Open House Scripts

Aside from cold calling, an Open House is the rawest form of the real estate sales process.

Here’s why: You’ve got visitors entering a property with their guard up. Many of them just want to see the property with as little confrontation as possible. Any obvious salesmanship from the part of the agent is usually met with uncomfortableness followed by a quick exit. But despite visitors being on high alert, an agent with good sales technique can naturally work their way into the situation, develop rapport, and generate a buyer or seller prospect.

That’s why scripts are helpful. Not for memorization necessarily, but as a way to become comfortable talking to prospects. Having the right words ready means an agent can focus more on the softer parts of communication like body language, as well as, thinking ahead to the close and/or objection handling.

So let’s talk about tried and tested scripts for a few Open House prospecting scenarios:

• Open House Scripts to use with a Prospective Buyer
• Open House Scripts to use with a Prospective Seller (aka the “nosey neighbor”)
• Open House Scripts when Inviting Neighbors
• Open House Follow up Scripts

Open House Scripts to use with a Potential Buyer client

Sell the house you’re in… while being comically direct

If the buyer appears to have even a remote amount of interest in the property, then directly ask them:

“What do you think, do you want to write an offer on this house?”

Sounds cheeky right? Well it’s supposed to! Some people will laugh at you and say they are not even close to ready to buy, and others will seriously consider it. Gauge their response and if you see them considering your question…well you’ve got a live one. See if they’re already working with an agent. Here are some options for asking that:

“Can I ask if you are currently working with another real estate agent? I want to make sure I’m not stepping on any toes.”

Or try this…

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but have you already been working with another real estate agent in your home search?”

Now IF they don’t appear excited about making an offer or continue to laugh (well done on your delivery btw), use the qualifying questions in the next section to tease out their home buying criteria.

Note: the rest of these buyer Open House scripts assume the buyer is clearly not interested in the property you’re holding the Open House for. Therefore they focus more on setting an appointment with the buyer to show other properties. However, your initial priority should be to sell the house that you are holding open.

Start with qualifying questions and finish by closing

When using the following questions it’s easier to progress naturally into setting an appointment, plus you learn about the buyer’s criteria, timeline, budget etc along the way.

“Did you have any questions about the property so far?”

“Are you searching for properties now?”

“Have you seen any properties you’ve liked?”

“Are you also looking in other areas? Tell me more about that…”

“What’s your price range?“

Now that you’ve gotten an idea about what they’re looking for, here are some ways to set an appointment to show them property:

“OMG, I have a house that’d be perfect for you? Want to see it after the open house? How about Monday? Ok? Before or after work?”

Or here are two options that tease at off market opportunities (which are like catnip to home buyers) :

“I know some additional homes that are coming on the market (or are pocket listings or off-market). Would you like me to set up a showing to see them? When is the best time?”

“I have similar properties I can show you before they hit the market.”

And in order to be able to use these scripts, you will need to have in-depth knowledge of the market and a general desire to help these clients find their dream home.

Open House Scripts to use with a Potential Seller client

Nearby owners that visit an Open House are called “nosey neighbors” and they are the most common listing leads at an Open House. Here are some approaches to get a listing appointment with them after the Open House:

“You live in this neighborhood? Love this part of town [insert compliment about the area].”

Mention a relevant nearby sale you have unique insight on with these options:

“My team just recently sold a house for [Neighbor’s Name]. Do you know them?”

“Did you know [Neighbor’s Name]? When they listed their property did you know [insert interesting fact that’d intrigue a prospective seller]”

Now it’s time to gauge their interest in knowing the value of their property – some options:

“Are you interested in finding out what your home would be worth in today’s market?”

“Have you had a home valuation recently?”

“I don’t mind doing this, but after the open house, I’ll swing by and give you a realistic idea of how much your house is worth and how quick we can get it sold.”

“I don’t mind doing this, but after the open house, I’ll swing by and give you a realistic idea of how much your house is worth and how quick we can get it sold.”

Now for this last one, the delivery is key. Act as if this is a favor that you’re doing for them. In this script you’re also doing some subtle selling of your value as a realtor. You’re implying that even after spending my entire Saturday/Sunday in this Open House, I’m interested in helping you explore a successful real estate transaction. It shows hard work and genuine interest, which are both key criteria for selecting a real estate agent (or any business partner for that matter). 

Even if their move is years away, this is an excellent chance for you to get your foot in the door (quite literally!). Don’t be pushy and maintain that helpful tone. If they’re really not interested in your offer, you can part as new friends and save your energy for the next prospect. 

Open House Scripts when Inviting Neighbors to an Open House

Door knocking the neighborhood is a great way to engage a community (especially as part of a geo-farming strategy). Here are a couple scripts which should help smooth over the awkward process of knocking on a complete stranger’s door to invite them to an empty house that belongs to someone else 🙂

Hi there, you probably heard but your neighbor at [address] is moving – they wanted me to invite you to their home this weekend for their Open House. And if I could ask you a huge favor do you know anyone looking to buy that you wouldn’t mind being your new neighbor?

Longer script that disguises the intrusion with helpful info:

“Hey my team is actually selling your neighbor’s home right down the street over at [address]. There’s going to be a lot more traffic than usual in the neighborhood this weekend. We’re having an open house Friday from 1:00 to 2:00, Saturday from 3:00 to 5:00, and Sunday from 3:00 to 5:00 and would love to have you come by. And if I could ask you a huge favor do you know anyone looking to buy that you wouldn’t mind being your new neighbor?

Also door knocking can be time consuming so if you want to achieve similar results but don’t have an entire afternoon to traverse the neighborhood, try loading a list of all the neighbors into a power dialer. You can knock out 50-75 calls in an hour and the scripts above should work with just a bit of adjustment.

Inviting neighbors is a great idea for the first Open House at a new listing and IF you plan to do a neighbors only Open House, inviting as many neighbors as possible is a must-do.

Open House Follow-up Scripts

Pretty much every agent has heard the cliche “speed to lead” or that the “fortune is in the follow up”…but agents still drop the ball on the Open House follow up. Why?

The most common reason real estate agents fail to follow up after an Open House is that they never captured the lead’s contact info and/or the lead didn’t make it into their CRM. With our Open House app, the days of pen & paper sign-in sheets with leads scribbled illegibly are over.

But lack of organization may still prevent you from following up effectively. Agents that use our app often have a lot of leads coming in at once, which can be overwhelming especially on the Monday after a busy Open House. Agents in this situation can become frustrated or disheartened especially if these leads don’t respond to the follow up well…and that frustration creates a low energy communication which results in a poorer response by leads. This is the sales death spiral…and it ends with the agent losing interest in following up altogether.

Instead, how about this? Use our proven scripts below and remind yourself that a) sales is a numbers game and b) rejection is just part of the process even for the best sales people. So let’s go over a few scripts that’ll also walk through how the Open House follow up conversation can evolve in different directions:

“I just wanted to follow up because the seller requested some feedback and wants to know what you liked or didn’t like about the property. I would greatly appreciate your input.”

The reason this is really effective is because it allows even people who are neighbors or maybe not serious about buying a chance and an easy way to respond to you to get the conversation going, right?

Another intro which is just a bit more buyer focused is:

“Hi, this is [Your Name] from [Real Estate Company]. I’m calling to see what you thought about the Open House at [listing address] this weekend.“

In either of the above cases IF the prospect sounds interested, great! Ask if they have an agent and, if not, offer your services to represent them. In this example, because it’s a phone script, you should get to the point quickly vs if you were talking in person. And in this example you’re assuming the close

“So have you been working with another agent in your home search?”

“I’m glad we got re-connected today because offers for [listing address] are due at [insert day and time]. I can write up the offer and send it over today.”

If they’re not interested in the property from the Open House (and assuming not represented by another agent) it’s time to re-use those qualifying questions from the Open House Buyer Script above and see if you can set an appointment with them to view another property.

Practice Your Sales Game

Sales is not natural for most people. While there are “naturals”, the rest of us need to learn sales in order to be great. That means practicing solid sales techniques, learning from mistakes, and continuing to put the work in. That’s what really delivers results.

Real estate is the purest form of entrepreneurship.

Brian Buffini

And the core of a good technique is having the right words and practicing them, refining your delivery, and repeating over and over AND OVER AGAIN. But sales mastery is a skill that enables a quantum leap in your business (and can transfer to other areas of life).

We hope these Open House scripts play a part in you achieving sales mastery.