Access to the Home Matters in Selling Expired Listing Leads!
Everyone is busy. That seems to be an overarching fact of our culture today, especially in cities such as Manhattan and Brooklyn. No one’s schedule has a free minute on it. But as you meet with expired listing leads and then clients, you’ll want to emphasize one important feature of selling a home: access. There are four aspects that greatly effect whether or not a listing is top-notch: access, followed by condition, financing, and price. Let’s talk about the first, access, for a bit.
Here are 5 types of access and some of the pros and cons of each!
A lockbox on the door: this method is all about convenience, for the buyer. A lockbox allows the buyer access as soon as they hear about the listing or as soon as they are available to go see it.
A key to the home: in this scenario, the buyer’s agent would have to stop by your office to retrieve a key but it still allows more flexibility for the buyers to go on their time and inspect the home to their heart’s desire. It also allows a little more control from the sellers end as to how many people and how often those people are seeing the home.
Open access with a phone call’s notice: the sellers have to be on their toes (as do you) for this one. And would need to be flexible to show the home with only a phone call’s notice. It means greater exposure but demands much more flexibility in scheduling for you as the real estate professional and the sellers as well (especially if they are still living in the property).
By appointment only: the main pro of this method is for your sellers. If, let’s say it’s 48-hour notice and by appointment only, they would have more time to finish glossing over the home before the buyers come to take a peek. However, a con is that many buyers, being so busy, are trying to find time to see homes on their lunch breaks or while they’re in the area already. So this 48-hour notice wouldn’t work for them and you and your sellers might miss some interested buyers.
Limited Availability: this is the type of access where the home is open for showings a couple days a week or at certain times on certain days. This works for sellers who are still living in the home but who are also busy living lives and can’t show often. However, be wary of this one as it greatly limits the foot traffic you’ll see as many buyers just can’t work with this.
Bottom line here? Access matters. Encourage your expired listing leads that they’ll need to be as flexible and open as possible when it comes to providing access to their home. It will pay off in the end with a quicker sale!
*ExpLiMO provides high quality leads on a daily basis and offers a unique opportunity for Manhattan and Brooklyn real estate agents to prospect for expired listing leads and grow their business exponentially.