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Do You Really Want To Sell Your House? -- By Appointment Only

OK. For whatever reason you decided you want to put your house on the market. If someone comes along with the right price and the planets are in alignment, you'll accept the offer. In the meantime, people who may want to take a look at your house can do so "by appointment only" with no lockbox.

This means:

you need to be home when anyone comes by and
hardly anyone will want to come by

Yeah, I know. There used to be a time when there were no lock boxes and agents had to jump through all kinds of hoops to show homes to their buyer clients. Those days are gone, though.

The old saw about location, location, location is really only partially true. You can have the best location in the world and if no one can see the inside of your house, live and in person, it probably won't sell. Yeah, the Internet photos are great for getting people interested to visit your house but -- trust me on this -- they won't buy it unless they can actually step foot in it.

Just sayin'

Posted by Ken Montville -- the MD Suburbs of DC on 11/09/2009 06:21 AM

Comments (11)

Showing Houses in the Home Selling Channel

home sales, lock boxes, listings, access

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11 Comments on Do You Really Want To Sell Your House? -- By Appointment Only

NOV

Ken....you are soooo right...."the path of least resistance" works best for real estate agents.....by appointment only rarely gets a showing.....not today when you need to show that buyer so many properties before a decision is made to buy.....throw on the lockbox and welcome the world.

This is the major point in selling a home. . . the showing part!

I always laugh when I see those signs on a yard sign...of course it's by appointment...how many buyers or agents are just going to ring the doorbell to tour the house at will...duh...making it sound more complicated or to some minds "more exclusive" is not really benefiting the seller.

One thing I think that is a real turn off is a sign rider that says "By Appointment Only". Seems to me that those listing agents who would use that rider are selling their clients short as the sign really does say "Hard to Show".

You are right - The By Appointment Only translates "I do really want to sell this home"

I will never take listings that are "Appontment only!" My experience shows me ....they never sell, and when they do...they sell for less.

Hi, Ken:

Appointment only signs or showing instructions give me a sinking feeling. I'm going to have to listen to a seller talk my ear off about the incredible features of their home, and my buyers will not feel comfortable looking at it.

Cheers,

Robin

And I'm just agreeing with you. To much of a "pita" to deal w/by appt only.

NOV

Yeah, du-uh! The only excuse for a by appointment is a very expensive home full of priceless antiques, art work, a Realtor eating dog and alarm systems. Oh,yeah, and there's always that new baby excuse. How lame!

NOV

Well, it certainly seems like there is a consensus here. I guess I'll just wait for the listing to expire or the owners to get fed up and then say bye-bye. This is just another example where I should have gone with my gut.

NOV

Especially in a market like this where there are many other options, you need to make it easy to show or else people will just pass your home by.

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