Open House Sign-In Sheets: Digital vs Paper
Paper or digital open house sign-in sheet? An honest comparison for Canadian agents, CASL consent basics and what to do after, with a link to a printable sheet.
Use a form on a tablet or phone if you will set it up and test it before the doors open, and keep a paper sheet beside it. Paper needs no setup and no battery, but it has to be typed in afterwards and some handwriting cannot be read. A form gives you typed contacts straight away, but it is one more thing to set up and some visitors will not use it.
Looking for the sheet itself? Our printable open house sign-in sheet has its own page, with the columns and the consent wording. This article compares paper with a form and covers what to do once the open house is over.
Paper against digital, row by row
By digital we mean any form a visitor fills in on a tablet or phone, whether you hand them the device or they open the form on their own. The table describes how each option behaves. It has no percentages in it, because we have not measured open houses and will not quote figures we cannot stand behind.
Neither column wins every row. A form is stronger on legibility and on getting contacts into your CRM. Paper is stronger on setup, on working anywhere and on being familiar to every visitor. If you only want one, pick the one you are sure you will enter into your CRM that evening.
What to collect, and what to leave out
Ask only for what you will use in the next few weeks. Every extra field slows the line at the door, and it is one more piece of personal information you then have to store and look after.
- Collect: who the visitor is, one way to reach them, and whether they agree to hear from you about more than this property.
- Leave out: anything you would not act on, such as a home address, a budget or a detailed questionnaire. You can ask those questions in a conversation later.
- Do not make consent a condition of signing. A visitor should be able to give a name and still say no to marketing messages.
The exact column list is on the open house sign-in sheet template page.
Consent in Canada: signing in is not agreeing to email
This section is general information, not legal advice. It is limited to a few points from Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL, S.C. 2010, c. 23). For your own situation, ask your brokerage or a lawyer.
A name and an email address on a sign-in sheet show that someone visited. On their own they do not show that the person agreed to receive marketing email from you. If you plan to send any, ask for it explicitly, on the sheet or the form, as a separate line the visitor answers for themselves.
- Say who is asking. A request for express consent must name who is asking, give a mailing address plus a phone number, email address or web address, and say that consent can be withdrawn.
- Keep the record. The sender has the onus of proving consent. Keep the paper sheet or a scan of it, or the form export with its dates.
- Do not lean on implied consent for long. Implied consent that arises from an inquiry lasts six months. Whether an open house visit counts as an inquiry depends on the facts, which is one more reason to ask outright.
- Make each message complete. A commercial message must identify the sender, give contact information and include an unsubscribe mechanism, and an unsubscribe must be given effect within 10 business days.
For more detail, read our CASL guide for real estate email.
After the open house
The sheet is only useful if something happens with it. This is a short process that works the same way for paper and for a form.
- Enter or import the contacts the same day. Type in the paper entries while you still remember who was who, or export the form results as a CSV. If you use Realtor Desk, you can import contacts from a CSV. The import brings in contacts only: it carries no consent and does not merge duplicates.
- Record the consent date and source. For each visitor who agreed to marketing messages, note the date and where the consent came from, for example the sign-in sheet for that address. File the sheet, a scan or the form export where you can find it again.
- Send a personal note. Write to the people who agreed to hear from you, and mention something from the conversation you had. If you want a starting point, our drip campaign email templates are text to adapt and send yourself.
- Set a follow-up date. Give each contact a date for the next step, so nobody depends on your memory. If someone unsubscribes or asks you to stop, stop.
Where Realtor Desk fits
Realtor Desk is a CRM for Canadian real estate agents, not a sign-in tool. It has no sign-in kiosk, no tablet sign-in screen and no QR code sign-in. Open house contacts reach it in one of three ways:
- You import a CSV, which creates contacts only and brings no consent with it.
- A webhook delivers them, for example from a form tool connected through Zapier, Make or n8n.
Once a contact is in, Realtor Desk records a consent date and source for it, and the inbox and SMS refuse to send without consent. Nothing is sent without you. An in-app assistant can draft a note for you to review, and you decide whether it goes.
Open house sign-in sheet questions
Next steps
- Download the printable open house sign-in sheet, as a PDF or a CSV.
- Read the CASL guide for real estate email before you send anything.
- See how to import contacts from a CSV and what the import leaves out.
Keep your open house contacts and their consent in one place
14-day trial, then CAD $149 a month. A card is collected up front and nothing is charged before day 14.
Print the sheet, bring a pen and a clipboard.
Build the form once, then charge the device and test it in the property before each open house.
Depends on handwriting. Some entries cannot be read afterwards.
Typed, so it can be read. A visitor can still mistype an address.
Getting contacts into your CRM
Typed in by hand after the open house.
Exported as a file or passed on by the form tool, with no retyping.
Proof of consent
The sheet itself, if the consent request is printed on it. Keep the original or a scan.
The form record with its date, if the consent request was on the form. Keep an export.
With no signal
Not affected by signal or battery.
Depends on the tool. Some forms need a connection to submit, so test on site and keep a paper sheet as a fallback.
Visitor comfort
Familiar. Nobody needs instructions.
Some visitors will not want to type on a device that is not theirs.
Privacy between visitors
The next visitor can read earlier entries unless you cover them or use one slip per person.
Earlier entries stay hidden, as long as the form clears after each visitor.
Printing and a pen.
A device you already own, plus a form tool that may be free or paid.
Is a digital open house sign-in sheet better than paper?
Neither is better in every case. A form gives you typed contacts you can read and move into a CRM without retyping. Paper needs no device, battery or signal, and some visitors are more comfortable with a pen. What matters more is that you ask for consent clearly and enter the contacts the same day. Running a form with a paper sheet beside it covers both.
Do visitors have to sign in at an open house?
Nothing in CASL requires a visitor to sign in. Whether signing in is a condition of entry is for the seller and the listing brokerage to decide, and your brokerage or provincial regulator may have its own expectations. Either way, giving a name at the door is separate from agreeing to marketing email, so ask for that on its own line.
Can I email everyone who signed my sheet?
Not on the strength of the signature alone. Signing in records that someone visited. It is not the same as agreeing to receive marketing email. Under CASL the sender has the onus of proving consent, so ask for it explicitly on the sheet or form and keep the record. This is general information, not legal advice.
What should an open house sign-in sheet include?
Keep it to what you will use: a name, one way to reach the person, and a separate request for consent to marketing messages that names who is asking, gives your contact details and says consent can be withdrawn. The printable sheet linked from this page has the full column list and the wording, so they are not repeated here.
How long can I keep following up after an open house?
It depends on the consent you have. Under CASL, implied consent that arises from an inquiry lasts six months, and from a purchase or written contract, two years. Whether a visit counts as an inquiry depends on the facts, so express consent, asked for clearly and recorded, is the firmer footing. An unsubscribe must be given effect within 10 business days. This is general information, not legal advice.