So you have come to Albuquerque and just want to see a few houses?
Ever wondered what it takes to get in to see a ‘few houses’? Seems easy enough, sellers have their house
on the market, it should be accessible at a moments’ notice to qualified
buyers, right?
Here’s a typical scenario:
House A, House B,
House C, House D, House E
House A is shown
by “lockbox call first” LBCF…buyer’s broker calls number and leaves a message
that they will be showing the house at 2:00 pm (that’s what LBCF means, leave a
message and then show)…
House B is shown by
“appointment with listing broker, appointment with seller”. AWL, AWO
Buyer’s broker calls listing broker and leaves a message “we would like
to show the house at 2:45 after our 2:00 showing at the first property. Please confirm”
House C is shown “vacant
lockbox”, VLB – this should be easy enough, that means it’s vacant and show
anytime. But the private remarks to the
broker say “please call listing office before showing”…okay, easy enough – “I’m
going to show the house sometime during the afternoon.”
House D is
another “lockbox call first” but also Pet Present….So, buyer’s broker calls and
says “I’m going to show the house later in the afternoon, I understand there is
a pet, no problem my buyers are animal lovers!”
Okay, wait for it, this is where the fun starts.
House A calls
back and says “Oh, we can’t show it then, we have a luncheon and can only show
it the day after…you’ll have to wait.
(Geez, this was my buyers’ favorite property, and they are only in town
one day, approval letter in hand) “No
way around this, how about earlier, my buyers really wanted to see this house
while they are in town”….”No”, responds the seller, “the next day only.”
Okay, wipe it off the list for now. Sent email to buyer to say “can’t see that
one, sorry”. Buyer emails back…”well,
disappointed, but let’s put another one in it’s place”. Okay, we can do that. We’ll call that property House F.
House C calls and
says “you have to come at 2:00 because the gardeners will be there and the
sellers don’t want any noise at the property during showings…sorry for the
inconvenience”…Oh, no problem as we have wiped out the House A at 2:00…Okay, so House
B goes into the 2:00 time slot.
Wait, we have to now call House F and set up that showing, and it’s another LBCF…so leave a message
“we are going to be showing your property at around 2:30-3:00”.
House D then
calls and says that we have to show at 6:00 pm because the pets will be there
with the home groomers…they want us to go at 2:30…that’s going to be a hard
call so we call back House F and
change the showing time slot to more like 3:00 pm.
Now, you guessed it, House
A calls back and says “We really want you to come at 2:00 because we think
it’s a good idea for your clients to see this house since they are only in town
for one day…”
House F stands
ready to show anytime with no problem.
BACK to the drawing board and the calls begin again. I tell the buyer we are moving House A back into the 2:00 time slot,
and we have to move House B to a
2:30 – 3:00 time slot..you guessed it – that isn’t a good time for them.
Eventually after hours of calls backs and changes of mind, I
get 3 homes scheduled, as 2 didn’t make the cut
of the time slot and my buyers simply said “if it’s so hard to get in to
see this property, it doesn’t sound like they are really motivated to sell,
does it?”
What have we learned here?
Make it easy to show your house, anytime no matter what your schedule is. Selling your home can be an inconvenient
process, but the more ‘sellable’ you make your home by making it easy to see,
the quicker the desired outcome!
For more tips and ideas about how to sell or buy a home, and the insider's stories, Contact me anytime!
Comments