Denying home showings can cost you dearly. It can cost you obtaining the highest selling price for your home or even worse… it can prevent the sale of your home.
Every listing I take, I have a discussion with the home owner how important it is to allow as many showings as possible to occur. Of course they always are on board and say no problem. Well I recently had such a homeowner. I won’t go into personal details but he needed to get his house sold, sooner rather than later. He assured me all showings would occur, he had to get the home sold.
So several weeks into the listing and 19 showings and no offers. But as I am reviewing the listing activity report, I noticed there have been 22 showings denied. Now some of them rescheduled and became part of the 19 showings. But over half never rescheduled and tried to come back.
So what happens to the others that never come back. Well there are three things that can happen.
The first thing that can happen is you are possibly sending the message that your not all that interested in selling your home. Buyer’s do not want to get emotionally involved in a house they can’t have. Trust me, most home buyers need to get emotionally involved in a house for them to purchase it.
I can’t tell you how many times, when I have been working with buyers and we have difficulty getting into a home for sale, the home buyer says “they must not really want to sell their home”. Subsequently, they move on to new inventory coming on the market.
It is not unusual for agents to have several potential buyers for your home. But if it is difficult to get showings of your home and there is other inventory, they not going to go crazy trying to show your home.
Make it as easy as possible. And don’t make the mistake in thinking your house has no competition.
Buyers get excited with each new listing that comes along….. this could be the one! They have lost interest in the home. It is not safe to assume as a seller if you can’t accommodate a showing that they are automatically going to try again. Buyers get excited when they see a home they might like. They get quite disappointed when they can’t see it. They move on to the next house that catches their attention or they have found a house and put it under agreement.
So what doses denying showings cost you? Denied showings can cost you the sale of your home or at the very least thousands of dollars. Excitement among buyers is high when your home is new to the market and quickly dies off. It is critical to sell your home in the first 30-45 days to maximize your net proceeds. As buyer interest dwindles so do potential offers.
Once you make the decision to sell your home. Make sure you give buyers as much access to your home as possible. Remember all it takes is one, denying one showing could cost you a sale.
We can help you realize your dream of a new home
2 comments
Toni Nicholas
February 14, 2016Hi Kevin,
In absolute agreement of your assessment of the situation. As a RE Broker who has worked with many buyers, if we ran into showing problems, we do go on to the “next” house. If the seller does not wish to sell, the house should not be listed at all. Otherwise, he or she is just wasting everyone’s time – which does not go over too well in this day and age. We’re all busy, and we are out looking at “listings” by appointment. If the seller chooses over and over again not to make or keep any appointments, it needs to be taken off the market – period.
Now, conversely, as a list Broker, I understand that an Agent or Broker does not wish to “lose” a listing. But, in actuality, if the Agent or Broker doesn’t put their proverbial foot down, or doesn’t cancel the listing due to an uncooperative owner (or tenant), then that Agent or Broker is doing a disservice to us all. It is incumbent on the professional to get the situation rectified as soon as possible. It’s either up for sale, or it isn’t. It really is just that simple.
~Toni
Massachusetts Realtor
February 15, 2016Thanks for sharing Toni- I don’t think some sellers go into the process realizing showing their home can be work and inconvenient. But for those sellers who always seem to have an excuse they really need to re-evaluate their desire to sell.
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