As buyer agents, we often may feel obligated to serve our clients' best interests. By showing them as many properties as we can in a single day, we may have a sense that we're doing them a good service. It's just part of having a strong work ethic, isn't it?
For argument's sake, let's just say that showing more than five properties in one afternoon is reasonable number. By showing them more than five properties, we can help them see a lot of properties in a relatively short time period in order to help them make comparisons. But is that really always the best thing to do? Is there a magic number of properties that are optimum for clients?
It really just depends on the individual clients. Even though many properties in the Central Virginia Regional Multiple Listing Service (CVR MLS) may fit all or almost all of the criteria for a particular client, is showing a lot of properties in one day necessarily the best thing to do---especially for someone who already happens to live in the same geographic area like Metropolitan Richmond Virginia, which is where I live?
Yesterday, I showed a total of nine properties to a local client in Chesterfield County, and all those properties were located in that same county. She also brought along her adult daughter and five-year-old granddaughter.
On the other hand, Chesterfield County is rather large---about 437 square miles. Consequently, I happened to clock about 97 miles showing nine homes in a single county. Maybe we still could have managed to get a lot accomplished by viewing six properties instead of nine, but my client still expressed gratitude for me showing them all these properties that afternoon. Some agents manage to show their clients even more the nine properties in one afternoon, but how many showings would be just the right amount?
Granted, we fortunately did take a late lunch break after they looked at four properties. It was a good idea to break up the day that way. I also asked for and received client feedback after she and her family viewed each home.
As long as my client is happy with seeing those nine properties in almost four and half hours, then I'm happy. So far, it feels like time well spent. Two of those nine homes attracted some serious interest from my client.
However, yesterday afternoon happened to be the first afternoon of showing her and her family single family homes. How many properties are the magic number? Only time will tell, and she already is enthusiastic about looking at more!
Showing homes or other properties is just one important function of a real estate buyers agent.
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