1. Objective

This SOP defines how a Virtual Assistant (VA) executes a systematic 5-day open house promotion push — so every open house is promoted across every channel before the first buyer shows up.

An unpromoted open house is a Saturday morning the agent spends alone in an empty house. A well-promoted open house draws buyers who were already planning to come, buyer agents who knew to schedule their clients, and neighbors who've been watching the listing. The VA's job is to build that audience before the open house, not hope it shows up.

The 5-day standard: Promotion begins 5 days before the open house. If the agent confirms the open house with less than 5 days' notice, compress the timeline — but still execute every channel.

Where this SOP starts: Agent confirms open house date and time.
Where this SOP ends: Open house day marketing is complete and post-event lead entry is done.

Success looks like: The agent arrives at the open house to a door that has been opening since it started — because the VA promoted it on every channel starting five days ago.

2. Your Role & Boundaries

2a. What you handle independently

• Building all open house promotional graphics and copy
• Creating MLS, Zillow, and Realtor.com open house entries
• Executing the promotion timeline — social posts, email, reminders
• Preparing the day-of logistics package for the agent (sign-in sheet, flyers, directions)
• Entering all open house leads into CRM after the event

2b. What requires agent approval before acting

• All marketing copy and graphics before publishing
• Email send list — agent confirms which list receives the open house email
• Whether to run paid promotion (boost) on the social post — see Paid Social Media Ad Management

Meta Special Ad Category — Housing: Any paid advertisement on Facebook or Instagram for a real estate property must be created under the Special Ad Category: Housing in Meta Ads Manager. This is required by Meta policy and by fair housing law. Standard audience targeting (age, gender, geographic radius) is restricted under this category. Do not use standard targeting for real estate ads — always select Housing when creating or reviewing any Meta paid ad campaign for a property.

• Any text blast to active buyers — agent confirms which buyers receive a text and what it says

2c. What you never do

• You never negotiate on the agent's behalf under any circumstances.
• You never provide pricing, legal, or strategic opinions to any party.
• You never sign or initial any document on behalf of the agent, client, or any party.
• You never communicate directly with the other party's client.
• You never cancel or reschedule the open house without the agent's explicit instruction.
• You never contact open house attendees after the event without the agent's instruction.

Reminder: See Open House Coordination for the MLS entry process, sign-in sheet preparation, and post-event CRM protocol. This SOP covers the promotion campaign specifically.

3. Schedule & Trigger

Trigger: Agent confirms open house date, time, and address.

Minimum lead time: 5 days before the open house for the full promotion sequence. With less than 5 days, execute all channels in compressed order — prioritize: MLS entry → social announcement → email → reminders.

Sequence context: This SOP handles the promotion campaign. Open House Coordination handles the logistics — MLS open house entry, Zillow/Realtor.com manual entry, sign-in sheet, access confirmation, and post-event lead entry. Run both SOPs in parallel.

4. Day -5 Through Day -3: Announcement Wave

Social Media Announcement Post

Visual: Build the open house graphic using the Canva Brand Kit. Required elements: property address, open house date and time, one strong property photo, agent branding.

Caption template (adapt to brand voice):

Open House this [Day], [Date] from [Start Time] to [End Time].

[Address] — [1–2 sentences about the property's standout features]

No appointment needed. Come see it in person.

[Agent Name] will be there to answer questions.

[Hashtags: #OpenHouse #[City]RealEstate #[Neighborhood] #HomeBuyers #AgentBrand]

Publish on all active platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn if applicable). Facebook is highest priority for open house discovery — many buyers find open houses through Facebook event feeds and neighborhood groups.

Consider creating a Facebook Event for the open house — these have broader organic reach within the local community. Confirm with agent if this is part of their strategy.

Fair Housing compliance: All content created or published under this SOP must comply with the Fair Housing Act. The guiding principle: describe the property, not the people. Never use language that references, implies, or targets any person based on a protected class.

The seven federally protected classes are: Race, Color, Religion, National Origin, Sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), Disability, and Familial Status (presence of children under 18, including pregnant women).

Prohibited language examples: "Perfect for a single professional" or "Great for empty nesters" (Familial Status); "Great Christian neighborhood" (Religion); any reference to neighborhood demographics (Race/National Origin).

Brokerage identification rule: The brokerage name must appear clearly and conspicuously in all advertising and marketing materials. Flag any content that describes a buyer type or neighborhood demographics to the agent before submitting for review.

Email to Buyer Database

Send a dedicated open house email to the agent's active buyer list (and any additional lists the agent designates).

Subject line: Open House [Day, Date]: [Address]

Content:
- Property photo
- Open house date, time, and full address
- 3 brief property highlights (what makes this worth the drive)
- "No appointment needed"
- Agent contact for private showings (for buyers who can't make the open house)
- CTA button: "Add to Calendar" or "Get Directions"

Send timing: 5 days out (or immediately after confirmation if less than 5 days' notice).

Portal Entries

Create MLS, Zillow, and Realtor.com open house entries per Open House Coordination. These entries drive direct discovery — buyers searching on Zillow filter by "open houses this weekend." These must be entered manually; do not assume MLS syndication covers them.

5. Day -1: Reminder Push

Social Media Reminder

Post a reminder — shorter and more urgent than the announcement. A story format or simple text-over-image works well for reminders.

Content: "Tomorrow from [Time] to [Time] — [Address]. See you there."

No need to rebuild the full graphic. An Instagram/Facebook Story with the key details is appropriate. Keep it simple and timely.

Text Blast to Active Buyers (if applicable)

If the agent has an active buyer pipeline and a texting platform (Twilio, SimpleTexting, CRM text feature), a brief same-week text to active buyers in this price range and neighborhood can be effective.

This requires agent approval and a confirmed platform. Do not text buyers from a personal number or without an approved process.

Text template (if agent approves):

Hi [Buyer First Name] — quick heads up from [Agent Name]: open house tomorrow at [Address] from [Time] to [Time]. Might be worth a look based on your search. Reply STOP to unsubscribe.

Confirm the opt-in status and text platform with the agent before sending any texts.

6. Day-of: Morning Post

Post a short morning reminder on launch day — this is the "it's happening today" signal for anyone who saw the earlier posts and may have forgotten.

Timing: 7:00–8:30 AM on open house morning

Content: "Open House today — [Address] from [Time] to [Time]. No appointment needed."

An Instagram/Facebook Story is perfectly appropriate here — it feels timely and in-the-moment. A feed post works too if the agent's strategy favors feed content.

Directions graphic: If the property is in a location that is hard to find (gated community, rural area, complex intersection), prepare a simple directions graphic or screenshot with a highlighted map. Include it in the morning post as a secondary image or story slide.

7. Day-of Logistics Package for Agent

Prepare and deliver this to the agent the evening before or morning of:

Open House logistics for [Date] — [Address]:

Start/end: [Time] to [Time]
Access: [Lockbox code and location / door unlocked per seller / other]

Sign-in sheet: Attached (digital) / printed and in your [car/folder]
Flyers: [X] copies ready — [sent for printing / print yourself at link below]

Zillow open house: confirmed visible — YES
Realtor.com open house: confirmed visible ✓

Directions: [If applicable — included for complex navigation]

Any issues, call / text me at [contact].

[VA Name]

Sign-in sheet: Prepare a template capturing: Name | Phone | Email | Working with an agent? | Notes. See Open House Coordination for full sign-in protocol.

Flyers: Prepare the listing flyer from or the pre-launch flyer from the campaign folder. Confirm how many copies the agent needs — typical is 20–30 for a standard open house, more for a high-traffic event.

Open house script / talking points (if agent uses them): Some agents like a brief property feature cheat sheet to reference at the open house. If the agent uses these, prepare a one-page fact sheet: address, price, beds/baths/sq ft, key features, recent comparable sales. Confirm with agent during onboarding whether they use this.

8. After the Open House

The agent returns the sign-in sheet (photo, scan, or physical). The VA processes within the same business day.

Lead entry and follow-up: Per Open House Coordination, enter all attendees into the CRM and enroll in the open house follow-up sequence (Open House Lead Follow-Up Sequence).

Post-open-house summary: Compile for the agent per Open House Coordination — attendance count, interest notes, new leads entered.

9. Checklist

Announcement (Day -5 to -3)
- ☐ Open house graphic built and agent-approved
- ☐ Social media announcement posted to all active platforms
- ☐ Facebook Event created (if agent strategy includes this)
- ☐ Open house email built and agent-approved
- ☐ Email sent to confirmed database list
- ☐ MLS open house entry confirmed (via Open House Coordination)
- ☐ Zillow entry confirmed (via Open House Coordination)
- ☐ Realtor.com entry confirmed (via Open House Coordination)

Reminder (Day -1)
- ☐ Reminder post or story published
- ☐ Text blast sent (if applicable — agent approved)

Day-of
- ☐ Morning story / post published (7:00–8:30 AM)
- ☐ Day-of logistics package delivered to agent
- ☐ Sign-in sheet prepared
- ☐ Flyers confirmed

Post-Event
- ☐ Sign-in sheet received from agent
- ☐ All leads entered into CRM same day
- ☐ Leads enrolled in follow-up sequence (Open House Lead Follow-Up Sequence)
- ☐ Post-open-house summary sent to agent

10. Escalation Protocol

Escalate to the agent immediately in any of these situations:
- The open house is cancelled or rescheduled after promotion has already been published — all live posts and platform entries must be updated
- An approval is not returned with fewer than 48 hours until the open house and at least one promotional asset has not yet been published
- The buyer database email has been sent but contains incorrect open house information (wrong date, wrong time, wrong address)
- Zillow or Realtor.com is not showing the open house entry the day before the event — manual correction must happen immediately
- A paid promotion is running for an open house that has been cancelled — pause ad spend immediately and notify agent

Hi [Agent Name] — open house promotion issue for [Address] on [Date] needs immediate action.

Issue: [Cancellation after publish / approval pending / email error / platform not showing / ad for cancelled event]
Current state: [What is live / what is queued / what needs correction]
Time to open house: [Hours]
Needed: [Update platforms / pause ad / approve pending asset / send correction]

[VA Name]

If the agent is unreachable: If the open house is confirmed cancelled, immediately pause all scheduled social posts, update (or delete) the Zillow and Realtor.com entries, and pause any paid promotions. Document all actions. If the open house is simply rescheduled, update all platforms with the new date before removing the old information.

11. Tools & Access