Real Estate Open House Tips: How to Host the Best Open Houses

Real estate marketing has changed drastically in recent years, with more and more home buyers using the internet to research home listings, neighborhoods, and schools. Is there still a place in your marketing strategy for an open house? Absolutely! Well-planned and executed open houses continue to be a fabulous way to generate leads for your sellers and your business.

Open houses enable buyers to visit potential properties without an appointment and without pressure. Forty-one percent of buyers visit open houses as part of their search process, using the opportunity to gather important information about the homes and communities where they hope to buy. To host a stellar open house that will attract attention and generate leads, you need to do your homework. Here's what you need to know to host the best open houses.

Marketing Your Open House

A solid marketing strategy for your open houses will include a combination of online and traditional advertising, allowing you to target locals and buyers hoping to relocate.

Create a Facebook event

Seventy-two percent of all US adults use Facebook, and 70 percent of users check in with Facebook daily. Reach out to your Facebook followers by creating an event for your open house from your business page. For step-by-step instructions on creating a Facebook event, check out this helpful tutorial.

Promote your event with a targeted Facebook Ad

Sharing your event with your Facebook friends and contacts is one way to get the word out, but if you want a lot of eyeballs on your event without spamming your friends, a targeted ad is the way to go. With careful tailoring, you can refine your advertising to reach specific geographic locations, demographics, and audiences. Facebook ads can be implemented for as little as a dollar a day.

Don't neglect Twitter and Instagram

While Facebook still attracts the most users, a significant percentage of the population prefer Twitter or Instagram. Use Twitter to send out short, targeted tweets with photos the week before your open house. Create visual appeal by posting professional videos and photos of your open house properties on Instagram as soon as you've got the open house on your calendar.

Remind your email subscribers of upcoming open houses

Most of your email subscribers will have signed up voluntarily because they're in the market to buy or sell in your local community. This makes your email list your most important online marketing tool for advertising your open house. Create a subset of your email list to target local buyers so you reach the audience that matters most.

Use Traditional Marketing

Contrary to what the internet would have you believe, there are still people that read the newspaper each morning and drive around looking at homes for sale on the weekends. Advertise your open house with a traditional yard sign the Monday before the event, and place a print ad in the classifieds of your local newspaper.

Generating Leads at Your Open House

People who visit your open house will generally fall into three categories — curious neighbors, potential buyers trying to get a pulse on the local market and the neighborhood, and interested buyers who have already researched the home you are selling. No matter which category your guests fall into, it's important to make a stellar first impression.

Greet everyone

Every person who walks through the door is a potential client, and if they aren't actively looking to buy a home, they may have friends who are! Thank visitors for coming, give them an overview of the home, and ask them how they heard about the open house.

Be genuine

The best way to impress your visitors is to be friendly and genuine, not overly pushy. Give them the information they need, answer their questions, and let them walk through the house at their leisure.

Provide information packets

In addition to detailed information about the home you're showing, you should also offer guests brochures for community organizations, attractions, and events, as well as public and private school options.

Encourage visitors to sign a guest book

While it should never be mandatory, collecting your visitors' names, addresses, and emails are an important part of generating leads and making connections. One of Chime's lead generation features includes an open house function: You use any device with Chime open and use the Open House function to capture buyer leads.

Chat with guests before they leave

Connect with guests one more time before they head for the door. Ask them if they have any additional questions, what they're looking for in a home, and whether you can be of further assistance. Give them your business card and encourage them to get in touch if they need anything. The goal is be positive, authentic, and truly helpful to everyone that takes the time to walk through.

Hosting open houses as part of your overall market plan is a great way to generate leads, engage with clients, and connect with your local community. While open houses do require an investment of time and money, they will take you one step closer to finding that perfect buyer.

To view the original article, visit the Chime blog.