Open House Preparation Checklist

Listing agent does a room-by-room walk with the seller seven days out. Flag declutter, depersonalize, and deferred-maintenance items in writing — paint touch-ups, burned-out bulbs, landscaping, deep clean. Confirm the seller will be off-property during the event.

Book the cleaner for the day before the open house, not the morning of. Schedule any handyman touch-ups (caulk, paint, fixture tightening) at least 48 hours before so paint is dry and odors are gone.

Confirm staging furniture is in place, beds made, counters clear. Curb appeal: mow, edge, mulch, sweep the walk, hide trash bins. First impression starts at the curb — take a photo from the street and compare to the MLS hero shot.

Remind the seller in writing to remove or lock up jewelry, prescription medication, firearms, mail with personal data, laptops, and spare keys. Brokerage is not liable for theft, but a missing-items claim ruins the relationship regardless.

Add the open house date and times in MLS so it syndicates to Zillow, Realtor.com, and Redfin. Confirm the listing description is fair-housing compliant — no "perfect for families," no protected-class language, no "walk to" references that imply ability.

Schedule Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn posts plus a CRM blast (Follow Up Boss, kvCORE, BoomTown) to the sphere and cooperating brokers. Include broker name and license number per state advertising rules. Boost the Facebook post 3-4 days out to a 10-mile radius.

Drop postcards or door-knock the surrounding 200-300 homes with the open-house invite. Neighbors are the most reliable source of nosy-buyer foot traffic and frequently know an interested friend or family member.

Print 30+ flyers with photos, price, beds/baths, square footage and source, HOA dues, and your contact info with license number. If using a digital sign-in (Spacio, Curb Hero, Open Home Pro), test the iPad and Wi-Fi the day before.

Set 6-10 arrow signs at major intersections leading from the nearest arterial. Check HOA and municipal sign rules — some jurisdictions ban signs in the right-of-way. Remove all signs the same day; abandoned signs are a license complaint trigger.

Every light on, every blind open, thermostat to 70°F. Turn on soft music. Light a neutral candle or run a diffuser — not floral, not vanilla. Cue up the property's hero photo on the kitchen counter for visitors to take.

Bottled water, individually wrapped cookies or granola bars, napkins on the kitchen island. Flyers and business cards next to the sign-in. Avoid open food platters during cold and flu season.

Greet every visitor at the door, hand them a flyer, and ask them to sign in. Capture name, email, phone, and whether they are working with another agent. If they have an agent, note the brokerage so you can route any follow-up appropriately.

State licensing law in most states requires agency disclosure before discussing buying preferences, price, or motivation. Tell unrepresented visitors plainly: "I represent the seller in this transaction." Have the state agency-disclosure form available for any visitor who wants to discuss representation.

If you expect more than 4-5 visitors at once, bring a second agent or team member so no one tours unaccompanied. This is a theft-prevention measure, a safety measure for the agent, and a buyer-experience measure — questions get answered in real time.

Before leaving the property, record visitor count, the pricing signal you heard from buyers and cooperating agents, and any hot leads worth a same-day call. Upload the sign-in sheet or export the digital sign-in (Spacio, Curb Hero) to the listing file.

Email or text the seller a recap the same evening: visitor count, pricing feedback, common questions and objections, next steps. Sellers who hear nothing for 48 hours after an open house assume it went badly.

Load the sign-in sheet into Follow Up Boss, kvCORE, or your CRM of record. Tag visitors by lead temperature and start the open-house drip campaign. Per team agreement, all leads belong to the brokerage CRM — never to a personal Gmail.

For unrepresented hot leads, call personally — not a CRM template. Discuss their timeline, ask about pre-approval, and offer to set up a buyer rep agreement (now required in most states post-NAR settlement before showing additional homes).

If pricing feedback indicated the home is over priced, pull a fresh CMA before the call — comps from the last 60 days, days-on-market trend, list-to-sale ratio. Bring data, not opinion. Prepare a written price-reduction recommendation with two scenarios.

Pull all directional signs and confirm the lockbox is reset. Return any seller items moved during staging touch-ups. Update the MLS to remove the open house entry so it doesn't continue syndicating as "upcoming."