I know I'm jumping in late, but my 2 cents...

I ask for a courtesy call for my listing clients - an hour at least if that's possible. If a listing is "by appointment" odds are that agents will pass as it's next to impossible to get that precise when you're out all day. It's been my experience that "by appointment" or "appointment only" listings do not fair well in this market.

That said, there are times when I have a client in an area and they want to see a home that's not been previewed or arranged. If possible I contact the seller or agent and see about gaining access...but failing that I will ring the bell and if there's no answer, ease into the home and show it.

The bottom line is that you list your home to sell it so you have to be as flexible as possible while still expecting the courtesy that you're due. Hope this helps

Hank

Pinky
Being in the same area, the most common showing instructions are to place a courtsey call to the owner. Some agents do this 24 hours in advance and some do it 2 hours in advance. There will also be some agents who call from the front of your house. It is up to you to determine if you want them to come in or ask if they can come back in an hour.

Best of Luck
Curtis

Hey Pinky,

You got two thumbs up from me for being able to take constructive criticism and not going bananas. Your thank you shows the the terrfic type of person you must be. So many posters ask questions on this forum and the agents that give great answers receive no thank you, kiss my a__ , or go to h__. Best of luck to you and your family. :)

I just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to give me their input. Jackie, Lorie, Joshua and Solomon, your ideas were particularly helpful, but Dana and rockinblu, you made me think too. Jackie and Solomon, you guys really called me out! I hate to admit this, but when my husband and I bought our first house, several of the things you mentioned actually happened with us.

I guess that means the best advice is to remember how many homes WE didn't see because we had to have so much advance notice and it just wasn't worth it. Thanks for the TACTFUL REMINDER....That's why you guys are the pros!

I think there is a difference between an impromptu showing with a courtesy call( no problem with that) and someone just showing up unannounced. We have had a couple of instances of agents showing up unnannounced (one at 9 am) and that is unacceptable. Most sellers are perfectly fine with impromptu last minute showings. I did one yesterday. Someone saw a sign--called me--seller asked for 20 min. lead time. showed the house & they are going to write an offer tomorrow. But I did have an appointment, even though it was last minute.

Pinky... There are ways to get notice without stating "appointment only" which does communicate as others have mentioned below that you perhaps do not really need to sell. Buyers and agents today want easy showing instructions and often choose to look at property last minute. For instance, a buyer calls me because they took the day off versus waiting for the weekend and they want to use the day off looking at homes.

If you are serious about selling your home then you need to have your home available for showings at all times during reasonable hours (8am until 9pm). The agent can request a courtesy call so that you know someone is coming. If you want to make sure that you are not intruded upon while in the shower, sleeping, or perhaps home from work sick in the bed by an agent who has so rudely not provided a courtesy call then I would recommend the following which has worked great for my clients.

- place the lockbox on the front porch versus connecting it to the door so you can pull the lockbox in at night or when you are showering. The key is remembering to place it back outside when not at home or when you can take an pop-in that was not annouced.
- your agent can require a CBS code for the lockbox so that agent without a call ahead cannot enter the lockbox until they call to obtain the CBS code.


Yes, it is a strong buyers market; however, common courtesy is still needed and should always be expected. Just don't miss out on a showing being a stickler for a certain amount of notice... you want to be easy going and not difficult. I know how difficult it is to keep a home ready at all times for showings but do this and the process will be shortened!

Best of Luck!

Hey I'm sorry, but if you are worried about impromptu showings to me you aren't a very serious seller. There are sellers that would accommodate most buyer's requests for showings no matter what. There's a good chance that 6 months from now you are going to look back at this post and wonder "what the hell was I thinking." I loved impromptu showings. Agents with clients caught me outside working in the yard several times. I just told them to have at it. Had an almost with one but, as was the case with all except the eventual buyer, the spiral staircase was a turn-off.

Pinky,

Yes and no. You want the agents to call and set an appointment, but you don't want to scare them off by requiring an appointment. It screams, "I'm not motivated and I'll be difficult."

The reason it's a big deal is...

If I am showing your home, I'm likely showing at least 4 others. I can't tell you how long each viewing will take and give you a hard and fast appointment.

Also, when I call you to schedule the showing, if you pick up I get to show it, but I am NOT showing your home if it says "APPOINTMENT ONLY" and you don't answer your phone.

Good Luck!

Of course,in my area,we don't have to contend with Atlanta-type traffic,but still---showing up without an appointment is grounds for filing a complaint w. the Real Estate commission

OH MY no appointment how would you know you could be sleeping late, in shower, entertaining guest. You need at least a coutesy call stating an agent on their way. PERHAPS reason why agent prefers NOT TO PAY approx. $50 list your home with showing service who notifies of schedule time.

By not having an appointment does this realtor mean that people should just be free to show up at any time? if that's the case,i would get another realtor.

Pinky,

Are you living in this home? Would you want someone walking in on you while you were in the shower?

Is your home always in showing condition? Wouldn't it be better to have it looking its best?

Wouldn't it be helpful to have a log of your properties showings?

There are reasons why most people selling their homes require a showing appointment......

To add to Ms. Campbell's comments, Metro Atlanta traffic can/have cause(d) missed opportunities. I usually will call the listing agent ahead of time with a reasonable time-frame for our stop, but even that is subject to traffic conditions and the condition of other homes along the tour. Frankly, it isn't uncommon for us to eliminate stops when something has caused our schedules to tighten and scheduled showing appointments could be eliminated first.

Pinky
You might want to have a look at the link below.

You are selling in a buyer's market. That means that your job is to do everything possible to make your home accessible to buyers. In my books that means:
Cleaning and painting
Decluttering
Staging
Landscaping (curb appeal).

When I work with sellers we develop a marketing calendar. For the first three weeks we sketch out exactly what we will do when, including showing times and open houses. I expect 10-12 showings or one offer in the first two weeks. That means that if the home is properly prepared, then marketed correctly, and priced correctly, there will be a lot of activity during those first two weeks. So I work with my sellers to make the listing as accessible as possible, particularly the first two weekends. I suggest that they go away for those two weekends.

Then when it hits the internet, I can say, "Lock box, go direct". That makes it very easy for Realtors to preview listings and show them. Normally after that two week period we have an offer and other offers coming in, so we can change the showing to more restricted arrangements, such as Call First, or specify certain hours of availability, etc.

Hope that helps.

Everyone should have an appointment, you dont want people showing up at your door unannounced. You shouldnt however make them give you 24 hour or more notice though, you should allow short notice showings say an hour or so, alot of people may be driving around see the sign or an ad and want to see yoru house,. if you do not let them in, another home owner certainly will and you may miss out on a potential sale. the listing agent shold be there for showings however it is best if you do leave the house to make the buyer as comfortable as possible, if you are standing over them they will not want to open doors and check out cabinets etc. good luck on your sale.

Prepare yourself. Selling your home can be a nerve-wracking experience, since frequently YOUR schedule and your prospective buyers' schedules don't work together. Or more precisely, the schedules DO work together--the buyer is off work and available to see homes at exactly the time that YOU are off work and want to be relaxing at home.

My point? With the number of homes in inventory now, you simply MUST make it as easy as possible for prospective buyers to see and access your home. That frequently means that you will be the one inconvenienced. As an agent who works with both buyers and sellers, I can tell you that you should do your best to work through any scheduling conflicts since you may not get a second chance.

As difficult and inconvenient as it can be, I thought you might like to know some of the reasons why buyers "can't be bothered" with making an extraordinary amount of effort.

Most of the time, buyers will be physically and mentally exhausted by the time they've seen 10 or 15 homes. The idea of having to make a special arrangement--or worse yet, having to double back--to see your home may be too much for them to take on.
If they're trying to see your house on a week night: Remember, they've worked all day, too. They want to see as many homes that might work as they can without having to build every showing around one or two firm appointments.
The kids are screaming.
The husband (or wife) is hungry.
Someone needs to get back home to let the pets out.
Their flight leaves in 2 hours.
They've got homework / projects / work that they need to complete.
So TRY to make your home easy to see. It's not always going to work out. Things happen, and you need to have compassion for yourself when something happens to prevent you from being able to show the house.

Just keep doing your best to make the house available when you can if you want to increase your chances of getting it sold!