How much notice before showing? (RE market, feedback, negotiations, agent)
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I'm just looking for some opinions. I know the market is bad but are we as sellers out of line to want 24 hour notice of a showing? Or at least next-day notice? I work from home and we also have two toddlers here - we just can't keep the house in show-ready condition all the time, and I think it hurts us worse to have people see the house when it's not show-ready. We're getting requests for showings just a couple hours ahead of time, and I can't always make arrangements to leave the office on the drop of a hat and go hang out with the kids and the nanny somewhere. I don't mind if the realtor asks, but the last couple times there has clearly been some irritation that we couldn't arrange for the showing in that time frame.
And how much time is reasonable for a showing? Our house is only about 2,500 square feet, and the last buyer's agent wanted us to be gone for a solid hour and a half. Which wouldn't be a big deal, but that's kind of a long time to go hang out somewhere with the kids in the middle of winter. It's not like we can go to the park or something.
It depends where you are trying to sell your home - if you are trying in the area I'm trying to sell mine, sure, ask for 24 hours notice ! :-)
Only kidding. But seriously, in this market, you don't want to lose a
showing. So far for most showings we've been told the day before but for a few they wanted to come in a few hours. You bet we cleaned the best we could and vacated. Demanding 24 hours notice you could miss that one buyer. With so much to chose from they'll just move on to the next home.
It's the pain of trying to sell a house - keeping it in show-ready conditon all the time.
I feel your frustration since I have sold several homes and keeping up with showings and Open Houses were a drag. I felt like I was living in a sterile museum.
With that said, it would be wise to just swallow the frustration and do your level best to accomodate the buyers when possible, considering how poor the RE market is right now.
Keep in mind that although it is difficult for you, the object is to sell the house as quickly as possible. If this means little notice for a showing, so be it. I would, however, expect a few hours notice. They are welcome to ask for an immediate showing but you DO still live there and agents and buyers usually understand that you have a life.
Try and keep things picked up as much as possible and hope that most buyers can look past the little nuances of having kids in a house, such as toys on the floor.
BTW, agents will often ask for a time frame of 1-2 hours for you to be out of the house. This allows for the buyer to look at their leisure. Also, agents have appointments that can and do run past scheduled time frames, thus making them late to the next appointment or showing.
Thanks for the feedback and the link, folks. I'm trying to be as accomodating as I can, but there are times when I just can't make it happen. Kids need to take naps and they need to eat and take a bath, and it's difficult to clean up when that's going on, and when I have other work I really should be doing. It would be much different if we both worked outside the home and had the kids in day care - it wouldn't be an issue at all. At least my house is somewhat distinctive, and there aren't many of this age in this neighborhood that go up for sale, so it's not as though there are 5 or 6 similar houses that a potential buyer can see in a given day.
I'm just looking for some opinions. I know the market is bad but are we as sellers out of line to want 24 hour notice of a showing? Or at least next-day notice? I work from home and we also have two toddlers here - we just can't keep the house in show-ready condition all the time, and I think it hurts us worse to have people see the house when it's not show-ready. We're getting requests for showings just a couple hours ahead of time, and I can't always make arrangements to leave the office on the drop of a hat and go hang out with the kids and the nanny somewhere. I don't mind if the realtor asks, but the last couple times there has clearly been some irritation that we couldn't arrange for the showing in that time frame.
And how much time is reasonable for a showing? Our house is only about 2,500 square feet, and the last buyer's agent wanted us to be gone for a solid hour and a half. Which wouldn't be a big deal, but that's kind of a long time to go hang out somewhere with the kids in the middle of winter. It's not like we can go to the park or something.
Sorry, if I were currently trying to sell my home in this buyers market I'd be ready for showings at the drop of a hat. Shoot, I'd be on the street corner on a Saturday morning flagging them over
Seriously, this is just one of those inconveniences a seller goes thru - pack some snacks and games in the car ahead of time to be prepared and when a realtor calls and says they want to show it - LEAVE - even if you only get 15 minutes notice. I think you are NUTS to say you have to have 24 hours notice. You have no idea the buyers you are turning off who are then going elsewhere.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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It's always been hard to arrange a showing of more than one home at a time to buyers, especially ones that are new to the market. I've even had buyers who were looking to buy acreage, decide in mid flight that they wanted to see a home!
My conversation with the seller at the front door goes something like this; "My clients decided on a whim that they wanted to see your home and I tried to discourage them from doing so. If you don't want me to show your home now, just tell me and we'll drive away and try and schedule a showing for some other time.
It's not perfect, but I know we try to accommodate the sellers wishes almost all the time. Flexibility and a little sense of humor work well in these situations.
Edit: I've never minded if the seller sticks around during one of these situations, after all, I'm the imposing party.
Sorry, if I were currently trying to sell my home in this buyers market I'd be ready for showings at the drop of a hat. Shoot, I'd be on the street corner on a Saturday morning flagging them over
Seriously, this is just one of those inconveniences a seller goes thru - pack some snacks and games in the car ahead of time to be prepared and when a realtor calls and says they want to show it - LEAVE - even if you only get 15 minutes notice. I think you are NUTS to say you have to have 24 hours notice. You have no idea the buyers you are turning off who are then going elsewhere.
24 hrs is too much lead time. Even "tomorrow" is likely to P.O. some agents and buyers.
Realistically 1 hr is too short, 2 is ideal. 3 is about all you should ever ask for. Honest. I know it must be hard, and I have been in that situation too.
You have to consider the reality of the agents and buyers. Only rarely will they be able to ONLY look at one house per day. If you get a call at say 10AM and say "I really can't be ready before 2PM" that gives them a lot of time to kill. Look at 4-5 other houses. Agent might treat the buyer to a sandwich, show 'em around to other towns, let 'em, review price trends.
All that gets the agent "bonus points" but does NOTHING to help sell YOUR house!
I know it is tough with infants at home, I have been there. You need to live a little like you are in a stage set. Very few people mind a few out of place toys, but you need to pare back. Of course you will need to keep things clean (even new moms don't like to think about some other kids dirt...). Place need not be "gleaming" for each showing, just make it so that any buyer is going to be able to get a solid feel for the space and good features of your property.
You should have all kinds of places that are safe for you to take the kids to -- mall, library, park district. Waiting patiently is hard, but the agents and potential buyers that spend more time in your property are the most likely to make an offer and THAT is what makes the whole hassle worth it! If you do have a nannie maybe you could take the lap top to someplace with WiFi and do some work too. It not ideal, but Panera and other places like that can be a godsend if you need to get work done online.
While I tend to schedule my appointments for the most part the day before, I think 24 hour notice is crazy if you can avoid it.
What I would write in the private remarks, is "has two small children, please try to schedule around nap times" or if your kids have a scheduled nap time write "no showings from 1-4 kids nap times" or something like that. At least for me, when I see a special request in the private remarks I call and schedule that appointment first and then work the others around it.
I have probably had 2-4 homes in the past year where the parents had small children and refused to show with less than 24 hours. My buyers didn't see those homes and yes all of them bought other homes.
I showed a home this weekend where it was the son's birthday. We scheduled the showing around his party. The dad was super nice on the phone and he made me want to try and accomodate him because he was very gracious about it. So I reworked my schedule.
There might not be a lot of homes in your particular neighborhood, but I bet there are similar homes in other similar neighborhoods. One of those refused showings last year was in my own neighborhood which does not have a lot for sale. It is STILL on the market and about 5 other homes have sold in the meantime. To me, if someone isn't willing to be reasonable in the showing of a home, it sets a tone for what they might be like in negotiations.
For many parents will small children, I have also been more than willing to call them when we are getting ready to leave the house scheduled right before theirs. I have done this many times so that parents don't have to leave until they absolutely have to leave. You can ask when an agent calls to schedule a showing and gives you that 1-2 hour time block, if they could call when they are headed over. Explain your situation about trying to keep the kiddos occupied. I think you will find most agents will help you out.
So here are my final thoughts on my ramblings...1) make it easy to show your house which does mean 2 hour notice or so, 2) Write something in the private remarks about nap times; 3) Ask agents to call you when heading over by explaining your situation. There are agents that are jerks, but most are quite nice.
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