I have a question about selling a home

[Sonya]

For how long should the realtor "book" your home? "Central booking" just called and someone wants to show our house to some interested people for almost 3 hours! Usually in the past when we have gone to peoples homes we have asked for an hour, sometimes half hour. I guess they are going to be out and about and don't know when they can get to our house, but 3 hours seems like a long time. We asked them if they would call the realtor back and see of he could narrow the time span down a bit and haven't heard back. Now, of course, I'm worried. Is 3 hours normal?

 

[Buckalew]

I don't know. It would take 30 mins to check my house out. Unless they were going thru my things...
Sorry. 3 hours seems like a very long time to me.
I hope you hear back from them soon.

 

[BonnieA]

When I was selling my home(s), I remember being given an hour timespan, like between 3 and 4. I never had a 3 hour span. That seems a bit long for you to have to be gone. They should be able to give you a call on their cell phone right before they drop in (in that 3 hour span).

 

[Brisully]

Perhaps they are showing it to more than one party??

 

[Sonya]

It was only one realtor, I would think if he had several parties he would show it all at once. Strange.
Buckalew, our house is only 800 sq.ft., I think they could see it in half an hour too!

 

[Mishetta]

I think 3 hours is a bit much for heaven's sake! I think your R.E. person should contact that other R.E. person & see if they can narrow it down. You can always tell them that you'll be ready to go whenever you need to, so just give a quick holler before coming out. I'm thinking that maybe they are looking at quite a few homes with this particular couple & they don't know if they can get into one & so they move on to the next, or depending how long they take in each house, OR...maybe they are bringing some type of inspector with them? Could that be it?

Truthfully, we've sold 2 homes before & we never left our home for the viewing. We live there. I don't follow them around. I just do whatever I need to do in the kitchen or wherever & they are free to look. Sometimes we have just gone outside (when we lived in CA...we can't do that during the winter in MI!) or putzed around in the garage. So I think you're being very cordial in leaving all together!

Good luck selling your home. I don't envy you doing this while you're pregnant!!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Unless they are so serious they are bringing or meeting a house inspector with them. Is Bob Villa around? Will we see it on This Old House?
We have sold two houses. The last I sold myself.
From my own house experience, generally you are in 15 minutes to an hour. Sometimes if they are wanting to put in a bid, they might sit down with the realator there and fill out the paperwork.
My guess is they are seeing multiple houses and just not sure what their actual time frame will be.

 

[tstobb]

Chances are, they are going to see several houses, not just yours and their schedule may get held up or re-arranged (DW is a Realtor so this is from her experience) and rather than having to call you (or your agent) one or more times to let you know that "We're on our way", they are asking for a longer window of time.

 

[ahutton]

We've never made an "exclusive" appointment for anyone. If more than one realtor wants to show our house at the same time all the better. The only time we've ever left for that long was an open house. Otherwise we've just stepped outside or taken a walk down the block.

 

[bfeller]

We have been transferred several times and only get one week for spouses to come in town and buy new house. I usually request seeing at least 10 homes in a day. I am sure that because of me seeing several houses that it could pose a problem with giving an exact time of arrival. Maybe that is the reason for big time span.....If you can, go see a movie or just wait until the people come and then leave.

 

[Pembo]

I've only ever had a request within an hours time frame. I would have questioned it too!

 

[Sonya]

Arg! Well central booking never called us back so we called them. The realtor never called them back to confirm! So anyway we went ahead and left for the 3 hours. Our problem is that we don't want to leave our cats there and so we need to pack them up and find a place to park that has not very many people to scare them. (indoor cats)
So we come home and find out no one has been there!@$#%$#@#$%^&^&!mad:
There is a message on our answering machine from central booking saying that the realtor cancelled and will rebook later that week. They were supposed to call our cell phone if they needed us but it looks like they really didn't care to do so.
We have never sold a house before and are so confused. I don't think we are asking too much when we want to know what time people are coming over and how long. I think this is sort of rude!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Originally posted by Sonya
It was only one realtor, I would think if he had several parties he would show it all at once. Strange.

I don't think they would do that. They'll take one interested party at one time, and another party at another. Could you imagine seeing a home with someone competing against you? That would be uncorfortable to me.

 

[bfeller]

Sorry, to let you know that after moving 6 times in the last 15 years, I have always found at least one realtor that doesn't show up and they don't bother to call and let you know. I have also experienced them coming 2-3 hours late. Once after 8:00 and my DD was already in bed sleeping. (She was just over 1 /12 at the time)

It has been my experience that realtors are very unprofessional. They believe that once you put your house up for sale then you are at their beck and call 24/7. Because we have moved so often I also will not allow a realtor to show me a house on a spur of the moment. I have been on both sides of the fence and really don't like either side. I must say that there is a minority out there who are working for their client and are very professional about it.

So, as to your quesiton.....Be prepared for anything.....Realtors showiup early, show up late, show up without appointment, show up in driveway and then call you from their cell, and finally to not showing up at all.

 

[Pembo]

Ugh for you Sonya! We had a showing today and I stayed home because the baby was taking a nap. I stayed out of their way but the potential buyer kept apologizing for being there! I just wanted to scream at her...BUY MY HOUSE!!!!

She is very interested according to my realtor. I could hear her making plans for the different rooms. Then I wanted to say, no you can't take that wallpaper down! LOL!!!

Good luck to all of us............

 

[tstobb]

Originally posted by Sonya
. . .They were supposed to call our cell phone if they needed us but it looks like they really didn't care to do so.
We have never sold a house before and are so confused. I don't think we are asking too much when we want to know what time people are coming over and how long. I think this is sort of rude!

It is both rude and unprofessional. I would call the broker of the agency directly to make sure that they know your requests are not being honored. I haven't heard of "central booking" for a real estate agency but I would make sure that they have it in their records as well.