
Once you’ve made the decision to sell your home and you’ve hired your real estate agent to help you, you’ll wonder how much access to your home you want to give potential buyers. Your answer is more important now than it has been in recent years. Here’s why.
At the height of the buying frenzy seen during the pandemic, there was an increase in the number of homebuyers making offers on homes sight unseen. That happened for three reasons:
Extremely low housing inventory, lots of competition from other buyers who wanted to take advantage of historically low mortgage rates, and the general wariness of in-person home visits during a pandemic.
Today, the market is changing and buyers can generally be more selective and take more time to explore their options.
So, to show your home and sell it efficiently, you’ll want to give buyers as much access as possible. Before you let your agent know what works for you, consider these five levels of access you can provide. They are ordered from most convenient for a buyer to least convenient. Remember, your agent will be better able to sell your home if he or she provides the most access possible to buyers.
1.- A lockbox: this allows buyers to view the home as soon as they know about the listing or at their convenience.
2.- Providing a key to the house: this would require your agent to have a key to the property which is convenient for you and the buyer. Usually a key is given when the property is not lived in on a recurring basis or if it is lived in it is always tidy and ready to be shown.
3.- Open access with a phone call: this means that you allow the visit with just a phone call notice.
4.- By appointment only: for example, you may want your agent to schedule a visit at a certain time and give you advance notice. That way, you can prepare the house and make sure you have somewhere else you can go in the meantime.
5.- Limited access: this could mean that you are only willing to have your home available on certain days or at certain times of the day. In general, this is the most difficult and least flexible way to show your home to potential buyers. The sale of a property drags on when access is limited and many good potential buyers are lost.
As today’s real estate market changes, be sure to work with your local agent to give buyers as much access to your home as possible when you sell it.
Access can have a big impact on the sale of your home. Connect with your Realtor today if you’re ready to move this summer.