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As a real estate agent, hosting a public open house has several benefits. To ensure its success, follow these best ways to prepare and get ready for an open house.

First off, we’ve already discussed the advantages to holding an agent open house in What is an Agent Open House?.  Let’s start by looking at the benefits of hosting a public open house.  Unmistakably, an open house allows the public to preview the property.  Many times they can enter the home with no pressure as opposed to calling an office to set up an appointment to view a home.  A public open house is a non-threatening way for the buyers to view a home. This may just turn them from a “curious” to a “serious” buyer!  As the listing agent, you want the home to gain maximum exposure in order to find the right buyer.  Additionally, providing a public open house gives your listing that extra publicity that can draw in more potential buyers.  I always find that the level of interest in a home increases after a public open house due to the strong marketing efforts for the open house.

So what are some of the best ways to prepare and get ready for a public open house to ensure its success? Let’s take a look!

• Schedule Open House on MLS and Other Sites

  • If you belong to an MLS (Multiple Listing Services) system, be sure to go into your listing and schedule the public open house.  Every MLS is different, but my MLS system allows us to add the date, time, host, host’s phone number, and details.  For details, you can add, for example, if you are having a drawing that day for attending the open house.
  • Many times when you schedule the open house on the MLS, it will automatically feed over to your listing on Zillow, Trulia, and realtor.com. However, I always like to go into these sites individually and schedule the open house.

• Create an Online Flyer

  

  Make an Open House Flyer on Canva!

  • I use Canva to create custom social media flyers for many of my listings.  You can really get creative and highlight the home’s photos, features, date, time, address, etc.
  • Once you have the social media flyer created, share it online like crazy! I always post the flyer with the open house information on Facebook (on my business broker page, team page, and office page) Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and LinkedIn. In today’s market, buyers are starting their home search online so that is the perfect place to gain maximum exposure!

• Boost the Public Open House on Facebook

  • Once you have the social media flyer created and your public open house information in a Facebook post, boost it!  Boosting creates higher visibility in the online community and is a great way to reach a targeted audience of potential buyers.  You can select the age and location of your audience. Additionally, you can select the audience’s interests such as: first time home buyer, HGTV, entertaining at home, home improvement, house hunting, etc.
  • When you boost a post, you can decide how long you would like the ad to run but must spend at least $1/day. For my open houses, I don’t boost too far in advance or else the audience will grow tired of seeing the post. For example, if the open house is on Sunday, I will boost the post for 5 days before the open house.

• Share on Open House Post on Facebook Groups

  • If you have not done so already, search for Facebook groups in your local market that consist of an audience actively seeking homes. Join as many of these groups as you can! For example, some of the current title for the groups where I currently reside are: Southern Illinois Homes and Property for Sale and Mount Vernon and SO IL Homes for Sale, Rent, CFD, or RTO.
  • Typically, I share my new listings, price reductions, and open house posts in these groups.  It spreads the word about the upcoming open house to a group of people already actively seeking out homes.

• Send an Email Inviting Local Brokerages

  • Approximately 2-3 days away from the public open house, I email the local real estate agents.  In the email, I include the MLS number, brief description of the home’s features/price, and online flyer.  I’m inviting them to encourage their interested buyers to stop by the open house.
    

    Attach One of These Fliers to Your Emails- Inviting the Local Agents to Preview Your Listing During the Open House or Send Their Buyers!

  • You never know- your listing may be perfect for another agent’s buyer!  In a sea of homes on the market, finding the perfect match is like finding a needle in a haystack.  All it takes is that an email to help make that connections.
  • In our county, we have seven local brokerages.  Because it is a smaller county, I have all of the agents’ emails saved in my gmail contacts. I prefer to send them an individual email because it is more personal than one email to the entire office.  Additionally, it also ensures that they receive the email too!
  • Another way of sending emails in through the MLS.  Like I said before, every MLS system is different.  Ours has an MLS Email that allows me to send emails to all of the 50+ offices and their agents.  Sometimes I will use this system to promote an open house or price reduction. However, we receive multiple MLS emails a day- which makes me think my email may be overlooked.

• Handwritten Invitations

  • In addition to sending an email to my local agents, I will also send out hand written invitations.  Yes, I know it is a public open house and not specifically an agent open house. However, agents are welcome to come by too!  And if they want to bring their buyer with them or send their buyer, it is beneficial to the potential sale of the home.
    

    Send your fellow real estate agents personal invitations to your open house and include a flyer about the property!

    

    Send your fellow real estate agents personal invitations to your open house and include a flyer about the property!

  • You can find some blank note cards at the Dollar Tree or whip of some fairly quickly using scrapbook paper and card stock. I’m crafty and enjoy the variety offered in scrapbook paper so I prefer to make the cards.
  • Once you have all of your cards written, place them in an envelope with a flyer of the property and seal with their name on it.  Then stick all of the individual envelopes into a large 10’x13′ envelope to send to the brokerage office.

• Place Open House Flags and Signs Out 3-4 Days Ahead of Time

  • This is a great way to grab the attention of traffic that passes by the home or street on a daily basis.  You want to catch this market of potential buyers a few days ahead of time.  This way, they have time to plan for the open house in their schedule.
  • Place an open house sign rider with the day and time on the main sign in the home’s front yard.
  • Also, place several directional open house signs with the day and time at the main corners.
  • If you happen to have an open house flag(s) and feel safe leaving it out a few days in advance, place the flag(s) out.  These tend to have the biggest impact because of their size and bright colors.

• Follow-Up with the Seller on Marketing Efforts

  • Before the open house, send your seller an email outlining all of the ways in which you have advertised for the open house.  It’s always important to communicate with your clients.  Their number one complaint clients have about real estate agents is lack of communication.  You’ve done an amazing job spreading the word about the open house!  They will be excited to hear about all of the way in which their home is being marketed.