{"id":2065,"date":"2007-10-18T09:26:33","date_gmt":"2007-10-18T16:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=2065"},"modified":"2007-10-18T09:27:13","modified_gmt":"2007-10-18T16:27:13","slug":"your-house-cant-be-sold-if-it-cant-be-shown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2065\/your-house-cant-be-sold-if-it-cant-be-shown\/","title":{"rendered":"Your house can’t be sold if it can’t be shown"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic<\/i> (permanent link<\/a>). I’m posting it now in the hopes that Realtors reading this will email it to all their sellers. I’m showing a lot lately — curse this slow market! — except I’m not because I can’t get into the houses:<\/p>\n

 
Your house can’t be sold if it can’t be shown<\/b><\/p>\n

Here’s a simple fact about the sale of your home:<\/p>\n

If I can’t show it, I can’t sell it.<\/p>\n

When I’m working with buyers, the ideal home is listed this way: Available, lockbox, vacant. The house is empty of occupants — although it would be great if it were staged — but there’s an MLS lockbox so I can get in with my party. I don’t want to have to call the lister, and I don’t want to talk to the seller. I just want to show the house.<\/p>\n

The next easiest homes to show are not very easy to show: Alarm activated. Now I have to talk to the listing agent — who may be unavailable. I can’t go into the house until I hear back from the lister, which might be hours too late. This is not the worst form of seller self-sabotage, but it can be more than enough to sell another home instead.<\/p>\n

What’s worse than an activated alarm? How about no lockbox? Now I not only have to make contact with the lister, we have to coordinate with each other. By-appointment-only listings might make sense at $3,000,000. At $300,000, you’re getting in your own way.<\/p>\n

Buyers hate occupied homes. They feel they are invading your privacy at the same time you are invading theirs. Occupied homes are almost always stuffed with stuff, which makes it difficult for buyers to imagine their own stuff in its place. Still worse, half the time, the sellers will be hovering around. Even if they’re not trying to eavesdrop, buyers will feel that they are.<\/p>\n

Pet advisory is another obstacle to be overcome. Now, even if the sellers have sense enough to be out of the house, I have to protect my party from the pets — Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). I’m posting it now in the hopes that Realtors reading this will email it to all their sellers. I’m showing a lot lately — curse this slow market! — except I’m not because I can’t get into the houses:  Your house can’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-marketing","7":"category-real-estate","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4145,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4145\/every-picture-tells-a-story-orphaned-lockboxes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2065,"position":0},"title":"Every picture tells a story: Orphaned lockboxes…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I see this all the time lately. The blue lockboxes are Supra boxes. They cost about $75 each. The vendor box and the front blue box belong to the current lister of the home. We do our homes this way, too, with a Supra box for Realtors, appraisers and inspectors\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1421,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1421\/a-move-towards-mediocrity-and-beyond\/","url_meta":{"origin":2065,"position":1},"title":"A Move Towards Mediocrity – And Beyond","author":"Doug Quance","date":"May 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Many Agents Choose To Be Less Than They Can Be In an industry overflowing with too many agents chasing too few opportunities, one might think that this level of competition would cause an overall increase in the professionalism and dedication of its principals. I submit to you - that's not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3261,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3261\/if-you-commit-yourself-to-delivering-a-premium-listing-trying-to-cheap-it-out-will-instruct-you-in-the-previously-unknown-23rd-immutable-law-of-marketing-anti-marketing-is-worse-than-no-marketing\/","url_meta":{"origin":2065,"position":2},"title":"If you commit yourself to delivering a premium listing, trying to cheap it out will instruct you in the previously-unknown 23rd Immutable Law of Marketing: Anti-marketing is worse than no marketing","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Idea-by-idea, house-by-house, we are writing the book on the art of listing premium-priced homes for sale. The things we do are often beyond useless at lower price points, and we're not a part of the canapes and cocktails circuit where high-end homes are sold. But for executive homes, luxury homes,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7532,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7532\/put-down-the-pipe-and-step-away-from-that-lease-agreement\/","url_meta":{"origin":2065,"position":3},"title":"Put Down The Pipe – And Step Away From That Lease Agreement","author":"Doug Quance","date":"March 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday's Unrealistic Sellers Are Today's Unrealistic Landlords Just when we thought we had finally convinced all potential sellers that the real estate market was in a crisis - and that realistic pricing was the only way that a sale could be consummated - we now must deal with the unrealistic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3074,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3074\/listing-remarks-haiku\/","url_meta":{"origin":2065,"position":4},"title":"Listing Remarks Haiku","author":"Cheryl Johnson","date":"May 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I finally commenced a project I have been contemplating for some time:\u00a0 I started printing out pages of property description text from various Bloodhound Realty single property web sites to put into a three ring binder, so I can refer to them for inspiration on those days that I struggle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Casual Friday"","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12805,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12805\/an-apology-to-redfin-com-ceo-glenn-kelman-i-bought-my-house-on-freephoenixmlssearch-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":2065,"position":5},"title":"An apology to Redfin.com CEO Glenn Kelman: “I bought my house on FreePhoenixMLSSearch.com!”","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I owe Glenn Kelman an apology. When Redfin.com was young -- which is to say four long years ago -- I swore that Glenn's assertion that people would buy homes like books on Amazon.com was simply absurd. I have moved people into rental properties sight unseen, and quite a few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flourishing"","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}