New listing neighbour outreach: door-knock and mailer scripts

The people most likely to know a buyer for a house are the people who already live on the street. They have a friend who wants to be closer, a parent who wants to downsize nearby, a coworker who asked about the area. They also want to know what the house down the road is listed for, and they’ll remember the agent who told them in person. Here’s a plan for the week a listing goes live: the knock, the mailer, what you can and can’t say on either, and the follow-up.

When and how far

• •The day the sign goes up, or the day after. The neighbours have seen the photographer and the sign, and the question is already in their heads.
• •Twenty to forty doors: the listing’s own street, the homes that back onto it and the first few on each cross street. A short walk that gets finished beats a long one that doesn’t.
• •Late afternoon on a weekday or late Saturday morning, when people are home and not eating.
• •Tell your seller first. They’ll hear about it from the neighbours, and some sellers would rather the street not know the price yet. A mailer that names the property is advertising it, and RECO’s rules need the owner’s consent for that, so get the seller’s yes before anything is printed.

The door-knock script

Thirty seconds, standing back from the door, with a leave-behind in your hand so the visit has an obvious end. Say who you are the way RECO’s advertising rules have you say it in print: your registered name, your brokerage, and that you’re a salesperson or broker.

"Hi, I’m Robert Cekan, a salesperson with Example Realty. I’ve just listed 95 Fennell, the bungalow on the corner, and I’m letting the neighbours know before the open house. It’s a 3+1 bedroom on the pie-shaped lot, listed at $749,000. I’m holding a neighbours’ hour on Sunday at 1, before it opens to the public at 2, if you’d like to see it. Do you know anyone who’s been hoping to get onto this street?"

Then stop talking. If they ask about the price, the lot or the kitchen, answer. If they ask what their own house is worth, that’s the conversation you came for: "I can run the numbers for you this week. What’s the best way to reach you?" If they’re listed with another brokerage, thank them and move on; RECO’s rules have you go through their agent.

When nobody answers, the leave-behind does the talking. Tuck it in the door rather than the mailbox.

The leave-behind and the postcard

One side is the house; the other is you. A card that does both well is a feature sheet folded in half, or a postcard printed for the street. Whatever it is, RECO treats it as advertising, and Bulletin 5.1 sets the checklist.

• •The brokerage name, clearly and prominently, exactly as registered with RECO, with the word "brokerage" or "real estate brokerage" beside it. This is the item most postcards fail, with the brokerage in six-point type along the bottom edge.
• •Your name as registered, with a permitted term: real estate agent, salesperson or broker. No short forms, no nicknames.
• •The house, with the seller’s consent: the cover photo, the address, the list price, the bedroom and bathroom count and the open house time. RECO’s rules bar anything that identifies a specific property without the owner’s consent, and the price is a term of the listing agreement, so ask your seller before the price goes on a card.
• •Facts, with nothing stretched: "Renovated kitchen" becomes "2022 kitchen". A statement that gives someone a wrong impression is misleading, and RECO says it only takes one reader to be misled.
• •Your number and one next step: "Text me for a private showing" or "Scan for the photos and the floor plan", with a QR code to the listing page.

Hold the card to the same standard as the MLS description: describe the property, never the buyer. "Perfect for a growing family" on a postcard carries the same fair-housing risk it does online.

What not to put on it

• •Other people’s sales: "I sold 14 Fennell for $40,000 over asking" names a party, a property and a price. Bulletin 5.4 needs written consent for a sold claim, the seller’s before closing and the buyer’s after, and both parties’ before any price or term appears, with the consent dated for when it starts and ends.
• •Volume claims without the arithmetic: "Number one on the Mountain" needs the measure, the period and the source printed with it, or it reads as inaccurate.
• •A guess at the neighbour’s value: "Homes on your street are worth $X" is a comparative claim you can’t support on a card. Offer the evaluation instead.

The neighbours’ hour

An hour before the public open house, for the street only, gives the knock a reason and the neighbours a reason to come. Treat it as a real open house: the seller out, valuables away, the sign-in at the door, a sheet to take home. Most of the people who come are curious rather than buying, and they’re the ones who’ll text a friend "you should see this one" and call you when their own house is next. Mention the hour at every door and print it on the card; an email or text invite needs consent under Canada’s anti-spam law, so the card and the knock carry the invitation.

The follow-up

• •Write down who you met the same afternoon: the address, the name if you got one, what they said. A neighbour who asked about their value is a listing lead; one who mentioned a friend is a referral to chase.
• •When it sells, the "sold" card is the one that brings the next listing, and it needs the written consents above before it prints.

Frequently asked questions

How Listing Launchpad handles neighbour outreach

Listing Launchpad writes the neighbour pieces from the listing itself, so the price, the features and the open house time on the card are the ones on the listing, and the door and the sign-in feed the same leads list.

• •The words for the card and the door: a Neighbour Outreach note is written from the listing for door-knocking or a mailer, with the facts of the home and an invitation to the open house, beside a Just Listed email and an Open House Invite. Each comes with a subject line and a plain-text body you paste where it’s going.
• •The leave-behind: a one-page feature sheet in four layouts, built from the cover photo, the description, the features and the price in your brand colours, with your name and brokerage on it. Edit the words on the page, then download a PDF for the printer.
• •The QR code on the card: every listing can have its own public page with the gallery, the description, the video and a showing request form. Put its address on the card, and a neighbour who scans it lands on the full listing, where a showing request becomes a lead.
• •The neighbours’ hour sign-in: the open house kiosk on a tablet at the door, plus a QR poster for visitors who’d rather use their own phone. Each sign-in becomes a lead tagged to the listing, with whether they have an agent, and can go straight to your CRM.

The Neighbour Outreach note, the listing page and the open house kiosk are on every plan, Free included, with a Listing Launchpad credit on Free and Starter. Feature sheets, your branding on the kiosk and sign-ins tagged as leads are on Pro and Studio, and in the 14-day Pro trial.