Twenty Houses In One Day? Girl, You Must Be CRAZY!!

As usual, it depends. When I was looking at houses when we moved here, I was fine with seeing a lot, that is my profession and I can handle it. Would the same apply to a young family with two small children in tow? No.

I think making arrangements to show 20 houses in one day to a client would be quite difficult, especially if many of them aren't vacant. Come to think of it, I'd rather show 20 vacant houses than have to arrange showing appointments with 10 different sellers, since sometimes coordinating the windows of availability can be a daunting task. :)

Logistically, this is a nightmare....Let's not even discuss the practicality of absorbing what is in 20 homes in one shot.  What about the appointments.  I find that  the timing is the least reliable towards the end of a tour.  By house #20 there are bound to be signficant delays and issues.  This is just crazy.

HAHA! Ditto for me on number three! I couldn't agree more though 20 houses in one day is kind of excessive! I mean if they tell you where and what price and you go through and find the cream of the crop it shouldn't take anywhere near 20 houses! Thanks for the laugh!

twenty is a non starter

nope

not gonna be working with you

on our buyer consultation i'm gonna find out what you want and show you that

and that only...

i'm not a tour guide

gas is four bux a gallon

how about three good ones you will have hard time choosig between?  that's what I do...

Twenty houses in one day. That is way too much and everyone will be grumpy because guaranteed it is not going to go smoothly unless they are all vacant.

I like #3! I feel the same way when I show clients. I'm not keen on awkward silent moments so if need be I fill them with chatter. Perhaps I shuold rethink that and figure out if I am talking too much to them.

We have many relocations (for new job positions) in to the West Michigan area.  Because we have an eclectic community 20 in day is not uncommon.  Most of our Buyers only make 1-3 trips in to the area before they purchase.  The Buyers receive a binder with pens, maps and listing cards.  They drive(to become familuar with the area) and they make notes during the drive, we always have a lunch break for regrouping. 

I am not sure I have the stamina to show 20 houses in one day and remember the homes.....

I like the way you think, but how do you convince the buyer of all this?

buyers tell me what they want...

we all look online...

pick 10-20 that look good...

do it in one day...

ususally... the buyers change their search parameters (due to what they are actually seeing rather than photos/exagerated descriptions) before 10 are seen...

re-examine mls...

pick 10 more...

see a few and re-schedule for next day or so to see remainder...

in the mean-time... always re-examining the mls...

always find a few more...

see 10 more...

probably will have one under contract...

.

.

1) buyers change their ideas many times after they see a bunch...

2) houses look nothing like their pictures/descriptions... WE HAVE TO SEE ALOT!!

3) THE BUYERS NEED TO SEE many of what they don't want so they really know/understand what the DO want...

4) all of you who say you show 5 then they pick.... i 100% guarantee you that the majority of these buyers WHEN SHOWN 10 more will find something they like better.... 5????  really??? whose needs are you serving??

.

.

20 homes with similar chracteristics in the same market area in my locale in unheard of. Nevermind the nightmare logistics, can't they narrow down their top 5-7 and we see them first?  

I think you won this debate....but it was great fun.

As a buyer, my first time out was about 15 houses, but that's because I limited my list from MLS info from a starting point of about 50.  I had a 3 hour drive each way to look, so I wan't going to go back more than I had to.  I knew right away if I liked a house or not and it only took us about 4 hours to go through them (most were in the same neighborhood.)  I had to go back 2 more times before I found the house (offered on one the first time I went back, but lost it to a bidding war), but I only had to look at 2-3 the last two times. 

My magic number is six homes to show for the same reasons others have listed.  Anything over that is for someone who has never been in the area and doesn't have anyone to refer an area.  We may really be looking at areas and how they relate to the metro area.  We can find similar homes in different neighborhoods.

No no no. I won't do it. Not 20. My record is 12 and that had to be done. Clients came into town from Tennessee and had to go back in 2 days. I was booked for the first day, so we had to see them all the second day. The last one we saw, they bought. Had to look at the outside yard and roof with my high powered flashlight. Sometimes it works that way. Showing 7 I think tomorrow.

I know this debate went on three months ago, but here is my two cents:

I'm actually a little surprised at everyone's responses here. As far as #34 - Green Mountains comment that "If you have to show someone more than 5 properties you truly don't understand your buyer's needs" I completely disagree with.  Maybe it's different markets, but in my area there are a gazillion homes for sale in any given criteria and there is really no way to "narrow down" without seeing many of them.  They may be the same house but have a different back yards, be in a better subdivision, have different interior finishes, etc.  I mentioned this to The Christiansen Team already, but I do mostly only do these marathon days with out of state buyers, but whenever I do do these showings we put an offer in quickly, instead of a few a day for weeks or months. Local buyers can easily weeed out homes by driving by them first - relocating buyeres not as much.

#17 has it right on.  Thanks for the blog post!