I had an agent call me last week to set up one of my showings on a Sunday afternoon for 1:00, and was dismayed when the Seller asked if she could do it at 1:30 instead. She said that she had 20 houses to show them and there was no way she could change her route. I thought, Wow! Thats and agent and a buyer that are not going to get a good look at houses. So how many houses should a buyer see?
That is a question that many buyers ask me. How many houses are we going to look at today? Unfortunately, many buyers and many agents think that they need to see everything that is available. I think that is a bad idea!
I think that a buyer reallly can't absorb more than about 5 or 6 homes without forgetting the features of the homes. By the time you get to house 15 there is no way that you will remember the features of the first home, or the second. Trust me, they alll start to blend in after a while. So how many should you see and how do you arrange that?
My thoughts are that a buyer should sit down and come up with a list of wants and needs, and rank those items. Compare all the houses against your list and rank them from top to bottom, taking into consideration location, features, and price. Then pick the best 5 or 6 and let your agent know which ones you want to see. If there happpens to be more than 5 or 6 then I think you need to pick a second day to go look at houses. Then group them by location and scour one area one day, and another area the next time. If you are an agent, this is also what you should tell your clients.
Bottom line, you will be able to spend more time in each of the houses that you have ranked high in your wants/needs list and you will retain a lot more informmation. Buying a house isn't about seeing everything as fast as you can, but about the journey of finding the right home.
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