and schedule a photoshoot
Now it is time to prep the home and schedule the listing photoshoot. While deep cleaning isn’t necessary for real estate images, decluttering the space is extremely important. Work with your clients to remove clutter, hide personal decor, and stage the rooms.
You can quickly schedule a listing photoshoot online during the preparation process.
Step 3: Prepare the marketing materials
Once you set the date and receive the real estate images, prepare the open house marketing materials. You should have materials ready for both your print and digital marketing strategies. Consider open house flyers, door hangers, mailers, and social media post templates, all of which will help promote your open house.
Need help with the graphic design side of marketing? Canva is a web-based application perfect for designing marketing materials from scratch or using one of the templates from Canva’s extensive template database.
In addition to promotional materials, bring a digital sign-in sheet to capture buyer leads. A considerable part of an open house’s success depends on the leads you generate.
Step 4: Notify the neighbors
Notifying the neighbors of your open house is both courteous and beneficial. While the neighbors aren’t likely to attend the event, they may know interested buyers.
You can notify neighbors a few days in advance by door knocking at a reasonable hour or leaving a door hanger invite.
Step 5: Follow up with your lead list
The last and arguably most important step in our open house checklist is to follow up with your lead list. If you do not follow up with the attendees, you may miss out on several potential clients.
Luckily, you can automate the entire follow-up process by uploading your sign-in list to your CRM system and adding the contacts to a new lead drip campaign.
Master your open house checklist with Virtuance
Hosting an open house is an exciting opportunity for real estate agents. Not only does following our 5-step checklist make preparing and hosting an open house easy and stress-free, but we can take your real estate photography and marketing materials to the next level.
Every order comes with a dedicated listing site and access to our Marketing Suite, which makes promoting your open house a breeze.
In today’s market, you only need to hold one open house per listing (max). If you’re a newer agent, offer to host open houses for other listing agents. Open houses help generate leads and provide valuable networking opportunities.
A virtual open house is an excellent marketing strategy for any listing. Potential buyers who can’t attend the open house can view a virtual walkthrough instead. A virtual open house increases exposure and reaches a larger buyer pool.
Prepare for an open house with the following steps: declutter, schedule a listing photo shoot, create marketing materials, promote online, place signs, and notify neighbors.
