Setting Up Showing Appointments & Tours

Looking at homes is always an exciting time for people, and I love being there to assist my clients in the process.  I find that some clients have an excellent understanding of the home tour process and others that will admit they have no idea how it all works.  I encourage all my clients to read through the following points so they will get the most from the experience.

These are the steps you will need to take to have me setup showings for you:

1. Email, call, or submit a list of the homes you would like to tour (MLS#'s or addresses work fine)

2. Let me know which day/s and time ranges you would like conduct the tours.

3. You are done, I handle the rest!

These are the steps I will take to coordinate your showing tours:

1. Print two sets of reports for each listing, one for myself and one for you

2. Import the listings into a spreadsheet (for your use and my own)

3. Route the listings so the showing tour is most efficient

4. Setup individual appointments with the sellers for each property on your list (via the respective listing agents)

5. Take notes when speaking with the listing agent for useful information (i.e. sellers are motivated, sellers are willing to pay closing costs, etc) and obtain special instructions for each home (look out for cats, dogs, etc)

6. Enter the showings into my GPS for navigation and safe driving purposes

Showing Tour Tips

You can setup showings for as few as a single property (an appointment) or several on the same day (a tour).  I typically do not recommend planning to see more than 5-7 in one day for the followings reasons:

• After viewing a handful of homes, it becomes difficult to remember them individually.  They tend to blur together in your mind and I see clients have a hard time trying to recall which homes were which.

• Home touring is more physically and emotionally exhausting then most people expect.  If you are worn out by the time you see the last few homes on your list, you may not give them the same amount of consideration as the first few you look at.

• It becomes difficult to coordinate more than 10 showings in a day because it’s challenging to predict timing for scheduling appointments (I set an individual appointment for each listing).  This is especially true if the homes are spread out geographically.

• If possible, you will want to look at homes in the daylight.  If your showing tour runs past dusk, you won't have a good opportunity to evaluate the exterior and surroundings.

If you are coming in from out of town and have a limited amount of days/time to looks at homes, you may have no other choice but to look at many homes in one day.  If so, here are some things to consider.

• If you have 10 or more properties you want to tour, try to break them up into two days (or more).  Two days of 10 homes is far more productive than one day of 20. (my record is 23 in one day, and I DO NOT recommend it unless you have absolutely no other option).

• Be sure you are fully prepared:

  • Block off enough time for the tour

  • Eat well ahead of time (not a bad idea to bring drinks/snacks).

  • Come well rested and ready to focus

  • Children can become very bored after an hour or more of walking through homes.  I welcome clients to bring their children along, but you may find it less distracting to leave them with a sitter.

Please also remember as a real estate professional I try to do anything I can to accommodate my clients, however I must be respectful to the sellers.

• Some sellers put a lot of effort into getting ready for a showing.  This often includes cleaning the house, trimming the yard, and finding a place for everyone to go for an hour or more while the buyers tour the home.  Therefore skipping a house, or last minute cancellations are considered to be discourteous to the seller.

• When setting up your showings I do my best to estimate time ranges that we will arrive at each house and setup appointments accordingly.  I can't always predict how long a client wants to look at a home (sometimes they want to leave after walking in the door and sometimes they want to spend an hour).  I typically schedule about 10-20 minutes of tour time for each home (not including travel time).