The Open House Lead Capture Checklist

Three Days Before the Open

• Get the seller's written approval for the date and hoursConfirm the day, the hours, and whether interior photography by visitors is allowed. Good looks like a short written confirmation in the file that matches exactly what your signs and the MLS entry promise.
• Enter the open house in the MLS and on the listing portalsPost it early enough for portal syndication to pick it up, and make sure the times match your yard signs. A mismatch between the portal listing and the sign on the corner sends buyers to a locked door.
• Load the listing into your tablet sign inAttach the address to the form so every visitor record carries the house they actually walked through. Good looks like opening the tablet at the door and needing zero setup while the first visitor waits.
• Choose the buyer follow up sequence for this listingPick the timing and the message set before the weekend, not after. The first touch should go out the day of the open and mention the address and something specific about the house.
• Review your sign in fields against fair housing rulesName, phone, email, whether they are working with an agent, and timeline are fine. Nothing about family status, faith, national origin, disability, or which schools they want should appear on the form or in your greeting.
• Plan the sign route and count your inventoryMap the corners you will use, check the local rules on placement and timing, and count frames, riders, and stakes the night before. Good looks like loading the car once and not driving back for a missing frame.

The Setup Hour at the House

• Walk every room before the first knockCheck lighting, unlock interior doors you want open, close the ones you do not, and note the two rooms you cannot see from the entry. Good looks like knowing your sight lines before a stranger is in the house.
• Secure valuables, medications, mail, and small electronicsAsk the seller to remove them, then verify yourself. Photograph the medicine cabinet and any jewelry area as a record before the doors open, so a later question has an answer.
• Build the door table so the tablet is the first thing anyone touchesTablet front and center, flyers behind it, your card beside it. Good looks like a visitor signing in without being asked twice because the screen is simply in the natural path.
• Test the tablet on the home network and on cell dataConfirm the sign in accepts an entry with the connection off, because finished basements and rural listings drop signal. Enter a test visitor, then delete it before the first real one arrives.
• Place directional signs and photograph each cornerPhotos protect you if a sign disappears or a neighbor complains about placement. Set them wide enough to catch drive by traffic from the main road, not just the block the house sits on.
• Tell one person outside the house where you are and when you finishShare the address and your lockup time with a partner, a colleague, or a family member, and agree on a check in text. Good looks like somebody expecting to hear from you at a known time.

At the Door and Through the House

• Greet, then ask for the name before the tour startsWelcome them, hand over the flyer, and ask them to sign in while you talk. Getting the name at arrival rather than at the exit is the single biggest difference between a full visitor list and an empty one.
• Ask only the questions the sign in form asksTimeline, financing status, and whether they are working with an agent are fair. Friendly questions about kids, church, or which neighborhoods feel safe are the ones that create fair housing exposure, so keep them off the script entirely.
• Capture one honest line of feedback per groupAsk what would have to be different for this to be the house, and record the answer in the visitor note. Good looks like ten specific comments about price, layout, or street noise by the end of the day.
• Tag anyone already working with an agentMark it on the record at the door so they never enter the buyer sequence. They still count as traffic in the seller report, which is exactly where that number belongs.
• Keep your exit behind you and your phone on youLet visitors move ahead of you through the house, stay near the front of the room, and never lead a stranger into a basement or an attic. Good looks like ending every conversation closer to the door than they are.
• Log the traffic count in real time, not from memoryThe sign in gives you the number automatically, but note the drive bys who did not stop and the neighbors who did. Sellers ask about both and a guess sounds like a guess.

Lockup and the First 48 Hours

• Sweep the house, reset it, and confirm every lockCheck closets, the basement, the garage, and any exterior door you opened, return lights and thermostat to how you found them, and confirm the lockbox is secured before you leave the driveway.
• Send the seller their traffic and feedback report the same eveningInclude group count, how many were represented, the honest feedback lines, and what you will do next weekend. Good looks like the seller reading it Sunday night rather than asking you for it Tuesday.
• Screen the visitor list before you dial anyoneCheck numbers that are not existing clients against the Do Not Call registry and confirm what consent the sign in actually captured. Texting rules turn on that consent record, not on the fact that someone wrote a number down.
• Send the first buyer touch within the dayReference the address and something specific they said. A message that lands while the house is still in their head outperforms every catch up call you will make on Wednesday.
• Collect the signs and record the real costsLog ad spend, printing, mileage, and your hours on site while they are fresh, so your cost per signed in group is based on records rather than recollection at the end of the month.
• Book the next open before you close the fileDecide with the seller whether next weekend is another public open, a broker open, or a pause, and put the date in writing. Good looks like leaving Sunday with the following weekend already settled.