Every few months, somebody in one of our offices asks me if open houses are still worth doing. My answer is yes, just not for the reason most sellers think.
It is pretty rare that the person who buys the house wandered in on a Sunday; most buyers have already walked through the whole listing online before they ever park out front.
What an open house does give you is time face to face with people. The agents I see getting the best results mix the old-school stuff that still works, like knocking on doors and actually talking to people, with new tools that make visitors remember them.
Open house tips for 2026
1. Old school: knock on the neighbors’ doors first
A few days before the open house, walk the street and knock on some doors. I call it a neighborhood exclusive open house. The neighbors get a first look at what the sellers did to the house, and let’s be honest, they want to see it anyway. I usually add, “and if you have any friends who love this neighborhood, they’re getting a first peek too.”
It is also a courtesy. I let them know they might see more cars parked on the street that day, so nobody is caught off guard. What I don’t do is turn it into a pitch; I’m just getting myself in front of them. Neighbors talk, and the agent who gave them a heads-up about the parking is the one they remember when it’s their turn.
2. Old school with a twist: open when buyers can actually come
Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. is a habit, not a rule. When every listing in the area is open at the same time, buyers end up picking which ones they can get to.
One of our agents listed a home at an aggressive price and wanted as much exposure as possible, so they opened it on a Thursday evening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and caught people on their way home from work. The price didn’t scare anyone away; they had a ton of people come through, and it went under contract a few days after going live.
If you are not sure what time to pick, look at when showing requests come in for that listing; your buyers are already telling you when they are free.
3. New school: build a landing page for the listing
This is the one I would push every agent to try. A year ago, a landing page for one open house wasn’t worth the time. Now an agent with an hour and an AI tool can build one with recent sales nearby, the HOA documents and disclosures, commute times, parks and restaurants close by, and a short intro video of you.
Build it the week before, so you can share the link with the neighbors when you knock, then put the QR code on the sign, the front door and the kitchen counter.
That page does a lot of work. Serious buyers will happily scan a code to get the comps and the disclosures, so the sign-in takes care of itself, and you end up with real names instead of fake ones. It keeps working after the weekend too. You can post offer deadline updates there, and if the page shows you who came back to look at the comps on Tuesday, you know who to call first.
Just check every number the AI pulls against the MLS before the page goes live, and keep the neighborhood info about the place, not the people who live there, so you stay on the right side of fair housing.
4. New school: use AI to show visitors what the house could be
When a visitor says they could never live with that paint color, take a picture of the wall and have an AI app show them the same room in blue. If they say the kitchen is dated, snap a photo and let AI “renovate” it with new cabinets and counters, then pull it up on a tablet so the whole family can see it.
It takes a minute, and it turns an objection into a conversation about what the home could be.
It helps sell the house, and it shows the visitor what working with you would actually look like. Just be clear that a renovated photo is an idea, not a promise of what the work would cost, and keep those images out of your listing marketing unless they are labeled as concepts.
5. Old school meets new school: follow up the same night
Text everyone who signed in that evening and mention something they actually said, like the backyard or the blue wall you showed them. AI can draft those texts from a quick note on each group. Just make sure every one still sounds like you.
Then send the seller a short recap Monday morning: how many groups came through, how many scanned the code and what people said about price and condition. On a listing that has been sitting, that recap keeps the seller calm and gives you real feedback when a price conversation comes up.
So, are they still worth it?
I think they are, as long as you stop asking the open house to sell the house. The knock on the neighbor’s door and the text that night are what people remember about you. The landing page and a phone that can show someone their next kitchen are what make them think you are ahead of everyone else.
On your next listing, knock on a few doors before the weekend, put a QR code on the sign, and keep an AI app ready for the first visitor who says, “I would change that.”
Kyle Crawford is VP of Strategy for Century 21 New Millennium. Get connected on LinkedIn and Instagram.
