Does Your Agents Photography Highlight Your Home?

I quickly went through the Massachusetts Multiple Listing Service for Tewksbury MA. I pulled out just a few photographs that real estate agents took of their clients property. I was amazed at how poor some of the Real Estate Photography that was used to sell homes.

If you are a home seller I think it is important to see what kind of images your real estate agent is providing you. In today’s real estate market, with so much information available online, home sellers must remember home buyers are making decisions of whether they would like to view your home or not before ever contacting an agent. The photographs of your home are vitally important to achieving top dollar and a quick sale on your home.

See what some client s have said about Quality Real Estate Photography…

“Kevin is an extraodinary photographer and we’re sure they are what brought our prospective buyers to our door. He saw us through and we were happy for a quick sale.” Billerica Home Seller

“The photography and marketing Kevin brought to the sale of our home sold are house quickly and for more money!” Dracut Homeseller

When choosing a real estate agent ask to see some of the agents photography. Find out if they hire a professional or do photographs themselves. It is now common in other parts of the country for an agent to hire a professional, here in New England it is not all that common but becoming more common. The difference in photography between agent to agent can cost you thousands of dollars.

Following are a few of my real estate photographs compared to other agents:

Dark Exteriors and Color Shifts

Dark Exteriors- Many times a dark exterior occurs when the home is photographed at the wrong time of the day. I always try to get full sunlight on the front and blue sky in the back and will schedule time to photograph the home when the sun is positioned properly. Continue reading…

Top 5 Showing Tips to Sell Your Home

I have put together a list of the top 5 showing tips to sell your home. It is important to make the most of every showing, every potential showing means a potential offer. You don’t want a missed opportunity because you were unprepared.

1) Curb Appeal

The first impression the home buyer gets of your home is usually the lasing impression. Don’t turn them off before they hit the front door. Start from the street and enter like a buyer would if you can’t be objective have a friend do it for you. Good curb appeal will attract drive by traffic as well as entice the home buyers doing drivebys into scheduling a showing.

Your landscaping should be neat, trimmed and in good shape. As spring approaches a good over seeding can get you a nice lush lawn for the spring.
Make sure your driveway is in good repair. Sometimes sealing the cracks and a new coat of sealer can go a long way.
Is all the lawn equipment, trash barrels and play equipment out of view and neatly stored?
Make sure your walk ways are in good repair and well lit.
Your entrance ways should be in good repair and freshly painted. Peeling railings and beat up front doors can benefit from a quick coat of paint.

2) A Pleasant Welcome

Make your home buyers feel at home, n0t like an inconvenience.

Make your home accessible. Try not to have too many showing restrictions or deny showing because it is inconvenient.
Don’t insist that home buyers take their shoes off. Most buyers are very respectful and its just insulting.
Vacate your home and give the home buyers plenty of time to view their home. Don’t sit across the street in your neighbors driveway watching what’s going on…. it’s just creepy.
Try to remove your pets. Their is nothing worse then a dog barking it’s head off in a crate. As much as you love your dog don’t assume everyone does.

3) Light It Up

Make your home more welcoming by lightening it up. A well lit home is far more appealing than a dark home.

If you know a showing is coming, light up your home by turning on every light in your house.
Add lights if needed.
Open up shades blinds and curtains and let the light in. Many times my home stager will recommend removing window treatments for showings.
Don’t forget the basement, closets and garage.

4) Play Down the Smells

Try to neutralize pet odors, cooking odors or any other odors in your home. Have an objective friend come into your home and see if they notice any odors that might be offensive to buyers.

Do not try to mask smells with a fragrance. many people have allergies and buyers start to suspect you are covering something up.
Again don’t light candles that can give of a scent.

5) Housekeeping

Make sure your house is sparkling clean.
Keep the rooms clear of clutter so people can actually see the room.
Get the clutter off the sinks in the bathrooms. If you have to keep baskets or tote bags handy that you can pack your toiletries up and stow them in a closet.
Clear your kitchen counters of any unused appliances and personal items.

Make the most of every showing by using these 5 showing tips. Remember your house is competing with similar homes in the market place and all it takes is one buyer to get your home sold. Make sure your buyers are welcome and leave a lasting impression.

Is your home ready to show? The Buyer Ready Home.

Spring is approaching and many home owners are considering putting their home on the market. Now is the time to assess if your home is ready to show to buyers. There is nothing more frustrating then having a seller call, tell me they have been thinking they want to sell their home for months and want to list it tomorrow. 80% of the time their home is not ready to show.

This is a kitchen that was presented for sale and showings. Would you want buyers to walk into this kitchen for a showing? Do you even want home buyers seeing this kitchen online? Really, a half an hour of organization and cleaning would go a long way in this small kitchen and have it ready to show. You have to remember with the internet home buyers are now making the decision to see your home or not based primarily on the real estate photography of your home. In today’s real estate market the first showings of your home are online!

The Buyer Ready Home- Getting It Ready to Show

A buyer ready home is where we have consulted with the seller and based upon their budget and desirability to do some work we prepare the home for showings. In many of my moderately priced to high end listings I may bring in a home stager to “merchandise your home”. Home staging is not about decorating but about presenting your home to buyers in the best possible light to potential buyers, based upon what we are seeing in the market place.

A Buyer Ready Home will be ready to show and be:

Spotlessly clean from top to bottom. No matter what flaws your home may have a spotlessly clean home will always impress buyers. Maybe you have some deferred maintenance you can’t afford to do. That’s ok. Impress the home buyers with a spotlessly clean home.
Free from all personal collections, photos and style. You may hear you should de-personalize your home. The reason why is you want home buyers to concentrate on your home and how they will live in it, not how you live in it.
De-cluttered. Let the home buyer see the space you home has unhindered by your stuff and clutter. Less is more when showing your home.
Have paint freshened and neutralized where necessary. Paint is relatively cheap. Freshen up paint and neutralize and highly stylized paint colors.
A home with any small repairs completed. If you have the money fix any small repairs, leaky pipes or faucets, rotten wood or trim, service the furnace, etc… Talk with your real estate agent about what may return you the money you may spend it may include roof or furnace replacements if you have the budget.
A home with maximum curb appeal. Curb appeal from the moment the potential buyers get out of their car to walking in the front door. The first impression home buyers have of your home is the lasting impression.

Remember, every home is different, the list above is a great starting point before even calling a real estate agent. Many of my more successful home sales have been a carefully executed plan where the homeowner contacted me months in advance of listing their home.

While very rarely, will I or my home stager ask you to spend a ton of money, it does require time and work for the home owner to complete. For example, I am about to list a home in Methuen MA, it is an older ranch and is a starter home. The kitchen and baths while outdated are in good repair. The one thing I have asked the client to do is rip up the stained and outdated carpet to expose the hardwood floors. In my experience it is better to show the slightly worn hardwood floors and their potential rather than a beat up carpet. While this does not cost any money it will take the home owner several hours to complete. The return should be huge!!

A Buyer Ready Home = $$$$$$$$

Yes, a Buyer Ready Home, will in most cases, recoup you a couple of thousand to even 10’s of thousands of dollars!! I have several clients in the past year or two who will insist that the work we put into preparing their homes recouped them $5,000 to $10,000 or more! Is a couple of weekends worth a $1,000, $3,000 or more?

How Will Homebuyers React To The Asking Price Of Your Home?

There are three critical pieces to getting your home sold successfully. I call them the 3P’s. The 3P’s are Preparation, Pricing and Presentation. The most critical component of the 3P’s is pricing. I will focus on your home’s list or asking price and how buyers will react and respond to your home’s asking price in relation to fair market value. 95%+ of all homes will sell for fair market value.

Your home’s asking price does not affect your home’s fair market value! Your home will sell for what it will sell for based on location, square footage, function and appeal based on what a handful of homebuyers in the marketplace are willing to pay for similar homes. Smart home buyers will submit offers based on fair market value and not the list price of a home.

A home asking price does not:

Determine what the home buying public will pay for your home.
Net you more money because the list price is higher. Check out my article, Price to Sell or Pay the Price Later, to see how an overinflated list price can actually net you less money.

A homes asking price can:

Expose your house to the largest number of home buyers and the right home buyers for your home.
Excite and motivate home buyer’s

Your Homes Asking Price and How Home Buyers Will React and Respond Let’s look at what we see in the real estate marketplace for asking prices of a home and how home buyers respond and react to a home’s list price. Remember your best buyers have been in the marketplace and have been in numerous homes. They know what to expect in a certain price range and with the information available on the internet they are educated and savvy home buyers.

Consider The Local Market

Before thinking about the proper list price for your home, consider the market you are in. When I originally wrote this article it was back in 2012. It was definitely a buyer’s market. In a buyer’s market to a neutral market, it is absolutely critical to get the price right, or your home will sit on the market unsold.

But in 2021 we are in an unprecedented sizzling hot seller’s market. Market times are 15-25 days and the asking to sold price is running around 102-104% of the asking price or more in some market segments.

In a hot seller’s market, there are two things to know. One overpricing slightly and I don’t mean by 10% more in the 3-5% category is not going to impact your sale too much. The other thing to know is it is impossible to underprice your home. We are seeing home priced in the 400K range sometimes go $110k or $125k over asking.

It is impossible to under price a home in a strong buyer’s market. The buyers will correct and pay for the home. But, don’t be overly confident buyers are suspicious of homes that sit around unsold. I get phone calls from buyers asking why a house has been on the market for more than 2 weeks now…. what’s wrong with it? why hasn’t it sold?

Make sure you consider the current conditions of the market you are in, before looking at setting a list price for a home.

Homes asking price 10% or more over fair market value. (Severely overpriced)

In most cases, if your home is severely overpriced, it will be obvious to most home buyers that your house will not compete with other real estate offerings in the marketplace. The buyers you attract in this price range will be new to the market, probably not yet qualified and not sure of what is even out there. Showings will most likely be limited to one or two a month if any.

The problem with moderately or severely overpricing your home, in a neutral to buyer’s market, is you are not exposing your home to the right buyers. Let’s take a look at a home that should sell in the $275,000 to $300,000 price range with a fair market value of 280k to 295k and is listed for $330,000. Most of the true buyer’s for this home will concentrate their search in the $250,000 to $300,000 price range…. probably never looking at homes that are priced over $300,000. Your home is competing with many homes that will be priced properly in the $300,000 to $350,000 price range. It just will not stand out in the competition and could even look pathetic.

Most home buyer’s that may be true buyer’s for your home may not know it exists and cannot even get excited about it because they have stopped their home search at $300,000

Homes asking price 5%-10% over fair market value. (moderately to severely overpriced)

If your home’s list price is moderate to severely overpriced you will see a few more showings but your home will still have problems competing in the marketplace.

Home buyer’s may look at your home but they will feel there is no hurry to react. Many home buyers are reluctant to put in an offer feeling they cannot come to terms on your home with you. Here is a hint… Most homebuyer’s become emotionally involved in a home to want to put an offer on a home. They also will wait until you have a price reduction or multiple price reductions before they put in an offer. Meanwhile, they will lose interest in your home or purchase another. There is no immediate need in their minds to put in an offer. They do not feel they are missing out on an opportunity and want to see if they can find something better. The buyers you attract will be the buyers that are really not ready to buy yet and probably not even sure what they are looking for. They are just starting to feel their way in the market, unsure and not confident enough to make a decision about a home yet.

Current market statistics show that about 40% of the homes listed, expire unsold, to be taken off the market or relisted. While there are multiple reasons a home expires unsold the number one reason homes expire is the home is overpriced. The longer a home sits on the market, the more stagnant it becomes, I call it Market Rot.

Homes asking price 2%-5% over fair market value. (slightly to moderately overpriced)

Statistics in Essex County and Middlesex County Massachusetts show that homes that have sold in the past 6 months in the median price range have sold with-in 3% of the list price. What does this data tell us? To have a successful home sell in average market times, 132 days, you as the home seller need to list your property within 3% of fair market value. If you are over the 3% mark you will most likely have to incur 2 price changes or your home will expire. Statistics show that over 80% of the homes in the real estate market had 1.65 price changes totaling 6% price reductions overall before selling or expiring. A whopping 38% of those homes also expired, unsold!! (that’s not counting the cancelled listing, the sellers that just gave up!)

If you fall in this category you can expect about 1-2 showings a week and market times of about 4 months. (market data varies per town but this is an overall assumption for North Eastern MA) Your home should be priced close enough to fair market value to attract the right home buyers to view your home. When you are priced in this category, buyers feel that putting an offer on your home can produce positive results. Homebuyers, may continue to see if anything better is out there but they will seriously start to consider your home. They will allow themselves to become emotionally involved in your home! You are most likely attracting a good percentage of the right buyers to your home, but you still are missing out on some and are probably missing the buyers that are willing to stretch a little to buy the right home.

The danger of listing your home in this category. While slightly to very moderately pricing your home in this category will most likely produce results, there is a danger. The danger is that determining fair market value is more an art than a science. Fair market value is typically a range not an exact number. I usually tell sellers fair market value is about a 5% range. Sometimes we can tighten that up quite a bit, sometimes it’s looser than that. Say the fair market value range of your home is $475,000 to $500,000 you purposely overprice by 5% at $525,000. Ultimately the buying public is only willing to pay $475,000 to $480,000 for your home. Now you are priced 10% over market!!

The other danger of overpricing your home slightly, is while the market is stabilizing we are still experiencing price depreciation. Tewksbury for the past prior 6 months compared to the same period a year ago has lost 5% in its median home price a home overpriced 3% today will be overpriced 5.5% 6 months from now and 8% a year from now.

Homes asking price less than 3% or right at fair market value. (moderately under priced to right at market)

When a home comes on the market or slightly below market, regardless of condition, location or otherwise… you will get tons of showing immediately. Your house stands out and shines among the competition (most sellers tend to slightly to seriously overprice)

Buyers get excited and know they will have to compete hard for your home. There’s a buzz about your home. They are not willing to miss a good opportunity. In many cases your home will go under agreement in several days to a month. You will most likely receive multiple offers and in many cases you will receive offers above your list price!! Not only are you getting the right buyers to look at your home you are also attracting buyers that may be willing to stretch a little for the right home. You have substantially increased your pool of buyers for your home.

Let me clue you in on a little secret…

It is almost impossible to under price your home, if you do the market will correct itself, you will get multiple offers over asking.

A home that is priced right should go under agreement in 12 to 20 showings. If you have had well over 20 showings it is time to sit down and review market data and feedback. It is probably time for a price change.
You should incur those 12-20 showings in the first 30-45 days on the market. If you are not receiving 1-2 showings a week and you have gone several weeks without any showings it may be time for a price change.
Stay on top of the market. Real estate markets are always changing…. Going up or down. Don’t chase the market down. When most people decide on a list price they are hesitant to make big price reductions. Meanwhile they are just chasing the market down.
When and if you decide to do a price change, do it in a minimum of 3% increments. Personally if a home has had a ton of showings and plenty of market time, I suggest a minimum of 5% to regenerate interest in your home.
Selling your home is all about proper pricing. There are no magic pills or techniques to sell your home. Remove the emotion. It is all about the historical data of similarly priced homes.
One home does not make for a comp. You want 3 homes or more of similar sold prices to determine proper pricing for your home. Time and time again I will pull data for a client, there will be one home that sells for 20 or 30k greater than the others where the bulk of the sales will be less, yet the seller will focus on the one high one.

A home priced in this category has many benefits:

Buyers compete for your home- Competition makes for better offers and a negotiating edge.
Multiple offers will be tendered.
Your home may sell for over asking.
You market time will be under 30 days.
Your life will be less chaotic as showing will only have incurred for a short time.
Buyers who feel they are getting a good deal (a good deal is what they perceive as a fair price) are much easier to deal with through the process.
It allow you to focus on your next step rather than be in limbo about what to do.

Here are some hints to help you make decisions about your homes asking price once you are on the market.

A home that is priced right should go under agreement in 12 to 20 showings. If you have had well over 20 showings it is time to sit down and review market data and feedback. It is probably time for a price change.
You should incur those 12-20 showings in the first 30-45 days on the market. If you are not receiving 1-2 showings a week or you have gone several weeks without any showings it may be time for a price change.
Stay on top of the market. Real estate markets are always changing…. Going up or down. Don’t chase the market down. When most people decide on a list price they are hesitant to make big price reduction. Meanwhile, they are just chasing the market down.
When and if you decide to do a price change, do it in a minimum of 3% increments. Personally if a home has had a ton of showings and plenty of market time, I suggest a least a 5% reduction to regenerate interest in your home.
Selling your home is all about proper pricing. There are no magic pills or techniques to sell your home. Remove the emotion. It is all about the historical data of similarly priced homes.
One home does not make for a comp. You want 3 homes or more of similar stats and location to determine proper pricing for your home. Time and time again I will pull data for a client, there will be one home that sells for 20 or 30k greater than the others where the bulk of the sales will be much less, yet the seller will focus on the one high one.

How do I prevent listing my home for to high of an asking price

There are three things you can do to try and prevent from overpricing you home.

Look at the data pragmatically. Make the decision of where to list your home based upon recent solds in your area, your properties stats and condition and general market conditions. Do not let a real estate agent Buy Your Listing, look at and understand the data.
Remove the emotion.
Understand fair market value. Fair market value has nothing to do with what your neighbor says, what you need for your home or emotion. You can think your home is worth $500,000 but if a buyer doesn’t come along in a reasonable amount of time to pay that… guess what it is not worth it, no matter what anyone thinks. As a matter of fact your have done more damage to the marketing efforts of your home by overpricing.

Contact a local Realtor to provide you with a comparative market analysis of your home. Make sure they are prepared…. It is all about the data!! I always want my seller to understand how and why they are pricing their home a certain way, not just accept blindly what I have to say. You should also trust the information that your Realtor is giving you.

Lets Price it Right and Get It Sold!!

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Kevin Vitali of EXIT Realty has provided you with the article, Asking Price of Your Home- How will Home Buyers React? Kevin has been helping homeowner sell their homes successfully for over 10 years in Essex County and Northern Middlesex County. For questions regarding the sale of your home call Kevin Vitali at 978-360-0422

What is Home Staging? and What is it Not?

I just arrived back from a home staging consultation for an upcoming listing of mine. For most of my listings, I provide a home staging consultations with Margaret Innis of Decorate to Sell. An acquaintance of mine, who is not a real estate agent, was fascinated by the process and had a bunch of questions about home staging, which led me to write this post.

What is Home Staging Not?

Home staging is not about decorating your home to sell. Home stagers for the most part do not have you go out and buy new furniture and accessories to make your home pretty. While occasionally they will make some recommendations to make some small purchases it is very rare that my home stager, Margare,t will have anyone buy expensive furniture or accessories. It is not an interior decorating session. Don’t think because you have a great flair for design you know how to stage a home.

What is Home Staging?

Home staging is about “merchandising” your home. It is about showing off your homes best features and downplaying the not so appealing features of your home. Home staging is all about first impressions.

Professional home stagers are adept in the practice of preparing a home for sale. They work with the “flow” of a home, eliminate clutter, edit and arrange furniture, and even assist in enhancing curb-appeal. With the help of a home stager, your house can make a memorable and positive first impression on potential home buyers.

Remember- How we live in a home is very different then how we present a home to buyers.

So what did we work on today? The house is a relatively new construction and is in great shape. The seller had young children and a very busy schedule. Very little physical repair needed to be made to the house, short of some minor paint touch ups. We focused on:

Showing off the beautiful hardwood floors and removed a lot of runners and even some area carpets to show off those gleaming hardwood floors.
This home had huge floor to ceiling windows some with transoms. There were also impressive views through most of the windows. We removed many of the window treatments that were hiding the impressive windows and the views.
We re-arranged some furniture as well as removed some furniture to open up the flow of the home.
Removed much of the personal pictures on the wall as well as a large majority of the artwork.
Decided to have a cleaning crew come in and make the home sparkle from top to bottom, including the windows!
Made suggestions to de-clutter and put a plan in place to prevent clutter from building up while the home was being shown.

What does home staging cost?

If I feel I have a home that would benefit from home staging and I believe the sellers will put in the time, I provide a free home staging consultation for my sellers!!

Home staging can recoup thousands of dollars and can make the difference between selling your home or not. Consult your REALTOR to see if your home would benefit from home staging.

Home Pricing and its Relationship to Buyer Activity

When choosing a list price for your home, realize that the price you choose will have a direct impact on the buyer activity and response. In today’s real estate market it is important to list your home right at the market. Your list price should be indicated by what similar homes have sold for not homes that are actively listed or homes that have expired unsold.

Top of Triangle

Sellers decision to price above retail

97% dissatisfied with their Real Estate Agent. 60-90 day on the market and frustration levels intensify.
Will require price
0-5 showings per month
Very little feedback or interest from any buyers.
Realtors use your house to JUSTIFY value in other homes. Your home is being used to show the value in homes priced propertly
High online traffic with little or no click through or showing requests from buyers.

Sellers Decision to Price at Retail

72% dissatisfied with their Realtor
Above average market times,
Sometimes requires a price change or two before selling
5-10 showings per month
Limited feedback Realtors do not return calls… move on to next house
High online traffic with little click through to showing request

At Market, Hard Pricing at recent Pending and Closed

Below average market time.
8-15 showings per month.
Realtors and Buyers are engaged with 2nd showings and offers.
High online traffic with high click through to showing request.

Wholesale Pricing

30 days or less on the market
Multiple offers- Generally sells for more than asking price
As Is sale terms, home inspection goes much easier

Showing Your Home – Is your agent hindering showings?

Showing your home leads to offers. I think that it goes without saying, that in most cases, the more showings you receive on your home the more likely you are to receive an offer.

With that said, I write this post out of a little frustration. Last Saturday, I tried to schedule 7 showings in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It was like pulling teeth to schedule the showings. I had to contact the listing agents directly on 5 of the homes and 2 I had to contact the agency. The 2 agency showings went relatively smoothly, where the other showings that had to be arranged directly with the listing agents went miserably. It took multiple phone calls and lots of my time. I ended up not hearing from one agent and one showing didn’t happen because it was an accompanied showing and the agent couldn’t accommodate us. Guess what? Continue reading…

Another Ecstatic Real Estate Client!!

I just received a happy holiday email form this client. I closed on two properties for the same client, the sale of the current home to purchase a new one. Here is what they had to say:

“I wanted to let you know that we LOVE our house and just commented to each other that we wouldn’t have been able to do it without you. Thank you, again!

I first met with my clients early last spring and we discussed the real estate market in Haverhill, what it takes to get your home sold in the current market and their hopes for a new home and the timing of selling and buying at the same time. Buying and selling a home on the same day requires a lot of co-ordination and effort and an agent that has experience and is on top of the process. My clients also realized they need to put a little work into their home, so after a few months of painting, cleaning, de-cluttering and staging we listed their home. Their hard work paid off! With in two weeks we had an acceptable offer and it gave them 60 days to find a new home. We went out every week until we found them a new home than worked diligently to close both homes. A very successful transaction overall.

I can’t say it was due completely to me. My clients and I worked together to get the job done. I brought real estate knowledge and experience to the table, but they asked a lot of questions and heeded all of my advice.

A successful sale is truly a collaboration between the real estate agent and the sellers!!

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This real estate post, Another Ecstatic Real Estate Client!! was provided by Kevin Vitali of EXIT Group One Real Estate. If you are thinking of buying or selling a home email Kevin at kevin@kevinvitali.com or call 978-360-0422

Success is not a promise it’s a history!!

Servicing your real estate needs in Essex County and Northern Middlesex County including Amesbury, Andover, Billerica, Dracut, Groveland, Haverhill, Melrose, Methuen, Merrimac, Newburyport, North Andover, North Reading, Reading, Stoneham, Tewksbury, Wilmington and Wakefield and surrounding areas.

Is your Home Available to Buyers?

Showings= Offers, No showings= No offers.

I write this post because I tried to set up showing for 2 sets of buyers this weekend.

Buyer #1 chose five properties, out of the five, I was only able to schedule two showings.

Buyer #2 chose five properties and I was able to schedule only three showings.

I was requesting showings for a Saturday late morning – mid afternoon. I wasn’t scheduling at times that were outside normal showing hours….. Saturday prime time for buyers!!

So what were the issues that hindered the showings:

Two of the showings I did not hear from the agents after repeated phone calls in a 36 hour period.
Two of the showings were accompanied showings and the agents made it painfully aware it was inconvenient for them to show the properties.
One of the showings was inconvenient to the seller.

I’ll let you in on a little secret….

I have been in this business for many years and have closed on hundreds of properties and have worked with many buyers.

One thing I can tell a seller, is, if a showing is missed due to an agent or homeowner, many times the buyer bypasses that listing and never looks at the property.

Strike while the buyer is excited about your home, a buyers decision to buy is usually based on emotion.

Seller’s should understand that when we are working with buyer’s there are limitations to the buyers schedule as well as we are usually not out looking at one home and there is a time schedule we are trying to meet.

A real life situation here….. Buyer is driving up from New York to look at homes on a Saturday. They have chosen 8 homes to view. We schedule the 8 homes in a 3 hour window in the early afternoon on a Saturday.

I try to schedule in a logical order and schedule your home for 1pm. You reject the showing and the say 6:30 would be better… Guess what? My client is already most of the way home, they are not going to wait around for one showing.

It only takes one good showing to sell your home.

So as a successful listing agent how do I address the showing issues spelled out above….

Agents not returning other agents calls.

I use a scheduling service. My service takes calls from 8:30am to 8pm Monday thru Friday and until 6 on weekends and holidays. This is all that they do, schedule showings.

The minute an agent calls requesting a showing, you immediately get an email notifying you if there has been a showing request for your property. Let’s face it do you think your agent notifies you that they blew a showing because they did not get back in a timely manner?

After they receive the call and the email is sent as well as a text, they follow whatever procedure is set in place to confirm the showing.

You the seller had a full accounting of what is happening in an online account. If a showing is not confirmed it is not because of me, your listing agent.

Accompanied Showings

An accompanied showing is where the listing agent meets the buyer’s agent and buyer to let them into the home.

I personally feel that accompanied showings can be a hindrance when selling your home. The only time I recommend accompanied showings, is if you have a unique home.

Out of hundreds of homes sold, I have only recommended accompanied showing twice and they were very expensive historic homes that required a huge explanation.

There is an agent in my area, who every time I have to show one of their listings I cringe, because they are never available to let me and my buyers into the home.

First, I have noticed over the years, that buyers are uncomfortable when you introduce a new person to the mix and hurry through the home when they feel the listing agent is hovering and trying to sell them the home. On the whole accompanied showings are much quicker than showings that are just with a buyers agent and the buyer.

The longer the buyer stays in the home the more willing they are to take ownership of that home.

Secondly, when showings must be accompanied by the listing agent, you now have to add a fourth persons schedule into the mix. I personally provide a lock box so any licensed agent that has confirmed a showing has access to the property, irregardless of my schedule.

Home Sellers Not Providing Easy Access.

Once your home is on the market, the best policy is to allow all the showings to occur. Many of my sellers rarely deny a showing as they understand the importance of giving the buyers access to their home. But let’s face it, sometimes there are things that make every showing difficult. Babies sleeping schedules, work schedules and so on…..

If there are consistent things in your life that will prevent showing on certain days or certain times of the day, work with your agent. If you can put in the MLS under showing instructions, times your home is not available, showing agents can work their buyers schedule around yours. If you have a difficult showing schedule make sure you allow a variety of times. Allow some showings in the evenings, allow some during the day and allow some during the weekend.

I will wrap up this post with one last story:

I just finished up with a buyer about a month ago. I had listed their home and put it under agreement immediately. They had forty five days to find a new home. We went out diligently one or two times a week to find them a new one. There was one home the seemed to like in particular that we tried to schedule three times a showing, our request was denied three times. As much as the buyers seemed to like this house we never got into view the home. We viewed 21 homes out of which they purchased one.

We did find another one that was very similar in the same neighborhood!! The home we never saw is still on the market and the agent just called me seeing if my buyers were still interested. Too late my buyers bought another.

If you want to sell your home, make sure you and your agent are doing everything possible to accommodate showings. Remember, every showing is an opportunity, don’t miss an opportunity!!