Open House Follow-Up: 8 Email and Text Templates for the First 72 Hours

A good open house follow-up goes out the same evening, mentions one thing the visitor said, and asks one easy question. Email everyone who ticked “OK to email”. Call or text the next morning only the visitors with no agent and a short timeline who agreed to texts or calls. Then send one useful update on day 7, and stop if they don’t reply.

The templates assume you used a sign-in sheet with separate email and text consent boxes, an “are you working with an agent?” question and a move timeline. If you don’t have one, start with our open house sign-in sheet. The examples below use the same fictional visitors as that sheet’s example file.

The 72-hour open house follow-up schedule

Sort the sign-ins the evening of the open house, then work down this table. Each row names the template to use.

Visitors who ticked neither box get nothing. Their visit goes in your notes and stays there.

For each template: When says who it’s for, Personalize lists what to change, and Don’t lists what to leave out. Keep each one short. A follow-up that reads like a newsletter gets skimmed or ignored.

1. Same-evening thank-you email

When: the evening of the open house, to every visitor who ticked “OK to email”.

Personalize: the one thing they mentioned, and the detail they asked for.

Subject: 14 Maple Street: the property tax figure you asked about

Hi Jordan,

Thanks for coming by 14 Maple Street today. You asked about property taxes: last year’s bill was [$amount]. The full listing sheet and the floor plan are attached.

You spent a while in the backyard, so I’ve also attached the survey showing the lot lines.

Is there anything else you’d like to know about the house?

[Your name]
[Brokerage] · [phone] · [mailing address]
Reply “stop” and I won’t email you again.

Don’t: attach five other listings, or ask for a meeting in the first email. Answer what they asked first.

2. Same-evening thank-you text

When: the visitor ticked “OK to text or call” and left a phone number, but no email.

Personalize: the property, their question.

Hi Jordan, it’s [your name] from the open house at 14 Maple today. Thanks for coming by. You asked about property taxes: last year’s bill was [$amount]. Want me to send the floor plan too? Reply STOP to opt out.

Don’t: send a link-only text. Many people won’t tap a link from a number they don’t have saved.

3. Next-morning call script

When: the morning after, to visitors with no agent, a 0–3 month timeline and “OK to text or call” ticked. This is the one call that’s worth making.

Personalize: the reason for the call, and two homes you could actually show.

“Hi Jordan, it’s [your name]. We met at the open house at 14 Maple yesterday. Do you have two minutes?

I wanted to follow up on the backyard. You seemed to like it. Was it the yard, or the house overall?

[Listen. Note what matters to them.]

Two other homes near there have similar lots: [address] and [address]. Would you like to see them this week? I have [day] at [time] or [day] at [time].

[If they’re not ready:] No problem. Would it help if I sent you new listings like this as they come up, or would you rather I just check in after the weekend?”

Don’t: start with “Just checking in”. Give them a reason for the call in the first sentence. If they say they already have an agent, thank them and end the call.

4. Missed-call text

When: you called once and got voicemail. Send this instead of calling again the same day.

Hi Jordan, it’s [your name] from the 14 Maple open house. I called about two homes with lots like 14 Maple’s: [street] and [street]. I can show them [day] or [day]. Interested? Reply STOP to opt out.

Don’t: add an email and a second call on top. One missed call and one text is enough for that day.

5. Visitor already working with an agent

When: once, the same evening, if they ticked “OK to email”. No call or text.

Personalize: their agent’s name.

Subject: Thanks for visiting 14 Maple Street

Hi Sam,

Thanks for coming by today. If you’d like the disclosures or the floor plan, I’m happy to send them to Dana Wu, so everything stays in one place for you.

[Your name] · [Brokerage]

Don’t: offer your own services, send listings, or add them to a newsletter. In the US, Article 16 of the NAR Code of Ethics covers NAR members soliciting someone else’s client. In Canada, check your provincial regulator’s rules.

6. Day 2–3 email to a visitor who has a home to sell

When: two or three days after the open house, to visitors who checked “Home to sell first?” and ticked email.

Personalize: what they told you about their home.

Subject: Selling your condo first: a quick idea

Hi Priya,

You mentioned at 14 Maple that you’d need to sell your condo before buying. If it helps, I can tell you what similar units in your building have sold for recently. No pitch, just the numbers.

Would a 15-minute call this week work, or would you rather I email them?

[Your name] · [Brokerage] · [phone] · [mailing address]
Reply “stop” and I won’t email you again.

Don’t: call it a “free home valuation” if your brokerage requires an appraisal disclaimer. Check your brokerage’s wording first.

If the conversation turns to what selling will cost, our free real estate commission calculator works out commission and GST/HST on a sale in the US and Canada.

7. Open house update for your seller

When: day 2, to your listing client. Sellers want to hear how it went before they ask you.

Personalize: real counts and real comments from your notes. Don’t pass on visitors’ names or contact details.

Subject: Saturday’s open house at 14 Maple: how it went

Hi [seller name],

Here’s a short summary of Saturday’s open house:

• Groups through: [number], [number] of them with their own agent
• What people liked: the backyard, the kitchen light
• What people asked about: property taxes, the age of the roof
• Follow-ups: I’ve sent thank-you emails and I’m following up with [number] people who may want a second look

I’ll update you after the second-look requests come in. Anything you’d like me to change before next weekend?

[Your name]

Don’t: promise an offer, or guess at “serious buyers”. Report what happened.

8. Day-7 check-in

When: day 7, to visitors who ticked email but haven’t replied. Send it only if you have something new: a price change, a new listing that fits, or the date of the next open house.

Subject: 14 Maple Street: price update

Hi Alex,

Quick update since you visited: the asking price at 14 Maple is now [$new price]. The next open house is [day, time].

If you’d like these updates for other homes in the neighbourhood, just reply and let me know. Otherwise this is my last email about 14 Maple.

[Your name] · [Brokerage] · [phone] · [mailing address]
Reply “stop” and I won’t email you again.

Don’t: send a day-7 email with nothing new in it. If nothing changed, skip it. If they still don’t reply, stop. Our follow-up email after no response examples cover when a second follow-up is worth sending and when to close the loop.

Before you hit send: consent, timing and fair housing

• Follow the tick boxes. Email only visitors who ticked email, text only those who ticked texts. A visitor who declined both still came. Leave it there.
• Canada (CASL). Commercial emails and texts need consent. Each message should identify you and give a working way to unsubscribe, which is why every template ends with a “stop” line.
• US email (CAN-SPAM). Every marketing email needs your physical mailing address and a working opt-out. Honour opt-outs within 10 business days.
• US calls and texts (TCPA). Federal rules limit telephone solicitations to 8 a.m.–9 p.m. in the visitor’s time zone, and some states are stricter. If you use a texting platform rather than your own phone, ask your brokerage what consent it needs.
• Fair housing. Describe the home, not the people who live nearby. Skip phrases like “great area for young families” or “safe neighbourhood”. Talk about lot size, commute, schools by name if asked, and taxes.
• Agent-represented visitors get one thank-you, and everything after that goes through their agent (template 5).

This is a practical summary, not legal advice. Your brokerage’s compliance rules and your state or provincial regulator come first.

Let an AI agent draft the follow-ups

The hard part is the evening after the open house: twelve sign-ins, twelve personal emails, and a call list for the morning. With Brainmox, you send your agent a photo of the sign-in sheet or the CSV, plus a voice note with your impressions, and ask it to draft one Gmail email per visitor who ticked email, using these templates and your notes. Tell it to skip anyone who didn’t tick the box, and to put the next-morning calls on your calendar. Check names and addresses against the sheet before you send. With draft-only Gmail access, your agent can save drafts but can’t send them. It doesn’t text or call visitors for you, and it doesn’t sync with real estate CRMs yet. See how Brainmox works for real estate agents.

FAQ

How soon should you follow up after an open house?

The same evening for a thank-you email, while the visit is fresh. Call or text the next morning only the visitors with no agent and a short timeline who agreed to calls or texts. Leave a seller conversation until day 2 or 3.

What should an open house follow-up text say?

Your name, the property, one detail from your conversation and one easy question, in under 300 characters. Add an opt-out line (“Reply STOP to opt out”). Don’t send a link on its own.

Should you call or text after an open house?

Call the visitors most likely to buy soon, if they agreed to calls: they often want to talk about other homes. Text when a call went to voicemail, or when the visitor ticked texts but not calls. Email everyone else who ticked email.

How many times should you follow up with an open house visitor?

For most visitors: a thank-you, one useful follow-up, and a day-7 check-in if something changed. After that, keep in touch only with visitors who replied or asked for updates.

Should you follow up with visitors who didn’t leave contact details?

No. If they didn’t sign in or didn’t tick a box, don’t track them down. If they come to the next open house, greet them and offer the sign-in sheet again.

Related

• Free open house sign-in sheet (PDF, Word, CSV)
• Follow-up email after no response: client examples
• AI email assistant: replies drafted in Gmail