Today we're going to talk about how showings work, what's involved, what you need to know when you go to sell your home! There are 6 main questions I get asked over and over so I thought we’d cover them today!
When your home goes live and on the market, buyers are going to call their agents and they're going to want to start seeing your home. I have a lot of people ask me how they will be notified of showing requests, what do I do with the dogs, what happens if they work nights and maybe sleep during the day, all that good stuff.
So during the listing appointment, we're going to talk about all of your options. Generally speaking, I have some guidelines that I recommend for my clients.
Phone or Text Notifications
Before you go on the market, we will set you up with the showing service with certain preferences so you know how the notification process will work. You will have the option to get text notifications or phone calls for showing requests.
The majority of my clients typically want to be notified via text versus phone call but we can definitely accommodate either.
We can also set up multiple phone numbers so if you've got older kiddos or both spouses or anyone else living in the home that wants to be aware of when the showings are, we’ve got you covered! We'll set you all up with alerts to your cell phone.
The next question I generally get asked is how long is the minimum that you have as a heads up notice for a showing.
Time Window
For a showing notification we generally have the option to do a 30 minute heads up notice or an hour heads up notice. Technically you could do longer and I generally say a good rule of thumb is the 30 minute notification simply because if we go any longer than that, then it's really going to hinder agents in the event their buyers saw your house and is trying to see it sooner than later. If you need an hour that's okay too, just realize that the longer the notification window the chances are that we may miss that buyer.
The third question I get regarding showings is if they need to respond to the showing service when they have notified you of a showing request.
Responding to Showing Requests
So we are going to review the 3 most common ways to list your home in the showing service and if they require a response from you or not.
Show & Go
For my clients that are either on vacation or have moved out of their home when we start showing the house, we usually have it on what’s called a “Show and Go” to where you just get notified that your house is going to be shown and they don't have to give approval and the agent can show the home immediately, they don’t have to abide by the time window.
Courtesy Call/Text
The second way to list your home is in the “Courtesy Call/Text” status where you will receive notification of the showing and the agent does have to adhere to the time window however they do not have to wait for approval from you as the seller.
Appointment Only
The third way and the way the majority of my sellers are listed in the showing service is by “Appointment Only” where you will receive notification of the showing request, the agent has to abide by the time window, and the showing service has to receive approval from you for the agent to show the home. That way if you are home or others in your family, you have a bit of a safeguard in the event you miss the text and are home during the requested showing time window.
The fourth question I usually get asked is whether or not they need to leave the home during showings or can they stay.
Vacating The Home During Showings
I tell all my clients that you want to be gone and out of the house the entire time the buyer and agent are there because we want the buyers and their agents to feel comfortable walking through looking at things.
If you need to pull down the street and watch them as they walk in and leave, that's totally fine. If you work from home, I recommend if you have showings during the day to pop into a coffee shop or your physical office if you need to connect to internet or conduct calls so that you can work and allow your home to be shown.
The fifth question I get asked is what do with pets when the home is being shown.
Pets
Generally speaking, and we can talk about your specific situation when we meet, cats are fine to be left out in the home and if you don’t want them being let out the front or back door I would make a note or keep them confined to a room and make a note and tape on the front/back doors.
For dogs, I recommend one of two things.
The first option for dogs will be to put them in a kennel and if they are barkers, place that kennel in a room that is not in the main part of the home
like a secondary bathroom or a laundry room.
If that doesn't work, say you've got a big guy like me where the kennel is huge, then maybe just putting the kennel with a blanket over it so it's not so distracting because people are going to usually spend more time in the kitchen and family room and we don’t want them distracted with a barking fur baby.
The second option would be to take them with you or to doggie day camp for the day/weekend depending on your showings so that they are not in the home at all.
Under no circumstances do I want you leaving your dogs out because we don't know who's coming in your home. They might not be a dog person. They may be kiddos that aren't quite being supervised and maybe they poke the dog or that kind of thing. We don't want any of that happening.
We also don't want your dog to be in a position to be defensive of the home because dogs are naturally going to be territorial when strangers enter the home, even if that's not your dog's demeanor, I still don't want to take a chance with you being at live risk or having any kind of liability.
If you have other animals, usually those animals are going to be in cages so for hamsters, rabbits, birds, etc, that's usually going to take care of itself.
What if you work an irregular schedule or have a baby that sleeps during the day?
Irregular Schedule
Lastly, if you do work nights and sleep during the day, if you have a baby and nap time is sacred, or something of that nature, and have times during the day that are consistently unavailable for you to show the home, we can put showing blocks into your showing instructions with the showing service.
Hoping this helps answer your questions regarding showings!
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