Virtual open house: how to run one that books viewings
How to run a virtual open house in 2026: an always-open tour, a 30-minute live session, a run sheet, follow-up within the hour and a report for the seller.
A virtual open house is a set time when buyers walk through a listing online with you there to answer their questions, plus a tour that stays open for everyone who could not make it. Most guides on the subject date from 2020, when it was an emergency live stream. This is the 2026 version: how to set it up, where to list it, how to promote it, a 30-minute run sheet for the live session, follow-up within the hour and a report for the seller the next morning.
What a virtual open house is, and what it is not
In real estate, a virtual open house has two parts joined by one link:
- The always-open part. The listing's 360 tour, open to anyone at any time during the week of the event.
- The live part. Thirty minutes at a set time when you walk people through the home and answer questions. That can be a video call where you share the tour on screen, a live stream, or an in-person open house with the tour playing on a TV for people who drop by.
The tour works all week; the live slot gives buyers a reason to look now. Both end in a booked viewing (a showing, in the US).
What it is not: a recording posted as a live event. When RESO, the body behind the MLS data standards, looked at the "virtual open house" links agents entered in 2020, it found that "99 percent of the URLs entered by agents were incorrect", because most pointed to recordings. RESO set out livestream open house types for live events and said a recording "should be stored as a virtual tour in the MLS". That is why many MLSs now call the event a livestream open house.
If you do not have a tour yet, start with the guide to the real estate virtual tour.
How to do a virtual open house in six steps
The steps run from a week before to the morning after. The checklist at the end puts them on a calendar.
1. Get the seller's yes and the home camera-ready
Ask the seller before anything goes live. Agree the date and time, explain that people will see every room, and ask whether you may record the live session.
Then prepare the home as for photos, with one addition from NAR's advice (2020): keep valuables and medications out of the camera's view. Add mail and family photos to that list. Turn every light on, open the interior doors and fix the order of rooms you will follow live, so your walk matches the tour.
If you still need the photos, take the 360 photos with your iPhone.
2. Set up the tour so it hosts the open house when you are not there
Most people will open the tour when you are offline. Set it up to answer them on its own:
- Every room in walking order, starting at the front door.
- A short voice note in the key rooms, covering what buyers ask about: light, storage, the year of the renovation.
- Your contact on every screen, not only on the first one.
- A clear next step at the end: "book a viewing", not just "contact me".
- A second link without your branding for the MLS or portal virtual tour field. Check your MLS's rules on branding in that field before you paste anything.
In Vistura, the tour hosts itself. Record a narration in each room on the spot, or upload audio, and the written text becomes captions; visitors press "Play automatic tour" and are walked through room by room. Add the "Visit progress" widget and visitors see how many rooms they have seen, and at the end they read "You have seen the whole home" next to a "Book a visit" button that opens your contact form. With visit booking on, the "Book a visit" button on your agent card opens your Visit calendar: the buyer picks a free time, the slot is blocked for everyone else, and the viewing reaches Leads as "Visit booked", with an email and a calendar file. For step 4, Share hands you the tour link, a ready WhatsApp message, the "Tour QR code", the "Embed on a website" code and "Images for social media", and "Link for portals" adds a version "Without my contacts and logo, as some portals ask". Narration, the automatic tour and visit booking come with Pro, at the founder price of US$24 a month, or US$19 a month paid yearly, for subscriptions started before 31 December 2026. You can try Vistura free with 3 tours online at a time.
3. Pick a time and list the event where buyers look
Run one live slot of 30 minutes at a time your buyers are free: a weekday evening after work, or a weekend morning before your in-person viewings. Some agents run two slots in one week.
Then list it. The live link and the tour go in different places, and the places differ by country.
Where the live link goes (as of October 2026)
| Country | Where | What to enter | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | Your MLS, as an open house of the livestream type (SmartMLS: "Live Stream Open House"; Flexmls at GCAR, 2020: "virtual") | The link to the live event (Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, YouTube Live, Facebook Live), never the tour. The tour goes in the virtual tour field. | SmartMLS removes the live link once the event has passed. connectMLS shows it on Zillow beneath the public remarks: ask your MLS whether yours reaches Zillow and Realtor.com. |
| Canada | member.REALTOR.ca, or through your board (CREA, 2020) | The stream's direct URL: "REALTOR.ca supports all streaming platforms" | Do not link private live sessions. |
| UK | Rightmove and Zoopla: no separate live-event field found | The tour in Rightmove Plus, Media tab, "Additional media" (Rightmove), and in Zoopla's virtual tour field (Zoopla) | Announce the live session in your own channels. Check whether your portal accepts a date in the description before you add one. |
| Ireland, Australia, elsewhere | Your portal | The tour in its virtual tour field | Check your portal's help pages for a live or online inspection option. |
4. Promote it for a week
| Channel | What to send | When |
|---|---|---|
| MLS or portal listing | The live link and the tour | As soon as the event is scheduled |
| Your buyer list, by WhatsApp or text | The tour link and the time of the live session | 5 days before, and a reminder the morning of |
| Email to your sphere | The same, with one photo | 5 days before |
| Social media | A post, and the tour link in a story or your bio | 3 to 5 days before, and again on the day |
| For-sale board and flyers | A QR code to the tour | All week |
| Your website | The listing page with the tour embedded | All week |
| Your last open house's sign-in list | A personal note to people who asked for similar homes | 5 days before |
Give each channel its own link, or a tag such as ?utm_campaign=open-house-nov at the end of it, so you can tell the seller what worked.
5. Run the live session with a 30-minute run sheet
| Minutes | What you do | What you say or show |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 2 | Welcome | How to ask questions (chat or unmute), and "I will walk the home again at minute 25 for anyone who joins late" |
| 2 to 5 | The area | The street, the light, transport, schools: the reasons to live there |
| 5 to 18 | The walk | Each room in tour order; pause in each and read questions aloud as they arrive |
| 18 to 23 | Questions | Price, offers, timing, what is included in the sale |
| 23 to 25 | The next step | Where to book a viewing in the tour, the days you have free, how you will handle offers |
| 25 to 30 | A second walk | A shorter walk for people who joined late |
Four things make the sheet work:
- Get help with the questions. NAR suggests asking a mortgage lender or title rep to join live and answer questions, and repeating the tour once or twice for people who log in late. A colleague can watch the chat and pass you the questions, so you keep walking.
- Share the sound with the tour. In Zoom, click Share Screen, pick the browser window and tick "Share Sound" so the narration plays. In Google Meet, present the Chrome tab: it shares that tab's audio by default.
- Test 15 minutes before: the link, the sound and your connection.
- For people in the room, put the tour on a TV.
For that TV, open the tour in Vistura's "Presentation mode (TV)": the tour plays on its own, room by room, with the price and a QR code to open it on a phone. Visitors who walk in scan the code under "Scan to see it on your phone" and leave with the tour in their pocket, including your "Book a visit" button when visit booking is on. Presentation mode comes with Pro.
6. Follow up within the hour, then report to the seller the next day
Follow up while the home is fresh in their minds: within the hour. Sort everyone into three groups and send each one message.
Booked a viewing. Confirm it and add one detail they asked about.
Thanks for booking Saturday at 11. You asked about the loft: it was boarded in 2023, and I will bring the paperwork.
Asked a question or left a contact. Answer it and offer two viewing times.
You asked about the heating: the boiler was replaced last year. I can show you the home on Thursday at 6 or Saturday at 10. Which suits you?
Watched and said nothing. Send the tour and a way to book, nothing more. Follow up once, three days later.
Thanks for joining tonight. Here is the tour to look again in your own time. You can book a viewing from its last screen.
The next morning, send the seller a short report. Copy this table and fill it in:
| Item | What to write |
|---|---|
| Live attendees | How many joined, and how many stayed to the end |
| Tour visits this week | The total, and where they came from: portal, QR code, WhatsApp, email, social |
| Rooms that held attention | The two or three rooms people spent longest in |
| Questions asked | Grouped: price, condition, timing |
| Enquiries and viewings | How many of each, and when the viewings are |
| What you will change | The price conversation, a photo, a second session |
Regular updates with numbers are also how you win the next listing.
In Vistura, every enquiry from the tour lands in Leads and, once you turn on alerts on your phone, a notification reaches it within seconds, while the buyer is still looking at the tour. "Before you call" shows what each person looked at: the rooms, the time spent and where they came from, so your first message is about their home, not a script. Stages (New, Contacted, Visit booked, Offer) and a follow-up date keep the three groups apart. Statistics show "Where visitors come from", from the QR code and WhatsApp to portals and your website, with each campaign tag under "Campaigns". And instead of sending the report, invite the seller. Owner access is "Free and read-only: they see visits, where they came from, the rooms people looked at and how many enquiries arrived. Never who sent them." All of this is on Pro; agencies get it for every agent on Business, at the founder price of US$49 a month, or US$39 a month paid yearly, with 3 people included.
Mistakes that waste a virtual open house
- The tour link in the livestream field, or a recording sold as live.
- No sound check: narration and your voice fighting, or silence.
- Ending without a next step. "Any questions?" instead of "book a viewing here".
- Following up days later, when buyers have seen five other homes.
- One live hour and nothing after. Keep the tour open so it keeps collecting enquiries.
- Announcing when an occupied home is empty. In public posts say "online", never "the owners are away".
Your virtual open house checklist
- 7 days before: the seller's yes, the tour ready, the event in your MLS or portal.
- 5 days before: message your buyer list, email your sphere, post on social media.
- Morning of: send the reminders.
- 15 minutes before: test the link, the sound and the connection.
- Live: follow the run sheet.
- Within the hour: three groups, three messages.
- Next morning: the seller report.
- 3 days after: one follow-up to the quiet watchers.
Frequently asked questions
Should I record the live session?
Yes, if the seller agrees, because it helps buyers who missed it. In a US MLS the recording goes in the virtual tour field, not in the livestream open house link, which is meant for the live event only.
Zoom or Facebook Live for a virtual open house?
A video call such as Zoom or Google Meet gives you names and two-way questions, which makes the follow-up easier. A public live stream on Facebook or YouTube can reach more people, but comments are public and you know less about who watched. MLSs accept links from both kinds of service for a livestream open house.
Does a virtual open house work for rentals?
Yes, with the same steps. The live slot saves time when many applicants want to see the same flat, and the tour lets people who would not like the layout rule themselves out before they book a viewing.
Do virtual open houses still make sense now that in-person open houses are back?
Yes, as a companion to them. The tour reaches buyers who cannot come on the day, and a live slot or a TV playing the tour at the in-person open house sends every visitor home with the link.