Open house strategies 2019-style
If you’re a real estate professional belonging to the school of thought that maintains open houses don’t work, you’re not doing it right.
Top producing agents from across the US have examined and investigated many new and innovative approaches to hosting real estate open houses. By utilizing the latest digital tools and applying the best “think-outside-the-box” strategies employed successfully by colleagues, they’re generating a wealth of valuable leads and engaging potential clients—and having fun in the process.
1: Allow yourself 3 days to properly market your open house
Giving yourself 3 days to properly prepare for an open house gets your name as a working realtor in circulation and helps generate listing leads. The open house is not intended to sell the home, but rather is meant to serve as a lead source approach to show what you can actually deliver to a seller.
2: Emphasize 3 features that set your listing apart from the comps
Do your research and find at least three features unique to your listing that can’t be found in other comps. Larger bedrooms? More square footage? Two master suites? The ability to confidently rattle off three or more sought-after sales features exclusive your listing is a way to demonstrate your market knowledge and help sell the listing.
3: Schedule Your Open House Strategically
Off-hour open houses can attract a wider audience. While most agents schedule weekend open houses between 1-3 pm., consider scheduling yours from 9-11 a.m. or 3-5 p.m., which are going to be less intrusive for most people on a Saturday or Sunday.
- Weekday open houses: Thursdays from 6-8 p. works well for working people and during the summer months.
- Any day power hour/happy hour open houses from 5-6 or 7-8 p.m.
- As a rule of thumb, select open house days and hours that work best for buyers’ lifestyles and schedules. It just makes sense.
4: Broadcast a Facebook live stream at your open house
An open house filled with people provides a great opportunity to stream and record a video walkthrough of your listing.
What are the benefits of running a Facebook live stream at your open house? Potential buyers can view the house remotely and ask the agent relevant questions, to which the agent can respond in real time for all viewers, as well as people attending the open house, to hear. Once the video is recorded, it can be posted to the agent’s Facebook page to attract additional traffic.
5: Promote your open house video walkthrough as an Instagram story
You’re already active on Instagram, so why not facilitate Instagram Stories to promote your open house and the associated Facebook live stream?
6: Create a special experience for luxury home open houses
When hosting a luxury home open house, agents want potential buyers to experience the luxury home lifestyle. To make that happen some luxury home agents are staging events that recreate the epitome of opulence and affluence, such as parking a yacht outside of a luxury waterfront listing and/or exotic sports cars in the porte-cochere or at the home’s front entrance.
Luxury home open houses provide guests with fine champagne and hors-d’oeuvres during a four-hour tour of the property, during which they learn about what makes the home especially unique. Luxury home open houses cater to clients who expect first-class top-notch marketing and related services.
7: Stage the home virtually with different decor and offer to email the virtual staging to your open house visitors.
Most people have a hard time trying to visualize a space with different furnishings than what’s already in the space. Virtual staging offers the ability to create images of a space originally staged, say, as a guest bedroom, re-staged for different functions such as a nursery, office, or craft room.
As you flip through different staged photos on your iPad, you can offer to email (or text) images to viewers. While virtual staging can get pricy with traditional staging programs, Fiverr offers virtual staging for as little as $5 with a quick turnaround. These image enhancements can go a long way toward making your images pop online.
8: Use an Open House Sign-in App
Following a successful open house, the task of trying to read people’s sloppy handwriting on the sign-in sheet can be an exercise in frustration. Illegible sign-ins translate to lost leads. Instead, try an open house sign-in app like Spacio, a HomeSpotter app that allows agents to collect people’s sign-in information on a tablet, ask custom questions, and send all their contact data instantly to your CRM where you can register them to receive emails or follow up later by phone.
A sign-in app can even provide social insights on verified contacts in real time to help facilitate in-person relationship-building during the open house.
9: Enlist Slydial Broadcast to Circle Prospect
Slydial Broadcast is an app that allows users to leave an automated voicemail on a lead’s cell phone without ringing their phone. Since each voicemail sounds like it was left by one of your agents, boosting engagement rates. All that’s needed is the software, a DNC scrubbed list of contacts, and a great open house.
10: Skip The Alcohol
A common question among agents is whether or not to serve alcohol at an open house. On the one hand, booze attracts guests so you may have a better turnout. On the other hand, unless you’re hosting an open house for high rollers, pass on the libations. Here’s why:
First and foremost, “social host liability laws” in some states can make you legally liable if someone at your open house drinks too much and gets hurt, either in the house or while leaving it. Second, a room full of people who only showed up for the free wine will distract you from the good prospects.
11: Ask the neighbors to attend with door hanger invitations
Invite neighbors to drop in, as they can usually provide useful feedback about the area and lifestyle, which in turn, helps sell the home.
One effective way to entice neighbors to your open house is with door hangers. A targeted door hanger campaign a few days before the open house will pique the neighbor’s curiosity and get them through the door. You can find oodles of door hanger templates with a Google search.
12. Invite the neighbors for a sneak peek with this simple Script
Getting the neighbors to your open house is always a good idea. Many may be moving in the near future, or better yet will have friends and relatives looking to move into the neighborhood. When it comes to quality referrals, a face-to-face meeting is worth 100 emails.
Some agents invite neighbors over for a “neighbors only” preview of the home. Check out this video to see a simple script and get some great advice for driving visitors to your open house.
13: Hold a raffle or contest
Holding a raffle or contest for prizes such as a gift card, Google Home, or Alexia is a great way to entice people to come to an open house.
14: Provide chocolate, floorplans, FAQs, and HOA information to guests
When potential buyers attend an open house, there are a few things that make them really happy:
Printed floorplans of the home to help them envision their furniture in the space; a printed list of frequently asked questions that cover interesting facts about the property. Printed sheets containing HOA information, rental restrictions, area shops and points of interest, and chocolate. Guests love chocolate—it’s a great personal touch. When visitors leave your open house, make sure they walk away with all the crucial information they need to make it easier for potential buyers to be one step closer to buying the home.
15. Provide an automatic bootie dispenser for easy-on shoe covers
An automatic bootie dispenser provides visitors with shoe covers to protect the home’s floor by simply stepping onto the dispenser, which places the booties on for them. A bootie dispenser is especially helpful for older open house guests who may have difficulty bending over to place the booties over their shoes.
Place a framed sign at the entrance with the message “Welcome to our open house. Look around, ask questions, see yourself living here, fall in love, make an offer!” or something similarly charming to engage visitors from the start.
open house strategies