Showing Property After Dark * If they CAN'T SEE IT * They will WANT to Come Back ANYWAY!

I have my FLASHLIGHT app on my EVO Android phone and tablet.  I always offer a lunch time showing slot OR weekend AM time slot rather than showing after 5P when IT IS DARK!

Showing Property After Dark is very common this time of year. While this in itself is nothing new, what is new, are the number of vacant properties on the market. More often than not, these vacant properties will not have electricity, and we will have to enter the property in the dark.

I have made it a point of always having a flashlight with me this time of year. In the last week or so, I have had to Show Property After Dark several times. I am working with someone looking for a single family home, and we have been meeting every day after work.

It can be quite erie to drive up to a dark house, and pull into the driveway when it is pitch black. We are in the suburbs and there are not many streetlights. I park in the driveway, open the car door, and am always relieved when the car lights go on! We get out of the car, walk up to the front door with the flashlight in tow. While I am fumbling with the lockbox trying to see the numbers, I always ask the buyer to hold my flashlight. Finally I retreive the key and slowly open the front door...what may we find??? Using the flashlight we look for lightswitches....sometimes we are in luck and the power will be on, but not always. 

While we may be in a fairly nice house, you simply cannot see it at night, and certainly not by flashlight alone. Even the nicest house will take on an erie feeling. The backyards are not visible at all, even by flashlight.

The other night we went through the whole routine, drove up to the dark house, got the flashlight out, opened the lockbox.....only to find NO KEY!! Well...so this wouldn't be a total waste of time, we used the flashlight to walk around the house...we opened the gate, walked past the hedges and into the backyard. We looked in the windows to see what we could. 

All in all....Showing Property After Dark is certainly not ideal, but when the buyers we are working with have no other available time, we do what we can do. After all...we are Realtors! And we will....Show Property After Dark.

Stefanie Cohen, PA, ABR, SFR

"I Love to Sell Real Estate in Florida and it Shows!"

Stefanie can be reached at 954-547-9203 or Scohen77@aol.com

www.StefanieLCohen.com