Selling Your Chico Home: Lock Boxes

January 27, 2009

Having your house on the market involves a certain invasion of your privacy.  This bothers some people more than it does others.   You can count on real estate agents previewing  your home.  This is where they come see the home first hand with one or more clients in mind before they bring clients through. Many real estate agents want to filter the homes they recommend their buyers.  You can also expect real estate agents showing your home to buyers with some regularity.

While you want to make your home reasonably accessible to the real estate professionals and their prospects, you don’t want to run the risk of stepping out of your shower just as a broker is ushering in buyers.

In many areas real estate agents use a handy little tool of the trade called a “lock box”. When a property is occupied, the agent first calls to let the owner know when they will be coming by. If no one is at home, the agent can get into the house with a key stored in the lock box. 

You can leave special directions for the other realtor (showing yoru home) to give to your realtor to go by when using the lock box.  Some common directions include: “Please allow the owner at least an hour notice for a pristine showing and to allow time to remove pets” or “Please call and if you do not receive an answer feel free to come by” or “Please no showings before 8:00 AM or after 7:30 PM due to small child”.  If you are a seller trying to decide what to say, be reasonable but give clear guidelines if you don’t want to chance having potential buyers walking in on a mess in the kitchen, bedroom, etc.

The other extreme of accessibility is to require a day’s notice before a showing, and to insist that your real estate agent be present at each one. This will eliminate a lot of the inconvenience to you, but it will probably also eliminate a lot of showings of your house.

Whatever arrangements you work out, keep in mind that the easier you make it for real estate agents to open and show your home, the easier it will be to sell it quickly.

Take a look at my market report for today!
http://www.ryanvaught.com/chicomarketreport

Currently Ryan has about 30+ listings in inventory, and has already sold 5 homes in 2009. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions about Chico area real estate.

Interested in learning more about the Chico area or Ryan?
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Keller Williams Chico CA
Office Phone: (530) 343-2959

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