Oh, that dreaded conversation. Sign? Yes. Price? Good. All of the decisions have been made…except for one. What about the lock box? What about it? Well…you have to have one. We do? Yes, I’m sorry, you do.
In order to maximize the marketing of your property, you have to use all of the tools available. The lock box is one of those important must-haves. With over 1,600 houses for sale in San Mateo County, you’ve got to eliminate any roadblocks to getting your house shown and thus sold.
The lock box is more than a key holder. It can be set for various schedules. The hours and days for showings can be restricted. Too restrictive and you defeat its purpose.
For those sellers who are home a lot of the day, it can be left loose. That way you can put it out when there’s an appointment and bring it in when you’re home. However, you have to be on your best behavior to remember when there are showing appointments. If you forget, leave it in the house and take off, you’ll set off a frenzy of frantic phone calls. No one will realize it until the agent showing the property is standing outside with their clients trying to figure out where that dang thing is hidden, just to find out it’s hidden inside the house!
One more thing, remember when you have buyers coming. Don’t get caught in the shower!
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January 6th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Hee hee. Fortunately it didn’t happen to me, but to an agent who was showing my listing. I got a frantic call that he had just stepped out of the shower when they were walking into the master bedroom. Oooops! The agent wanted to be sure that I knew they had an appointment.
January 16th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Once a seller husband told me to “go back and see” something in the bedroom wing. What he totally forgot was that his wife was showering and the doors were all open. HELLO! Oh well…
You are so right about the lockbox. When my clients have little tykes at home we’ll try to work out something doable, like “please allow 2 hours notice, show 10am – 7pm only” or some sort of arrangement that’s flexible enough without being offputting.
I sometimes see homes for sale here in Los Gatos or in the San Jose area with no lockbox. Or worse, “all showings through listing agent only”. Guess what? Those homes take 2-3x as long to sell, they ultimately sell for less – and a far higher percentage of the time, the listing agent double-ends the deal (represents both buyer and seller). Ultimately, the agent is the one who benfits in this case, and the seller truly loses!
Great post – very nice blog!!
Mary Pope-Handy