The decline of the pandemic and the easing of competition for homes should finally normalize the open house.
For most of 2021, the mere mention of a house going on the market would set-off a blocks-long frenzy of anxious rubberneckers, eager to submit an offer $20,000, $30,000, even $50,000 over ask with full understanding that a bidding war was imminent. They merely needed to ensure the house was upright.
Now that things are stabilizing, at least in terms of competition, agents will need to do more to market their in-person open house and ensure those who show up are made part of their CRM, and the apps listed here can help with all of that.
Here’s to things being back to normal.
For now.
CurbHero
The app uses a mobile interface for both major platforms to entice people to offer up their name, reason for attending and whatever other data agents choose to ask for when setting up their forms.
Curb Hero has also included lead qualification and identity verification, as well as the ability to easily add and edit questions to the intake form.
Curb Hero also provides a number of avenues for social media promotion of open houses, offering models for the Meta networks with all kinds of looks, copy options and calls-to-action.
Spacio
From the warming color palette to the contextually driven data capture fields, Spacio Pro knows how to get people to feed it information. It allows prospective buyers to sign in with a private, Craigslist-like email. This simple alias feature encourages registrations, alleviating user fear about privacy.
Follow-up emails will still arrive in their inboxes, and a contact can unsubscribe or choose to provide you with an actual email address.
Many open house visitors may have already interacted with Spacio technology without knowing it. The company also designs custom apps that open house visitors use to sign in. The app appears on a tablet and, because it is all-digital, can connect agents to a wealth of data and social information related to their visitors.
The pitch is that going digital provides a more efficient and data-rich take on the traditional open house experience.
Kagent
Besides having one of the sharpest names for a proptech I’ve heard in some time, Kagent is also a great example of how a well-designed user experience can speed adoption.
The app generates a QR code linking to a sign-in form for the property, accompanied by an $500 giveaway incentive that Kagent covers. State-by-state laws on giveaways vary, so cover your bases, but the appeal is based on guessing the closing price of the house.
A five-question feedback survey is sent to the buyer’s email within 10 minutes, in which the giveaway incentive is delivered, as well as a call to action to set an appointment with the listing agent via Calendly, Hubspot or MixMax, should they be seeking representation.
Open Home Pro
Open Home Pro displays beautiful listing photos (best on an iOS or Android tablet), can ask an array of customized questions tailored to the market, and help users stay top of mind by automatically sending thank-you messages with any additional information you want to provide to the visitors who came through.
The app automates lead follow-up, and prioritizes those considered “hot leads.” It also incorporates event outreach on social channels. Open Home Pro is also one of the longest-running apps in this space.
AM Open House
As nice as AM Open House is, all of its power lies in what takes place outside of the house. I like that it’s very easy to share the open house with your social networks. Five of the major cat video sharing outlets are connected, and via a tap or two, your client’s listing is out there. The posts look good, complete with dates, times and images.
After the cookies have been served and all the hands are shaken, agents can sit at their client’s charming breakfast nook with all of that natural light and scroll through an in-depth summary of all sign-ins. You can then send a custom email to all attendees at once that will include a link to a brief Web page on the property (assembled from the event details you entered) and your contact information.
Brokerages can also have their app customized to reflect branding, which also includes representation in respective app marketplaces.
AM Open House connects with one of 15 different CRM partners to get that data into a system that will leverage it. This is where the app excels, and where I see its best avenue for growth: connectivity.
