Show your home

C - Two Minutes Notice: How quickly could you show your home?

Smart sellers always have their home available to show should the situation arise. This holds true when selling as a by-owner as well as when you’re listed. 

Anytime you decline a short-notice showing, the agent always remarks to the buyers, "Well, I guess they really don't want to sell their home."  

If you get a surprise call during an inconvenient time (kids' bath times, dinner, etc.), then the prospects will have to wait or reschedule. You'll have to be the judge on this.

You don’t need to accommodate buyers who knock on your door. They can come back at an agreed upon time. But you never know when you’ll get a call for a showing. After all, buyers are not being insensitive. They just don’t know your situation. 

Keep your home within 10 to 15 minutes of showing readiness. Develop a credible level of preparedness and you’ll be able to accommodate a call from a drive-by buyer without falling to pieces. You’ll usually get more warning than this, but hey, whatever it takes, right?

 "Is there any way we could see your home?"

There will be those “panic showings.” A buyer or agent could call from a cell phone, having just read your info box flyer and just has to see your home, now .
 
The first thing to do is stall. Give yourself time to complete "the drill". Suggest they view the outside areas, explaining that you need to turn on lights. Actually, if it's getting dark, let them know it just won't work. Inviting strangers in at night is questionable. 

You should have a list of things that should be done to accommodate a quick showing. If you have unmade beds, a sink full of dirty dishes, toys plastered across the floor, and the like, then you need to rethink your commitment to sell. You must keep your home in a state of semi-preparedness so that you can be ready in a matter of minutes.

Anticipate that the inevitable surprise showing is going to happen. Therefore, do not put yourself into a position of having to do any one thing that is going to require more than one minute. The beds should be made every morning, floors swept the night before if needed, kitchen and bathrooms kept clean, etc. 

If you keep the major things under control, then you should have a checklist of the small items that need attending to for a successful showing. Family members could be assigned tasks ahead of time and drills practiced. This will ensure that you don’t have one person with two minutes of tasks while another family member needs over five minutes.

              
 On the Next page let’s look at an example of a “Two Minute Drill”.