- A SOLD Sign Is Not Without Effort
In real estate parlance a ready, willing, and able buyer is a buyer who is prepared to comply with terms and conditions of a purchase contract and has the financial ability to complete the transaction.
On the other side of the transaction is the seller, who many times in today’s marketplace do not seem ready, willing or able to participate in the transaction.
Let’s start with the seller who imposes stringent and restrictive showing instructions on agents and prospective buyers. In the past several weeks I have encountered several instances of sellers denying appointments in many strange ways.
During a rather bizarre appointment attempt to visit a rowhome in the city I knocked on the door, the homeowner answered, and I introduced myself and my client, and said we were here to see her home, we had a confirmed appoitment – to which she replied. “This house is not for sale”. My client points up to the rather large FOR SALE sign hanging on the porch and says I am looking for a home and would like to come in – request denied – we were turned away.
There are not many certainties in life and real estate, but one thing is most rather certain, the person who buys your home will definitely want to see it, and you never know beforehand just who that buyer is going to be. As a seller you must be willing to be flexible in your showing your home. In a time when even an getting an appointment is a cause for celebration for many sellers, you just can not afford to deny showing opportunities, period.
Three weeks ago I was showing homes to a client from out of town, a cash buyer who had sold his home, living in temporary housing, and was the model of the definition of ready, willing, and able. It was approximately 10:00 AM on a Thursday and we were reviewing the listings we had already scheduled to visit for the day. We decided to take a further look at some additional homes that we could take a look at, and came across one that he thought looked promising. I called an requested an appointment for 4:00 PM later that day – 6 hours later, not unreasonable! After about 10 minutes I received a call back from the scheduling service that the seller denied the appointment, and said it would be more convenient for her if we could schedule the appointment for Saturday afternoon. Well it was decidedly most inconvenient for my client, and he thus struck that home off the list of potential homes, he never did go see the place.
There are a number of listings that carry 24 notice, overnight notice, no showings between certain hours, etc. and terms that I consider unreasonable. These terms can have a very detrimental effect on the number of potential buyers that will want to visit your home. You can not depend on agents and clients to plan showings many days in advance and acquiesce to your terms, many requests are spur of the moment and you must be ready to show you home on a fairly short notice.
I think it is reasonable to impose a two or three hour notice on showings, but beyond that you are risking turning away a potential buyer that in all likely hood will move onto something else and not ask to see your property in another go around. The age of instant consumer gratification is upon us, and this trend extends into real estate.
Make sure you are a ready, willing and able Seller!
Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086
