I am sure there have been posts about this subject but I felt compelled to share my story.
I have a buyer who lives out of state who wants to buy a second home in my area. Her daughter and son in law live here and are expecting their first child, her first grandchild. She has cash and wants to buy a place of her own to stay in when she visits.
Last Friday she came in town for her second house hunting visit to the area. She's looking for a condo and there a lot of condos on the market in her price range. There were 11 properties we wanted to see, several were in the same buildings. I called several days in advance to schedule showings. Some were through a showing service CSS (which I love), some I had to schedule with the listing agent directly. Here 
is what happened, 2 agents NEVER called me back, 2 sellers declined because it "was not a good time for them", 1 had showing restrictions that said it could only been shown on the weekends between 10 and 5, and 1 a tenant declined the showing. The only one I will let slide is the tenant occupied property because of tenant rights in my area the seller is not in complete control. 6 of the 11 properties thats 54% of the properties my buyer wanted to see were closed for business!
Not a good time for them? A good time for a showing is anytime a buyer wants to schedule a showing. With the exception of the ridiculous like 6am or 11pm (unless it's vacant).
It gets better. One of the properties we were scheduled to see had a key that did not work. As the buyer's agent in this scenario it was slightly embarrassing when my buyer asked "How can all this happen? Don't these people want to sell their place? I called the listing brokerage and the person who answered the phone said that several agents had called saying the key was not working. Why were they still scheduling appointments? How about taking my info and calling me when the problem is fixed?
When I take a listing I always use a showing service so agents never have to play phone tag with me to make an appointment. It's just a cost of doing business like installing a sign on the yard. My sellers are told up front they are not to decline a showing unless they are gravely ill or some other tragedy has happened. If they are in the bathtub they need to get out, put on a robe and drive around the block. If a seller declines a showing I get a text, email and phone call from the showing service. I immediately call my seller and the buyer's agent to figure out a time to get their buyer in the property. If I have to go meet them or send another agent I make it happen.
I understand that keys go missing and locks break, mistakes happen and tenants make things difficult.
The 2 agents that never called back have NEVER called, NEVER emailed, NEVER sent smoke signals. 
One of the agents for a seller declined showing called but it was the next day and my buyer had already left town. The non-working key agent never contacted me.
There is a winner and a loser and some that never make it to the starting line. My buyer wrote a cash offer on a property we called the same day, last minute with less than an hours notice to schedule an appointment. I reason I did not call several days prior was that it was not on the orginal list of properties she wanted to see. I do not make a habit of last minute calling if I can help it.
Did I mention I had a ready, able and willing buyer who could not see 54% of the properties she wanted to see on a Friday afternoon in a buyers market? What do you think?
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