- We placed a For Sale sign in your yard
- We attached an electronic lock box that will record access to your home
- We placed shoe covers in your home for showings
Congratulations your property is active on the internet!
What does this mean for you? We have full details below.
Related Reading: Steps to Sell a House
Distribution of your listing directly to buyers
Buyers usually have a listing alert set up with certain filters for price, home size, location and other preferences. Your new listing will be emailed to all buyers who have a listing alert that matches your home’s features. The buyer will notify their agent if they want to see your home.
Click here to download the Home Selling Guide
How do showings work?
- Our automated showing service system, ShowingTime, is set up as soon as your listing goes live. Depending on your preferences, you will receive a text, email or phone call to notify you of showing requests and to confirm your availability. It is possible for several showings to be scheduled in the same hour. This should not be a problem for agents.
- Depending on the price range of your home, the first showing can happen the same day the listing is active or it might take a few days.
- As soon as you approve the show time, showing instructions are sent to the buyer’s agent. This typically includes alarm information (just a heads up that agents generally do not do well with alarms), and a request to lock all doors, turn off lights, use shoe covers and to leave a card.
- While agents are expected to leave a card and turn off all lights after showings, it doesn’t always happen. It can be annoying for some sellers when agents forget to turn off the lights, but keep in mind that we want the agents focused on selling your house to their buyers.
- We also request feedback from agents with the comments of the buyers. This information can be skewed at times, but it can give us some insight on what buyers are saying.
Related Reading: Seller Frequently Asked Questions
What time is my house available for showings?
The goal is to make it as easy as possible for buyers to see your home. This means we want to be as accommodating as possible for showings. We understand that certain circumstances make it more difficult to make your home available. If this is the case for you, consider offering showings at certain times on a limited number of days. For example, you could limit showings to Monday-Wednesday from 4-6pm, Thursday 8-12pm, and Saturday 12-8pm. This will give you a bit more predictability for when showings will happen. Let us know what your preferences are before your listing goes live. We will also discuss how long you’ll need to leave the house for showings, as well as plans for removing pets from the home.
Let us know when you are going to be out of town so that we can open up showings. Additionally, tell us if you have a time period when showings just aren’t possible so we can block that time for you. This is especially common for our clients over the holidays when they might have family visiting from out of town.
Note: We are based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. If you are planning to sell your house in a different area, we can match you with an excellent local agent. Give us a call (719-321-0800) or email us (susanna@co-regroup.com) for a referral.
How long will my home be on the market?
It can be really difficult to predict how quickly your home will sell. We will talk about average days on market for a home in your price range to set realistic expectations.
Decoding Buyer Feedback
Buyer Feedback
“The furnace (or other expensive item to potentially replace) is old and they’re just not sure.”
What They Really Mean
The buyer is afraid of major expenses down the road. They are worried that it’s going to cost too much money later and might not be worth it for the price your house is listed at.
Buyer Feedback
“They were hoping for an open floor plan.”
“The floor plan wasn’t right for them.”
“They thought the rooms would be bigger.”
“The rooms are smaller than they thought.”
“They were surprised at the (insert name of something not shown photos).”
What They Really Mean
Is it possible the listing photos are hiding something obvious that people won’t like? We might need to re-shoot the pictures. Sometimes photos are deceiving and can make rooms look bigger than they are. Conversely, pictures sometimes don’t reflect how awesome a house truly is. It’s also possible that the buyer didn’t look very closely at the photos.
Either way, they’re probably disappointed with the reality for whatever reason and it’s unlikely that they will make an offer.
Buyer Feedback
“It was our first time out and they’re just getting started.”
What They Really Mean
They might need to see more homes to understand value. At the moment, they’re not excited enough about your house to make an offer.
Buyer Feedback
“It smelled funny.”
“The pet odor was strong.”
What They Really Mean
You need to clean, throw away air fresheners, and/or remove odor. A clean and fresh smelling home will sell for more money than a home that hasn’t been prepared as well. Every time.
Buyer Feedback
“More work than they expected.”
“Too much wallpaper.”
What They Really Mean
You probably need to consider doing some repairs or updates. It’s hard to get top market value for a house that isn’t updated or will be a looks like a big project for buyers.
Buyer Feedback
“The showing went well.”
“It’s a lovely home. Thank the seller for us.”
What They Really Mean
Who knows what that means! If it’s not followed by an offer it probably means they’re not interested.
Buyer Feedback
“The street was really busy.”
“Didn’t like the apartments behind the house.”
“It’s too close to the (insert name of the something that buyers will be annoyed with-convenience store, school, business, etc.). “
What They Really Mean
Sometimes the location of a house can really surprise a buyer when they pull up to the house. For example, this can happen if your address is on a side street but the interstate is in your backyard. It’s better to confront those issues in the listing description and photos than to surprise people at the showing.
Our team is here for you for every step of your home selling process. Ready to sell your home? Fill out the Seller Profile to get started. Questions? Call 719-321-0800 or email susanna@co-regroup.com.
