Can You Show Us Some Homes Tomorrow?

During the busy spring buying season, I usually get a call like this a few times a month. It’s inevitable that someone will call and ask to see several houses...’tomorrow’. I don’t think many buyers realize that most agents juggle several clients at once, and try to have a personal life as well! So if you are a buyer during this busy spring buying season, keep these points in mind when you want to tour homes on the weekends:

1.Give your agent as much notice as you can. If you want to see homes on Saturday afternoon, call your agent on Monday or Tuesday with a list of what you would like to see. Reserve your tour time early in the week so your agent has time to prepare.
2. Do your homework. If you are not familiar with the area, drive by the homes you are interested in before you go out with the agent. If you don’t like the location of the house, the other homes nearby, the traffic noise--don’t ask to see it.
3. Showing several homes at one time requires quite a bit of pre-planning. Your agent will map out the best route to see the homes in an efficient. time effective manner.
4. How much time in each home? Your agent has to guess as to how much time you will want to spend in each house to keep you ‘on schedule’ with all of the set appointments.
5. Appointments are required. Your agent will call the centralized showing service and make confirmed appointments for each listing. Vacant homes are easy to show--occupied homes usually require a specific time window to visit the property.
6. Paperwork. For my buyers, I print out every home we will visit, staple them in order of the showings, and also make notes on any significant information I think the buyer should know regarding the seller’s disclosure (age of roof, HVAC, home improvements, etc).
7. Coordinating travel time. If the homes are within a few miles of each other, you can usually visit 5 or 6 homes in a couple of hours. If they are several miles apart--your agent also has to figure in travel time.
8. Don’t try to see too many homes at one time (unless you are an out of town buyer). They can all start to blur together after you’ve been in six or eight homes.
9. Give the sellers time to prepare for your visit. I try to set up all of my showings at least 24 hours in advance as a courtesy to the sellers. Especially if children are present in the home, it can take a couple of hours to get a home ‘show ready’. Like buyers, sellers have events planned on the weekends: sports games, dinner parties, visits from relatives, celebrations, yardwork, etc. It’s much easier to schedule a showing a day or two before the visit than the same day as the home tour.

Most agents will try to accommodate last minute requests to see a hot new listing that pops on the market, if they have a buyer ready to write up an offer. But if you are just starting your search, give your agent plenty of notice to set up showings on homes you are interested in. It makes for a much more organized and productive home tour!