Nashville Tennessee Living

I do not understand why real estate agents do not give out combination numbers on vacant homes when they are not MLS approved lockboxes. Then, you can never get a hold of the agent to get the combo. I just move on.

Harry - you would think with all the Whining about not having sales that these agents would teach their Sellers about making the home available to show!

Connie.. Great title for a post.  This definitely grapped my attention.  The rush IS on for the tax credit..I can see it here quiet clearly.

Many years ago I realized that about 25% of home owner/sellers would like to move and must sell to move but don't really want strangers in their home.

I am an investor; however, I am also a business consultant.  Your blog posts are designed to show expertise in your field.  Potential clients could read this, and if they did, they would be repulsed by it.  Instead of writing a negative article about seller's habits, maybe write an educational article informing sellers they need to be flexible with showings in order to sell their home.  You provide the same information but in a constructive manner that highlights your knowledge and not your negativity.

Definitely not a time to enforce a lot of restrictions on showings!

Sometimes it is hard to figure out just what a seller is thinking!!  Or NOT thinking at all!!  I have run into that more than once. 

The best one yesterday was to get the key was a 30 mile round trip to show a vacant house--no key box--WHY??? 

The other agent did come unlock it.  Anyway, I agree totally.  Good post.

I think despite market conditions there will always be those sellers who just don't get it.  Whatever the reason, it's part of our business.  But 400 days???

Lenn - It's the process. No one likes it. But on the other hand. The same Seller is marching through strangers' homes looking for their next home!

Valerie - We're going to have a very busy March and April!

Aaron - I am actually one of the more positive people you will meet. I have, in fact, written a very detailed 2 part blog on preparing your house for sale.

This isn't about being negative. This is about people either really wanting to sell or just thinking about it. If you put your house on the market, you need to make it available to show during reasonable hours and with reasonable notice.

People who haggle on showings seldom get to haggle on offers. 

Pam - that's my point exactly.

Barbara - It really doesn't make sense when the property is vacant. That's why we have these expensive lockboxes.

Evelyn - You're absolutely right. Last Saturday 3 of the 7 houses I wanted to show were not available. That's just too high of a percentage if you ask me.

AMEN, Connie!!! I am AMAZED AMAZED AMAZED at how many times we get the "oh, could you do tomorrow or later?" NO. We are looking at seven houses. We have a route we are taking. We are NOT going to go way out of our way to come back to your house or reschedule the other six appointments to convenience you.

There are plenty of houses out there. Sellers need to understand that buyers will just move on if they can't get into yours. (And yes, I had to have this discussion with one of my own sellers. They really got it once we started looking ourselves! :-) )

I usually skip over the homes which have no lockboxes.  Why make life harder?

I think having the listing agent present on showings is a good idea. They know more about the house than you do.!

People do have apointments/schedules to keep, I think most people will wait for a showing....within reason of course.

Patricia/Seacoast NH

Preach sister and tell it like it is!

Amen! lol

After 20 plus years in real estate, I have come to believe that it is an exercise in futility to try to psychoanalyze the reasons people put impeidents to selling their home, and why Realtors enable them. I just chock it up to, time to move on. My favorite though is when in the MLS remarks the Realtor puts motivated seller, and I can't get a showing.

Philip - Very well said.

Marney - My point exactly! The house that was on the market for 400+ days really amazed me. I called the listing agent so she would know that they were willing to miss a SECOND Showing. Actually I'm getting in the habit of calling the listing agents anyway when the Sellers are difficult.

Richard - How can you list houses with out lockboxes! I know in the cities with highrises it's different but in suburbia???

Patricia - I'm sorry but I disagree. That's what house flyers are for. If we're trying to look at 7 or more houses you can't coordinate with that many people.

AND how many times have you pulled up in front of, or just walk into a property and the Buyer says NO and doesn't even want to look? It happens all the time in the lower price ranges. If the listing agent is there you now have to go through their entire presentation and have wasted who knows how much time.

Carey - I don't mean to preach but times are tough and people don't need to make them tougher! LOL

Joe - Oh my gosh that happens to me and it makes me laugh. I tell my sellers that I'm putting "easy to show" in the remarks and they better make it be! :)

I know how frustrating this is...I coach me sellers...we can not turn down a showing anytime if at all possible.

Most don't but a few do. When you have a tour set up it really is hard to reschedule for a day convenient to the sellers.

Go get um Connie.

Connie,

I couldn't agree more with adequately preparing the seller to be ready for showings at all times and to make it as easy for the showing agents as possible. 

However, it needs to be a two way street from the showing agents.  As a seller, how long would it take you to be frustrated with the agents that don't give adequate notice for a showing, call from the driveway to show the house, or cancel at the last minute (or don't show up at all while Mr. and Mrs. Seller are circling the block with Fido while they wait for the showing agent to come and go)? 

I once read that as agents we should put our houses on the market every three years just so remember how difficult it is to live under a microscope 24/7.

Great post! 

No.  They're probably not.  They're building a home because they want a home where no one has ever used the toilet.

Missy - It's a training process. The agents do need to help them see the importance of being ready for showings and trying to be flexible with the times.

Eva - I usually apologize in advance to my Sellers. Many Buyers agents are awful. They show up early, late or not at all. Like you said. I find that agents that work with a lot of Sellers are much more considerate of the owners whose homes they show. They know how frustrated their own clients get and it makes them more sensitive.

Connie,

Some sellers are just too focused on their little world to realize the importance of getting their property for sale shown. Without showings they have no chance, how basic is that.

Lenn - you're probably right. If they can do that every time, God love them!

Connie,

It really is a pretty simple concept. "If you can't show it, you can't sell it."

Rich

Esko - I called today to show a house for the THIRD time and they said no again, but tomorrow would be OK. Unbelievable.

Rich - Seems simple to me.

This is the listing agent's fault - it should be explained to the seller that it's a terrible idea to turn down showings unless it's something temporary like an illness or visiting company.  What . . . a baby can't sleep through someone walking through the house? 

Connie, 

Great post.  It does make one wonder what is going on when you can't actually get in to show a home for sale?  Definitely not in the motivated category!

All the best, Michelle

i hear ya Connie!  With an absorption rate of up to 8 YEARS (for some areas & homes), you'd think Seller's would be baking you cookies when you arrived!  Instead they want you to re-arrange your schedule because they'll be having guests or taking a nap.  Argh!

Good reminder. Mentally compare yourself to Walmart which also has product to sell. Do you hear from them that they are closed for business every time someone wants to go inside?

Connie, we must have shown (or tried to show) some of the same houses.  How about the call backs from the listing agents after you already had your day of showings and they tell you how about trying to schedule tomorrow or does next week.  I don't know why I get pleasure out of telling them we wrote an offer or better still have a contract on another house we saw the day we couldn't see their listing..  

Margaret - I agree. If we are truly the Professionals, that we say we are, we need to teach them the process. The baby people did indeed finally let us walk through the house while she slept. But only because I called their Realtor.

Michelle - Like I told someone earlier, yesterday I was turned down for the 3RD TIME on a house we've been trying to see. This will be another Realtor call or we'll just forget that one.

Tori - Amazing isn't it! Cookies, what a fine idea. LOL

Cheryl - The funny thing is these are NORMAL working hours. Not late, during dinner, early Saturday or Sunday. We're talking 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Mike - I love that. I might just say it whether we did or not! Great idea!

When turned down for a showing I am usually quite capable of finding another home to show my clients.  As a listing agent I coach my sellers to be prepared to be accomodating.  I ask them if they in fact do want the great exposure that I am about to work my fanny off to bring them.  When they tell me yes...I ask them to help me by helping the buyers get the best impression of their home when it is convenient for the buyers.

John - It's very frustrating but sometimes it's the house the Buyers want to see.

OMG, I tried to make an appointment one time - for the next day... The listing agent said that wouldn't work for the sellers, could we come next Tuesday instead.

Um, no...the buyers were driving here from over 2 hours away to look at homes in this area, on their day off.  I couldn't believe it.  I don't know if that home ever sold.

Some people are still stuck in the Sellers Market Mentality - baby that train left the station a LONG time ago...

Karen - I could not agree with you more. What I find amazing is that the Realtor could ask that question. Don't they show houses? Don't they also work by appointment? you wonder how they stay in business.