You’ve signed your listing agreement!  Your house is cleaned! You followed the list of instructions to get your home ready for photography. The pictures are taken. The “For Sale” sign is in the front yard! Now what?  You sit and wait for showings. Here are some quick hints that might help prepare you for what will happen next, after your agent informs you there will be a showing:

1. Agents will be late. Or early. Why does this happen? Often, agents schedule several homes to be shown to their buyer during a block of time.  For example, House “A”, is scheduled to be shown between 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m., House “B” from 10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. and so on.  Well, if the buyers love House “A”, they may be there for an hour.  Or, if they hate it, they may be there for five minutes.  The rest of the schedule is now messed up.

2. No one shows up at all. This can happen when the buyers love House “A” so much, they want to run back to the office and write an offer.  The agent might get so caught up in the moment, that he forgets to call and cancel the other appointments!  Another reason (I’ve heard them all), is that the buyer or agent became ill, and they had to call their showings short.  There is really no excuse for not receiving a phone call, but it happens.

3. Lights are left on. Conversely, lights are turned off. Imagine you are a real estate agent, and you are showing a home to a family. There are two adults, two kids, plus the mother and father of the couple.  It’s hard to lasso all these people together from room to room. If one walks ahead and turns on a light, the agent may be distracted while talking with multiple parties and forget to check that the light was left on.  You come home and “surprise”, it may look like poltergeist were there. On the other hand, I recently had a seller complain that an agent turned OFF a light. The agent was trying to be nice and turned it off, thinking it had been accidentally turned on, but apparently, this homeowner always left a certain light “on”.

4. Blinds or curtains may be left open. See item #3.

5. You are locked out of your house.  Many people leave the door to the house directly from the garage left unlocked (I bet you do).  Real estate agents can get overzealous and start locking everything! Drat! You don’t happen to have a key, and you are locked out of your house until your wife gets home.  The angry call to the agent comes next (unless you read this article – then you’ll be prepared for such things.)

6. Dirt from shoes may be brought in.  Let’s face it. Some people are really fussy about leaving shoes on in the house.  If you seriously don’t want agents and customers wearing their shoes inside, provide some booties by the front door (they’re called protective shoe guards –  you can get them at Lowes for $9.98 for a pack of 24). Some people feel really self-conscious about exposing their bare feet (I’m not naming names), so it would be a nice gesture. One of my sellers put a lovely basket of booties with a card in her foyer as a reminder.

7. Horrors, someone may use your bathroom! Emergencies happen on the road. As a preventative measure, if you have a vacant house with the water shut off, tape a note to the toilet seats so you won’t find a mess later. Sorry for the graphic details, but as I mentioned, I’ve seen it all!

8. Have a sense of humor and understanding.  Remember, real estate agents are trying to manage a buyer (or buyers), follow their GPS, reference written showing instructions, be friendly,  make small talk and do it all on time.  In the end, they are trying to sell your house.

It’s Wendy… It’s Sold!

Wendy Rulnick, Broker, Rulnick Realty, Inc.
Call 850-650-7883 ext 204
Email Wendy: itswendy@rulnickrealty.com

Wendy Rulnick, Broker, has been featured in “Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine” and “Florida Realtor Magazine”.  Wendy Rulnick sells real estate in Destin, Santa Rosa Beach, 30A, Miramar Beach, Seagrove Beach, Watercolor, Sandestin, Seaside, Crestview, Rosemary Beach, Mary Esther, Shalimar, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, Bluewater Bay, Navarre, Panama City Beach. 

The post Your House is for Sale? Are You Ready for Showings? first appeared on Rulnick Realty.

My real estate market in Destin Florida, relies strongly on the use of the GE ActiveKey for access to listings.  Only registered real estate agents can open lockboxes to get the key to the property.  I check an online report daily to see who accessed my properties and when.  I can email the showing agent for feedback with a personal touch.  The system is widely used nationally, but there are alternate systems.

The problem in my Destin area occurs when we have the one or two odd agents who do not own a lockbox key.  For some reason, they do not want to spend the $180 to buy a key to show 90% of the listings on the Emerald Coast.  These agents expect the listing agent to jump out of their office and drive 20 miles at a moment’s notice, to let them in a house.  They seem bewildered that we cannot do this.  I am bewildered that they cannot spend $180 as part of their business plan.

When you have a real estate license, and you have chosen real estate as your career, there are some minimal investments you should make.  You should buy business cards, own a cell phone, computer, car, join your local association of Realtors, and be able to SHOW properties.  In order to SHOW properties in Destin Florida, you need a lockbox key.

Not making this small investment brings up some questions.  How are you serving your buyers when you cannot make timely appointments for them to see properties?  If you have to make appointments with each listing agent, versus just popping over to the house with your key, don’t you think you’ll lose some sales?  Won’t your buyer lose out when someone sees the home first and beats them with an offer? 

I realize that some rural areas use combo lockboxes.  Other areas have automated feedback systems.  But when you sell in Destin and the Emerald Coast, please get a lockbox key.

The $180.00 investment is a small price to pay.  You might actually get a return on your investment.

It’s Wendy!

Wendy Rulnick, Broker, Rulnick Realty, Inc.

Call toll-free 1-877-ITS-WNDY (1-877-487-9639) or local 850-650-7883 ext 204

Email Wendy: itswendy@rulnickrealty.com

Destin FL Real Estate

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The post If You Want To Sell Real Estate, Spend $180.00 first appeared on Rulnick Realty.