10 Real Estate Open House Sign Strategies & Tips for Larger Turnout
Kaylee specializes in real estate, B2B, and SaaS companies. You can find her expertise in sales and real estate content on Fit Small Business.
This article is part of a larger series on Real Estate Lead Generation and Marketing.
When hosting and promoting an open house, the most classic and effective strategy to get the word out is by posting real estate open house signs. Although most real estate agents default to the standard rectangle or square sign with basic verbiage, there are plenty of ways to make your open house sign unique. We’ve created a list of 10 strategies to keep in mind and examples of creative open house signs to help you stand out and drive more interest to your listing.
Creating open house signs doesn’t have to be complicated or stressful to be effective. To make the design process simple, use VistaPrint’s intuitive editor with dozens of design templates. Alternatively, you can upload a custom design for the widest range of sign types, from banners, car magnets, pop-up displays, floor decals, and lightboxes to traditional A-frame yard signs and flags.
1. Adhere to Real Estate Sign Regulations
(Source: DeeSign)
Be mindful of sign restrictions from property-owner associations (POAs) and homeowner associations (HOAs). Many POAs and HOAs restrict the type of signs you use, like the number of open house signs or feather signs. You can scale back your open house signs inside of the community and still get the word out with conventional yard or sidewalk signs.
2. Stand Out With Shapes & Colors
(Source: Zazzle)
One of the simplest ways to make your sign stand out is by using an unconventional shape. This sign is in the shape of a house, and it is much more likely to turn the heads of passersby. However, all signs should be used with a strategy. Since this sign does not include open house event details like contact information, time, and date, you’d likely need to use this along with other, more detailed signs for maximum impact.
3. Make Your Open House Sign Pop With Color
(Source: Amy Wienands Group)
When it comes to attention-grabbing colors, magenta is energizing and eye-catching while still feeling professional. Colors are a powerful way to grab attention, but they also speak to each person differently. For instance, colors that are too bright or too neon can actually annoy many buyers. Choose your colors wisely to make your signs stand out without screaming for visual attention.
If you aren’t confident in your ability to choose the right colors for your signage, it’s worth calling for backup. There are many ways to find a graphic designer, but 99designs is the only place that allows you to see possible designs from multiple designers before making your final choice. You can provide a brief with your thoughts and confusion about color choices, and see multiple options from different designers to get the best possible design and color choices.
4. Be Concise in Your Real Estate Open House Sign
(Source: Intercap Lending)
Open house signs shouldn’t have the same content or goals as other real estate marketing materials like brochures or newsletters. For example, with newsletters, you may include current market trends, updates about your business, and upcoming property listings. This type of content is not necessary for an open house sign because too much content to your sign will make it too busy and unappealing.
Instead, be strategic about how and where you present the most important information, like the time and location of your open house, to keep each sign’s message clear. The open house sign in this example is directing buyers to the location of the event.
5. Add Your Headshot to Your Open House Signs
(Source: Jetfuel Creative)
Another relatively simple thing to add to your open house signs is your headshot. By adding a name and a face to the sign, the open house feels more personable. In addition, potential buyers will recognize your face from the signs, which can help build trust and authority before you’ve even shown them the property.
6. Turn Everyday Objects Into Real Estate Open House Signs
Carrie Allen at Engels & Volkers
It’s possible to make your sign stand out without adding shapes or colors to the original sign. Instead, by placing it on a unique object, it will capture attention on its own. This agent used an antique bike as an open house sign in a community that values vintage and renovated properties. In turn, it shows buyers that the homeowners and agent truly know and love the area.
7. Create Movement in Open House Signs
(Source: DeeSign)
Feather or flag real estate open house signs are designed to move in the breeze to attract the attention of passersby. The size of the flag, bright colors, and large lettering swaying in the wind are difficult to ignore. The movement stands out from all of the other static objects on the property.
8. Incorporate Personal & Brokerage Branding for Trust-building
(Source: Kaylin Print and Promos)
There are many reasons to incorporate your brokerage into your real estate marketing plans, and many agents even choose to centralize their signage on the brokerage branding. Large brokerages like Keller Williams already have a strong reputation, so their name can build trust and authority with an audience who’s unfamiliar with you.
9. Ensure Proper Placement & Size of All Signs
(Source: DeeSign)
The location of your open house sign is just as important as its format or design. Many homes are located within neighborhoods, so placing a few signs in front of the home will only attract a small number of neighbors. However, by placing signs on street corners and on busy roads near the home, you can attract many more potential buyers in the area.
Make sure to also consider the size of the sign in relation to its location. The majority of yard signs are 24 inches wide by 18 inches tall, which is relatively small. On the other hand, commercial property signs can be as large as 8 feet wide by 4 feet tall. If your sign is on the main road, it should be large enough to read without having to slow the car down. This may require you to get a sign larger than the standard yard sign size.
10. Include Interactive Elements in Promotional Materials
(Source: PosterMyWall)
While most open house signage is meant to be placed in physical locations on or around the property, it’s important to also create an online promotion strategy for your open houses. When creating digital open house flyers, you can include more details and information and even add interactive elements like links. This open house flyer uses a short video loop to take advantage of the marketing power of video.
In addition to promoting a digital open house sign, be sure to add your open house to your Zillow listing. Zillow adds open house times and dates to listings, and potential buyers can search through Zillow specifically for upcoming open houses. Don’t miss out on qualified buyers and leads by neglecting to set up your agent profile, or sign up to become a Zillow Premier Agent.
What to Include on Open House Signs
Open house signs can come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, styles, and colors. Most open house sign companies have free templates that allow you to start with a somewhat generic design, but the ability to change elements of the sign. Make note that changing every element of a sign can lead to muddled messages and confusing designs, so revise wisely.
These sign details can include:
- “Open house” title
- Date and time
- Agent names
- Phone number
- Additional contact details
- Brokerage name
- Logo or personal branding
- Headshot
- Listing price
Keep in mind that all of these details are important, but they must be presented in an organized way to avoid overwhelming buyers. When you are designing your open house signs, start with a plan for each sign. Instead of trying to include all of the information in one sign, try creating multiple signs, each with one primary goal. For example, place a flag sign on the front edge of the property, and an A-frame sign near the home’s entrance, and directional signs on the surrounding roads. Keep the colors and fonts for each sign similar to create an overall cohesive design.
(Source: OvernightGrafix)
If designing one sign causes you stress, your best choice may be to outsource the job for multiple signs. Fortunately, it’s extremely easy and cost-effective to find and hire a graphic designer on Fiverr. Fiverr is a freelance platform where you can easily search for designers with a background in real estate or signage and look through their previous work and testimonials. Finding a freelancer could cost as little as $5, so search on the platform today.
How to Design Open House Signs
Since there are no rules for open house sign design, it can be overwhelming for a real estate agent to decide how or where to begin. However, becoming successful in real estate doesn’t necessarily require you to become an expert in every part of real estate marketing. Instead, you just need the right tools and tips to design effective open house signs.
Designing an effective open house sign essentially boils down to these four elements:
- Focus on a clear message: Avoid throwing too much information into one sign. Instead, each individual sign should have a clear goal, like drawing attention to the property or building authority.
- Use clear and legible writing: Signs with script font may look modern and appealing, but the wrong font choice can make the sign unreadable. Choose font styles that are easy to read and remember for those who are walking or driving by.
- Incorporate branding: Whether you choose to use individual branding or your brokerage, it’s important to include some element of your brand. This shows that the property is being sold by a professional and makes potential buyers feel more comfortable attending the event.
- Location-specific strategy: Don’t design your signs without developing a plan about where they will be placed. Directional signs help guide buyers to the property, so consider purchasing signs with arrows. Also, remember that signs placed on a main road should not be identical to signs placed by the front door.
If it is your first time designing an open house sign, leave yourself some room for improvement. It’s unlikely that the first sign you create will be the best sign, so feel free to test different sign sizes, colors, and placement. In addition, try adding additional attention grabbers to your signs on the day of your event, like balloons or small flags.
Where to Buy Open House Signs
There are many different companies that provide real estate open house signs, so it can be difficult to choose. A few of the top sign providers are:
- VistaPrint: One of the top print marketing companies offering the widest range of products to print
- DeeSign: A large real estate-specific sign provider with many customizable real estate sign templates
- BuildASign: Custom sign provider for a variety of industries, with many real estate-specific designs available for banners, yard flags, magnets, and feather flags
- LowenSign: A large sign provider with real estate sign templates customized for the top 30 brokerages
For more details about how and where to purchase your signs, read our full guide on real estate yard signs.
Bottom Line
Creating effective, eye-catching real estate signs is an important part of hosting a successful open house that helps sell the property and generate real estate leads. Open house signs come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, so you should be sure to assess the fit of the sign for the area, property, and buyers. Designs that are visible, readable, and well placed will produce higher results over time.
