No shoes!! No showings during the week!! No unaccompanied showings!! No unapproved buyers!! No agents from this company!! No Showings when I am not home!! No Lockbox!! No for Sale Sign!! No Pictures of my House on the Internet!! No Offers Less then Full Price!!
You get the picture. I am probably missing another 2 dozen “no’s” we will hear from home sellers when listing their home. But as a home seller what is that no costing you?
Don’t be that overly Restrictive Home Seller, it can cost you!
Every “No” or restriction you put forward could be costing your money. Before you decide to say no, to this or that, double check your motivation. Is it truly so important to you that you can’t compromise? If it is please realize it could cost you money. One first step is learning what you can and cannot control as a home seller. Many times home sellers are anxious and they assume if they control the process they control the outcome. In many cases that cannot be farther from the truth. Your control will get in the way of selling your home.
Now I am going to quickly go through some of the points above. Some of them I will have links to much deeper articles on a given topic.
No Shoes- I have been a full time real estate agent for 12 years. This can be a big turn off to buyers. I can understand if your floors were just finished and the poly is still soft, but many times I walk into a house and wonder why the request is made. Look at it this way, many of the homes buyers will be going into do not request the buyers to take off their shoes. So it will seem odd to them if you do. Marketing your home is about making a buyer feel welcomed, start with a restriction and immediately that welcoming feeling can go away.
No Unaccompanied Showings- Insisting your agent accompanies all showings is largely a big mistake. There are two reasons why. Again, it is a matter of making the home buyers comfortable. A new face controlling how they see the home makes them uncomfortable. I can’t tell you how many times a buyer has rushed through a house and turned to me and said that was extremely uncomfortable. Secondly, it is a matter of scheduling. You already have a buyers agent schedule a buyers schedule and a sellers schedule to accommodate now you want to add a fourth parties schedule? Learn more about why accompanied showings are probably a big mistake.
No Unapproved Buyers- Not every buyer is going to be pre-approved for mortgage financing. A large majority will but some will not. Guess what? That is ok. Many buyers start out casually looking. Then they hit your house and no it is the one. Then they scramble around trying to pull it together. All it take is one perfect house to take a home buyer from a casual looker to a highly motivated buyer.
No Showings when I am not Home- Ok, that is just plain creepy having a seller hovering over you trying to sell their home. Again, its a matter of making a buyer feel welcome. If you home fits their basic needs and they feel at home in it, they will put in an offer. Hovering over a buyers agent with their buyers will just make them rush through the house.
You should get the picture by now. I don’t need to go into every “no” I have heard from a seller. So what is the take away?
Check Your Motivations- I am not going to lie to you, putting your home on the market, keeping it in top showing shape and allowing buyers through your home is inconvenient. Selling your home fast minimizes the inconvenience for you. Now, you may have a good reason for your no, but ill be honest most of the time you don’t. So check your motivations, why are you levying this restriction, to maintain control? Or, because there is a legitimate concern.
What constitutes a legitimate concern? Maybe you have a dog and the dog needs to be removed for showings and it is impossible to leave work for a showing during the day.
Make Your Buyers Feel Welcome- If a buyer is comfortable in your home they will take ownership of your home. If a buyer feels uncomfortable they will rush through your home. As they are rushing through your home, they are thinking about how uncomfortable they are, not how well the home may suit their needs.
Give a Home Buyer Access to Your Home that is Convenient for Them- Allowing a buyer access to you home is critical. You have to show your home to sell it. You deny a showing once a buyer MAY try again. Deny it two or three times, they will probably lose interest in your home and move on. Remember all it takes is one buyer to fall in love with your home to but an offer and get it sold.
Before you start levying restrictions on a home buyer or your agent, talk with them about your real concern. That “NO” can cost you the sale of your home or hurt the maximum financial potential your home will have for you when it sells. If you have a true concern there is generally away to work around it.
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This post, What is that “NO” Costing You? has been provided by Kevin Vitali of EXIT Group One Real Estate. Are you thinking of selling your Massachusetts Home? Call me at 978-360-0422.
