How to Host a Virtual Open House: Tips for Real Estate Agents

Are you ready to take your real estate business to another level? Or, Do you want to sell your house 🏠 or any property virtually?🤔

The answer to both of these questions is Hosting A Virtual Open House. A virtual open house is the same as an in-person open house, but the difference is that agents do not need to present physically; instead, they can virtually give and take a personalized virtual tour of the house through their devices 📱 and software. 

Even 90% of businesses said that virtual tours directly impacted the increase in marketing efforts during the worst COVID-19 pandemic. 

But how do you host a virtual open house????

In this blog, we cover all the key steps to creating an engaging virtual open house, including its advantages, challenges, and best practices for operating an outstanding online open house. 

Let’s get started🚀

What is a Virtual Open House?

Virtual Open House, also known as online open house, is an online event where buyers can show and sellers can explore the property virtually from their homes. 

Virtual open houses can be conducted through live streams, video calls, online meetings, and pre-recorded videos. This provides an effective and easier way for buyers to view properties quickly and from the comfort of their own homes. 

There are 2 types of virtual open houses: pre-recorded and live. 

Pre-recorded content contains videos of already filmed property and can be watched from anywhere. Whereas, live virtual open houses are streamed in real-time where the potential buyers watch it and can communicate in the present time. 

Why and When Should You Have One?

You can do a virtual tour if you are willing to sell any property. Here are some reasons and situations where a virtual house tour becomes more applicable. 

• Multiple parties interested
• Reach to people with busy schedules
• Want wide coverage
• Attracts safety-concerned buyers

Advantages of Virtual Open Houses

To compete in the market, you must make your properties as visible as possible. Virtual open houses benefit by extending your properties to larger audiences. It is a time- and energy-saving approach to selling and buying any property.

Some of the advantages of virtual open houses are: 

• Less hectic for sellers: In a virtual open house, only the seller and the agent need to be physically available for the live sessions, which eliminates the need for multiple persons. Also, if the seller has a busy schedule, pre-recording the video earlier can help host it easily. 

• Time, cost, and energy savings: It doesn’t matter what kind of virtual tour you choose; it can definitely save you money, time, and energy. Without the need to advertise through pamphlets and spend time making floorplans, you can easily save your materials, energy, and time for advertising. Also, when the size of your audience is no longer a limiting factor, you won’t need to conduct many walkthroughs or presentations.

• Ease for realtors: With virtual open houses, realtors can be in their homes while marketing the property to a wider audience than in person. This enables them to be flexible while proposing any real state deal.

• Safety and health concerns: An online open house provides a safe and health-conscious alternative for presenting properties. Remember the COVID-19 pandemic? During that, virtual tour visits increased by 329%, and 90% of marketers surveyed found that virtual tours contributed to an increase in the rate of sight-unseen leases.

How to Host a Virtual Open House?

To host a virtual open house, you need to choose the best platform for operating a virtual open house, outline content for video, and promote your virtual open house through email, Ads, and social media.

Here’s the step-by-step guide to hosting a virtual open house:

1. Choose the Best Platform and Features for Operating Virtual Open Houses

Commonly used popular options for online open houses are Zoom, Facebook or Instagram live, or real estate dedicated platforms such as Matterport or Realync. Matterport is one of the popular platforms because it provides a visualization of a house through 3D virtual space. 

While choosing platforms, look into these features:

• Live video calling: The platform should possess excellent-quality video call tools with HD video and audio. 

• Recording video calls: The platform should also have a call recording feature. This feature helps you revisit your meetings for improvement, and buyers can review the content. 

• Accessible on mobile and browser: Your online open house should be accessible on mobile devices and browsers. This way, potential buyers can attend the live sessions without downloading software using a device they have.

• Messaging options: Not all attendees have a microphone or a situation where they can use their mic every time. This is why an In-app messaging option is important to be included in the virtual open house platform. This allows attendees to chat in real-time and present their queries and issues.

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2. Promote your Virtual Open House Through Email, Ads, and Social Media

You will have to spend time advertising the in-person open house. You need to promote and advertise the virtual open house on social media platforms and emails to add traffic to your event. You can also provide a call to action for people to confirm their attendance. 

If the attendees confirm their attendance, you can send push notifications and prepare for the number of attendees. You can also run Ads on the customer engagement platform for upcoming events and send follow-up notifications to previous attendees. 

3. Check the Internet and Make Preparations 

Before you enter the virtual event, you must be sure that your internet is reliable for providing good-quality audio and video. You also need to make sure that all equipment used while presenting a virtual house is functional and consider having backup options for any possible issues. 

You should also be careful about how you present the house. Everything should be in the right order, preventing disruptions while presenting the tour. Ensure every piece of furniture and the pathway to the house is clean. You won’t be able to make any changes while being live with attendees because early preparation increases your chances of selling a house or property.

Also, be sure to prepare yourself to handle the camera at a decent speed, and you shouldn’t rush from one room to another so quickly. 

4. Try a Demo Tour With Team Members

Giving a trial before jumping into the virtual meetings is crucial. This helps you be well-prepared for the whole virtual open house tour. You can run this trial involving your team members in the meeting. Check if the presentation you are going to present will work well and if the software is in high functional conditions. 

After the trial, ask for genuine feedback from the team. How do they feel? What are the possible talks or parts that were boring? You must discuss whether there were any technical difficulties, and also making a plan for the whole roaming pattern can help you improve the presentation. 

5. List Out Things That You Need To Be Talking To Viewers

This could be a different approach from an in-person open house, but listing things you will be talking about in the Livestream is important in an online open house. Making a list of talking points makes you organized and reduces the chances of hesitation in the middle of live sessions. 

Also, you should rehearse the list of things you will discuss in the meetings while having a demo trial with your teammates. 

6. Schedule Events at the Appropriate Time for More Audience

Not everyone can be available at any time, so it is better to reschedule the events at a time when the maximum number of buyers is free and have time. You can also plan separate events for a group of buyers who are available at the same time.

With proper scheduling, you can engage a larger audience in your event, which can increase your chances of selling your house.

What Makes an Outstanding Virtual Open House?

The virtual open house event can end up being an informative, interesting, or boring experience for attendees. This is why it is crucial to focus on the factors that make your virtual open house outstanding.

Here are some tips that can make an outstanding virtual open house: 

• Mutual communications: Whenever you present a virtual open house, let others participate in questions in meetings and have mutual communication. What matters is whether the participants understand your presentation and feel comfortable communicating in the middle of the conversation.

• Easy to browse: Whether you operate live or pre-recorded content, you need to ensure that the user experience is comfortable with the system or software. This allows the potential buyers to engage and attend presentations without technical difficulties. 

• Make it interesting: Imagine you’re showcasing a school and you’re the only one talking about how wonderful it is. Sure, you might know all the great details, but if it’s just you doing all the talking, people might start to tune out. So, why not gather reviews from a variety of perspectives? Invite students, teachers, and parents to share their experiences and thoughts during the presentation. This approach not only brings authenticity but also keeps the audience engaged and interested.. 

• Quality videos: As a seller or realtor, you must provide an online open house of the highest quality possible. It is always important to present houses or other properties in HD quality, which enhances potential buyers’ chances of making a decision to buy them. 

Common challenges of hosting virtual open houses

Beside all the benefits that online open house provides, there could be several challenges that might occur while hosting virtual open houses.

Some common challenges of hosting virtual open houses are: 

• Internet connectivity errors: When hosting a live virtual open house, you have to rely on the internet of both your buyers for high call quality. Hence, it can create a problematic situation during WiFi outage. But, with pre-recorded content, you can make content accessible in high quality. 

• Preferences gap between buyers: Not necessarily, every buyer is willing to be fine with an online open house and can’t get a genuine feel while you host the event. Some traditional buyers still prefer to have a physical observation of the property. 

• Possibility of lack in visual quality: One of the important factors in a virtual open house is the quality of the video you provide. And if the camera you possess doesn’t have the suitable quality then it can impact on impression of attendees.

Best Practices for Hosting a Virtual Open House

While hosting a virtual open house, focus on making it as good as possible. This will not be just a presentation but a chance for you to increase the chances of letting potential buyers buy your property. 

Some of the best practices for hosting a virtual open houses are: 

Examine Camera Angles and Lighting to Get the Best Look

Maybe you feel yourself as a real estate agent and not a typical photographer or videographer. But you should consider better camera angles and lighting to make it look nice. For a better response, you can invest in a camera that can capture every sector of the house in the highest quality. 

Deliver Viewers Plenty of Time to View the Space

When presenting the property to potential buyers, you need to give them enough time to observe the spaces and everything. Don’t make them feel like you are rushing through rooms; let them ask questions and direct you. This gives them a feeling of being valued. 

Make a Team With a Responsibility System

You need a small team to assist in running proper virtual events. It becomes difficult to host, operate, and answer questions alone. With a team, you will divide each work, like one person for hosting, one for holding the camera, and another for answering questions while monitoring chats. 

Answer Concerns While Showing the Space in Question

While moving from one room to another, you can give buyers time if they have questions about the room. It becomes easier for you to display things while in the same space. This saves time by reducing the need for backtracking repeatedly. 

Examine Implementing a 360-Degree View

Nowadays, mobile and digital cameras have a 360-degree view function. Even 98% of people said they feel excited when the host shows spaces with 360-degree views.  You can use it to provide attendees a more interactive and engaging experience. This view gives users an overview of every angle of the property, which gives them a better sense of its layout. This increases the buyer’s interest and engagement by making them feel as if they are physically present in the property. 

Create a post-virtual-open-house checklist

To operate the best virtual open house, create these checklists: 

• Provide viewers an option to get in for future information on listings: During the virtual open house, it is obvious that only one buyer will end up having the property you are showing. So, when buyers sign up for the event, provide them an option to get information on further listings. 

• Show gratitude with thank-you notes to all attendees who came to the virtual open house: You must ensure every buyer feels appreciated for their time and interest in your property. Send them emails showing gratitude and provide contact so they can reach out with any queries or concerns. 

• Request feedback and follow-up for other listings: You can request feedback and reviews from attendees by sending surveys and asking them to post reviews on your site and social media accounts. Encourage them to look for an offer while the property is still available, and provide a link where they can take further steps if they are interested. 

Conclusion

To host a virtual open house, you must have the proper platform with the required features, and you need to promote your event on every digital site possible. Proper preparation before heading to a virtual meeting with a demo trial within your team is required to provide a better presentation. 

Moreover, for a more effective virtual open house, provide high-quality video and ample time for attendees to explore each space. Engage with your audience by answering questions and fostering mutual communication throughout the event, making it more dynamic and interesting.

Virtual open houses are especially advantageous when multiple parties are interested in a property. They attract buyers concerned about health and safety and offer flexible scheduling for virtual tours. This approach saves time and energy for both sellers and buyers, reducing stress and making the process more efficient and accessible.