Make sure your home is easy to show!

Most buyers are local and have plenty of time to make appointments and see every thing on the market.  Some buyers are being transferred in and may only be in town for a few days on a house hunting trip and will buy a house while they are here.  You don't want to miss these folks by making your house hard to show. 

To get your home sold quickly, it’s important that other agents in the area show it to as many potential buyers as possible. The first thing a good agent will do when working with buyers is talk to the buyer and learn what kind of home they are looking for. Then the agent will search all the available homes for those most closely matching what the buyer wants. Next, the agent puts together a list of the best matches to go show to the buyer. When a busy agent is compiling a list of homes to show a buyer, there is a natural tendancy for the agent to show those houses that are easiest to gain access to first.  If your home is difficult to show, there is a possibility that the buyer will select another house, before they even see yours. 

Many homes on the market have “lock boxes” on them. The lock box is a device which holds a key to the home, that only qualified local agents can access. Homes that are listed as being “lock box, call first IF Possible” will get shown more often than homes listed as “agent has key, call for appointment”.  The more difficult it is for an agent to show your home, the less likely it is that it will be shown as often.  If at all possible, you should consider letting your agent put a lock box on your home for easier showing.  

As a note, if an agent suggests "agent has key, call for appointment" there is a strong possibility that they are trying to limit competition.  Agents often make more commission when they sell their own listings.  Restricting access to other agents and their potential Buyers, increases their chances for keeping the commission to themselves, but robs you of potential Buyers.  When using this technique, they may suggest that this will "keep you from being interrupted at inconvenient times."  The truth is that most agents will try to respect your time and not arrive when it is inconvenient, if at all possible.  Please bear in mind that when showing the house across the street or down the block, Buyers often ask, "Oh, can we we that one?" without an appointment.  I have sold many houses that were not on our original list, and, were probably ones that they would NOT have come back to later, in just this situation.  I'd knock on the door, explain that we were already across the street and could we possibly look at yours while we are here? 

Sure, we all know our houses get cluttered at times and don't want to miss having it perfect when shown, but let me ask you this, could you overlook the clutter of a teenagers room, or the whole house for that matter, if you could see the house when it was convenient for you?  Most people can, and believe me, if the agent working with the potential buyer knows that they are the type where everything Must be perfect, they will never show without plenty of advanced notice, but for those customers who know you have a life outside keeping your house ready for viewing, and most are like that, they CAN easily overlook clutter.  After all, when you close the sale, the clutter will be gone.  The things that matter are do the walls need paint and are there stains on the carpet, the type of things that you probably took care of before listing.  Most viewers can easily look beyond clutter and the advantage of letting them see your home while they are already across the street, greatly increases your chances of a sale.  Why wasn't your house on their original list?  Who can say, perhaps it was a few dollars beyond what they set as an upper limit, perhaps it has a characteristic they thought they didn't want, but when they saw yours, they wanted to see it.  Regardless, this happens extremely often and greatly increases your chances of a sale if you can remain flexible. 

If you can’t do a lock box, you need to be sure that you make it as convenient and easy as possible for other agents to show your home.  If they call, do whatever you have to do to accommodate letting them show your home to buyers on their schedule.  If you don’t, the agent will probably show the buyer other homes, and if that buyer makes an offer on one of them, you’ve just lost a great opportunity.

It’s best if you can leave when the agent and buyer arrive to see your home.  Buyers won’t feel comfortable with you there, and it could sour an otherwise good impression, or prevent the buyer from expressing an objection that might easily be solved IF the agent knows what the objection is.  I once sold a house that the buyer had originally rejected.  They loved the house, but hated the carpet.  Since the house was brand new, they "knew" the builder would never replace brand new carpet.  I knew the builder had several other smilar houses going and convinced then to make an offer subject to replacing the carpet.  The builder gladly moved the carpet to an identical floorplan, we made the sale and everyone was happy, but if the buyer had not voiced their objection, we never could have solved the problem.  That is why it is so important to leave when your home is being shown, so the buyers may talk freely and express objections.  They won't do that with the owner nearby.