Are your open houses paying off?
Put your time and cost against what sign-ins actually turn into, then see what following up with more of them would add. Pick a starting profile, replace the numbers with yours, and use the follow-up messages below.
People who actually leave contact details, not total foot traffic.
Use what you keep after your brokerage split if you want a take-home view.
Counting a real, personal follow-up, not an unopened blast.
Assumptions you can change
These are planning assumptions, not measured facts. They are starting guesses — replace them with your own numbers and the result updates.
Prep, travel, hosting and cleanup.
Signs, refreshments, ads and printing.
Many sign-ins are neighbours or browsers, so this is small. Your CRM's sign-in source tag gives your real number.
Automated sequences reach everyone, but not everyone replies.
100% would mean a text sequence works as well as you calling each person, which is the best case. This is a starting guess; test it against your own results.
Estimated commission from open house sign-ins each year
$30,600
About 3.6 deals from 48 open houses, or $637 each
192
Hours a year hosting
$159 of commission per hour
$2,400
Out-of-pocket cost a year
Net return of 11.8 times the spend (commission minus spend, divided by spend)
288
Sign-ins with no follow-up
a year
What more follow-up would add
$15,300 a year
Following up with 90% of sign-ins instead of 40% adds about 1.8 deals a year, using your closing rates and assuming an automated reply works at 60% of the effect of your own follow-up.
At these rates, roughly 133 more sign-ins need a reply for each extra deal, about 13.3 open houses' worth.
How to read this: the closing rates are assumptions, not data, and a deal credited to an open house may partly have come from other touchpoints. A single extra deal changes the picture a lot, so look at the per-hour figure over a full year, not one weekend. Your CRM's sign-in source tag gives the real closing rate.
Same-day follow-up is the cheapest improvement here
Use the follow-up messages below: a same-day text, a same-day email, a day-2 note and a day-7 check-in. If you would like us to set the follow-up up so every sign-in gets one, book a free call.
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The link holds only the numbers you entered, nothing about you.
Optional: have our team review these numbers with you
A follow-up sequence you can use this weekend
Four short messages for the people who sign in: a text and an email the same day, a useful note on day 2 and a light check-in on day 7. Add your name and how you refer to the home and the wording fills in. Nothing you type here is saved or sent.
Leave a field blank and the message keeps a [token] you can fill in later.
Sign-in sheet line
Print it under the sign-in sheet or on the digital form, so the people you message have agreed to hear from you
By signing in, I agree that [Your name] may contact me about this home and similar homes by phone, text or email. Message and data rates may apply. I can opt out at any time.
Same day: a short text
Send within a few hours of the open house, text message
Hi [First name], it's [Your name]. Thanks for stopping by [the address or street] today. If you have any questions about it or the neighborhood, just reply here. Happy to send you other homes like it too. Reply STOP to opt out.
Same day: the details by email
Send the same evening, email
Subject: Thanks for visiting [the address or street]
Hi [First name], Thanks for coming to see [the address or street] today. I hope it was useful. If it helps, I can send the details sheet, the recent sales nearby, or a few other homes that are similar in size and style. Just reply and tell me which. And if you are not looking right now, no problem at all. I am glad you came by. [Your name]
Day 2: one useful thing
Send two days later, text or email
Hi [First name], [Your name] again. A few people asked about [the one thing they asked about most, for example the roof, the schools or the monthly costs] at [the address or street], so I pulled together what I know. Want me to send it over? And are you looking to move soon, or just starting to look?
Day 7: a light check-in
Send a week later, text
Hi [First name], [Your name] here. Homes similar to [the address or street] come up from time to time. Would you like me to send you ones that fit what you are looking for? If you would rather I stop checking in, just say so and I will.
Replace [First name] with your CRM's merge field, or type each person's name.
Before you send: only message people who gave you their number and agreed to be contacted that way, and honour every opt-out. Rules on texting and email differ by state, by brokerage and by phone carrier, so check yours with your broker. This is a writing aid, not legal advice. Keep the messages about the home and what the person asked about.
How the math works
The calculation
- Open houses a year is open houses a month times 12. Sign-ins a year is that times the sign-ins per open house.
- Deals a year is sign-ins times two parts added together: the share you follow up with times the closing rate when followed up, and the share you do not times the closing rate with no follow-up.
- Commission a year is deals times your average commission. Cost is open houses a year times the cost of one. Hours is open houses a year times the hours for one.
- Net return is commission minus cost, divided by cost, shown as a multiple of the spend. Commission per hour is commission divided by hours.
- The automation scenario reaches more sign-ins: the target follow-up rate minus today's. Those extra sign-ins close at the no-follow-up rate plus the chosen share of the gap between your followed-up and unfollowed rates. Extra deals is sign-ins times the extra coverage times that lift, and extra commission is extra deals times your commission.
- Sign-ins per extra deal is 1 divided by that lift. If the followed-up rate is not above the unfollowed rate, follow-up adds nothing in this model.
The calculator does not assume that automation makes anyone more likely to buy. It assumes only that more people get a reply, and that a reply from a text sequence is worth a share of one from you.
Worked example at the starting numbers
The Steady solo agent profile: 4 open houses a month, 10 sign-ins each, $8,500 commission, 40% followed up today, closing rates of 1.5% with follow-up and 0.25% without. These are starting guesses.
| Open houses a year | 4 × 12 = 48 |
|---|---|
| Sign-ins a year | 48 × 10 = 480 |
| Deals a year | 480 × (40% × 1.5% + 60% × 0.25%) = 3.6 |
| Commission a year | 3.6 × $8,500 = $30,600 |
| Cost and hours a year | $2,400 and 192 hours |
| Net return | ($30,600 − $2,400) ÷ $2,400 = 11.8 times the spend |
| Commission per hour | $30,600 ÷ 192 = $159 |
| Extra deals with automationan automated reply assumed to work at 60% of your own follow-up | 480 × 50% × (1% − 0.25%) = 1.8 |
| Extra commission a year | $15,300 |
What moves the result
| Input | Input 20% lower | As entered | Input 20% higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open houses per month | $12,240 | $15,300 | $18,360 |
| Sign-ins per open house | $12,240 | $15,300 | $18,360 |
| Average commission | $12,240 | $15,300 | $18,360 |
| Follow-up today | $17,748 | $15,300 | $12,852 |
| Follow-up with automation | $9,792 | $15,300 | $18,360 |
| Close rate, followed up | $11,628 | $15,300 | $18,972 |
| Close rate, no follow-up | $15,912 | $15,300 | $14,688 |
| Automated reply effect | $12,240 | $15,300 | $18,360 |
What published research says
Checked on October 3, 2026. These describe buyers in general. They are shown for context and are never used to fill in your numbers.
Open houses are common in a home search. 48% of recent buyers said they used an open house as an information source in their search, and the report says open houses were deemed very useful by 43% of buyers.
What it does not show: It describes how buyers search, not how many sign-ins become clients. It is a survey of people who bought (6,103 buyer responses, a 3.5% adjusted response rate, purchases between July 2024 and June 2025), so it says nothing about visitors who did not buy.
Few buyers find their agent at an open house. In the exhibit on how buyers found their agent, 5% chose visited an open house and met the agent, while 43% were referred by a friend, neighbor or relative.
What it does not show: It counts the one way each buyer says they found their agent. An open house can still be a first touch that the buyer does not name.
Questions people ask
What counts as a sign-in?
A person who leaves contact details you can use: a name and a phone number or email. Foot traffic that walks past the sign-in sheet does not count, and neither does a neighbour who only wanted to look around, unless you would genuinely follow up with them.
Where do the closing rates come from?
They are starting guesses, not data. No published figure for sign-in-to-closing rates is used here. The honest way to replace them is to tag open house leads in your CRM, wait at least a year, and divide closed deals by sign-ins. Put the result in the two closing-rate fields.
Why is the return shown as a multiple of the spend?
Net return is commission minus out-of-pocket cost, divided by that cost. It leaves out your time and your brokerage split, which is why the commission per hour hosting is shown next to it. A big multiple on a small cost is easy to get, so the per-hour figure is the better test of whether the weekend is worth it.
Why does automation not get full credit?
The extra sign-ins reached by an automated sequence are assumed to close at the no-follow-up rate plus a share of the difference your own follow-up makes. That share is the last assumption in the panel. At 100% a text sequence would work as well as your personal call, which is the best case.
Are the deals really from the open house?
Not always. A buyer may have found you through a referral, a portal or your listing and visited the open house along the way. The model credits a deal to the open house only through the closing rates you enter, so lower them if you suspect your history is generous.
Is it fine to text sign-ins?
Only when they have agreed to be contacted that way, and every opt-out has to be honoured. The rules vary by state, brokerage and carrier, so check yours with your broker. The follow-up kit above includes a sign-in sheet line for this.
Methodology last reviewed: October 3, 2026 · OMII AI
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