Once you’ve made the decision to sell your house and have hired a real estate agent to help, they’ll ask how much access to your home you want to give potential buyers. Your answer matters more now than it did in recent years. Here’s why.
At the height of the buying frenzy seen during the pandemic, there was a rise in the number of homebuyers who put offers on houses sight unseen. That happened for three reasons:
- Extremely low housing inventory
- A lot of competition from other buyers wanting to take advantage of historically low mortgage rates
- And general wariness of in-person home tours during a pandemic
Today, the market’s changing, and buyers can usually be more selective and take more time to explore their options. So, in order to show your house and sell it efficiently, you’ll want to provide buyers with as much access as you can.
Here are the ways that we give access to other agents when you list a home with us.
- Supra Lockbox – This is a Bluetooth lockbox that holds a spare key to your home. Only local real estate agents that have been vetted by our local association of Realtors have the ability to open these. Another benefit of this is that we can see exactly who accessed the lockbox and what time it was opened, which helps us keep thorough records.
- Showing Requests - Our MLS uses a platform called ShowingTime to schedule all showings. You can be the one to confirm or decline each showing, while you won't have access that shows you which agent is putting the request in, you do have the ability to see any changes to the appointment in real time (if it needs to be rescheduled.)
- Blackouts - If there are certain days or times that you know you cannot leave your home for a showing - like when your kids get off the school bus, or when you have a big Zoom meeting for work - we can block those days/times off so that you know no showings can be requested during that time.
While it's important to give the buyers as much access as you can while you're trying to sell your home, you can still set boundaries and rest assured that we're doing everything in a safe way.
Bottom Line
Access can have a big impact on the sale of your house. Let’s connect today if you’re ready to make a move this spring.
