Planning a successful open house is a great way to meet new home buyers, build recognition in a new neighborhood, and network with potential sellers.

Modern real estate tools make it easier than ever to market your listings and attract leads without having to spend time learning complicated software. Today, we’ll share nine ways to advertise an open house that will help you spread the word, generate interest in new listings, and book more appointments.


1. Build a Single Property Website

Real estate agents managing high-profile listings often want to get the most out of selling these properties, so building up buzz about the listing is crucial.

One of the most effective ways to advertise an open house is to create a single property website for just that listing. Single property websites enable agents to showcase a property with as much detail as possible, from virtual tours and aerial videos to information about amenities, nearby businesses, and schools in the area.

With Rela’s user-friendly platform, you can create a stunning property website in just minutes. Import your property details, upload photos and videos, and choose from one of our award-winning templates to present your listing online and stand out from the competition.

See examples of our single property website themes.


2. Host a Virtual Showing

It’s impossible to find a day and time for an open house that will work for everyone. But with accessible options like Zoom, Google Hangouts, Facebook Live, and Instagram Live, real estate professionals can now bring their open houses to their clients.

Virtual open houses were common during the COVID-19 lockdown when gathering in-person was temporarily prohibited. But even in a post-COVID world, virtual open houses can be a great way to generate buzz for your listing without a lot of extra effort. Virtual showings also let you promote houses to potential buyers located out of the area.

By hosting a virtual open house, agents can engage with potential buyers online while answering their questions in real time. Once you’ve finished live streaming your virtual open house, you can post the video on social media to generate even more interest in your listing and send interested buyers to your single property website.


3. Generate Leads With Facebook Ads

The chances that a random person at your open house puts down an offer is pretty low. That’s why lead generation is almost, if not just as important in real estate as actually selling homes. Taking the time to nurture relationships with potential buyers and sellers will result in more listings and sales under your belt.

Rela integrates directly with Facebook’s powerful advertising platform, enabling you to create and publish Facebook Ads right from your dashboard. Rela’s ad-smart technology automatically identifies the best target audience based on your listing’s location, type, and price range.


4. Send Invitations & Reminders

Leverage the power of your network by sending open house invitations to local real estate professionals, like your local brokerage community and other agents. They can spread the word about your open house to potential buyers you didn’t already know.

You can also send email and text message campaigns to your marketing list to spark their interest in your upcoming open house. Make sure to include interesting details about the property in your subject line so they’ll want to open your message.


5. Create Buzz on Instagram

Instagram officially surpassed 1 billion monthly active users at the end of 2020. It’s arguably the best social media channel for reaching a wide and versatile audience. And since Instagram is all about excellent visuals, it’s a great way to highlight property details that will pique the interest of prospective buyers. 

Use Instagram to share extensive photos of the property or close-ups of details like countertops, smart home features, and other upgrades.

Promote your open house with an Instagram post highlighting the home’s interior with photos of buyers’ favorite rooms, like the kitchen, living room, and master suite. 

You can also record short virtual tours of the property and share them as Instagram Stories or Reels to drive engagement. Don’t forget to tag your posts with relevant hashtags!


6. Meet the Neighbors

Neighbors often come to open houses to meet the real estate agent and learn more about the property, but they’re not always looking to buy. While this is a great opportunity to network and maybe even meet some potential sellers, it can take time away from meeting interested home buyers.

Instead, consider hosting a separate open house just for the neighbors, especially if it’s a high-profile listing in a desirable neighborhood. That way, you can still build relationships in the community and dedicate separate time to potential buyers.


7. Hold a Raffle

A raffle is a smart way to attract more visitors to your open house without too much money or effort on your part. 

Raffle items can range from inexpensive gift cards and bottles of wine to pricier gifts like Google Home or Alexa smart assistant devices. You could even partner with local restaurants, coffee shops, and stores to raffle off gift certificates.


8. Time Your Event Carefully

The most popular time slot for open houses is on weekends in the early afternoon. But hosting an open house during off-hours means interested buyers won’t be forced to pick between your listing and another one.

Consider scheduling weekend open houses earlier or later in the day, like from 9 to 11 a.m. or 3 to 5 p.m. You could also host a weekday open house during happy hour (between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.) and offer free drinks with your refreshments. 

By planning open houses around potential buyers’ schedules, you’re sure to get more people in the door, on your marketing lists, and in your appointment book.


9. Remember to Follow Up

So you’ve hosted a successful open house with lots of visitors and snagged more signups for your email list — what’s next? 

Follow up with everyone, either via email or text message or by phone, to figure out who is actually interested in the listing or looking to buy a home in general. Don’t forget, following up is key to a successful lead generation strategy, so don’t miss out on the chance to expand your network.


Generate More Buzz for Your Open House With Rela

Ready for a new approach to promoting open houses? Rela makes it simple to create professional-looking single property websites to generate interest for your listing.

With visually appealing templates that look great on desktop and mobile devices, Rela enables real estate professionals to create beautiful single property websites in under five minutes. Plus, using Rela’s built-in marketing tools and custom CRM, you can generate more interest for your open house and manage leads all in one place. 

Get started with Rela today — no credit card required.