The truth is… your real estate agent doesn’t need any help.
Seriously. It’s the opposite of what most people would think. Common sense seems to indicate that a seller who stays on the premises, can answer questions, plus provide information that the seller’s real estate agent might not know.
But it doesn’t work that way — or very well, at least. Prospective buyers who drop by during an open house, or during a showing by your real estate agent, don’t want your viewpoint. They want neutrality. And the best thing you can do is give it to them. Here’s why you should vanish during showings.
Buyers don’t require a tour guide
That’s why your real estate agent conducts the showing of your home. Even though you hope buyers have a productive visit that prompts interest and offers, this is purely a business exercise. You want to sell a home. Someone else wants to buy one.
Buyers don’t care that it’s where you raised well-adjusted children. That it was yours and your spouse’s or partner’s first home. They’re looking at it through the frame of their own lives. Any tale you tell of yours is a distraction.
Real estate agents know the drill
If you chose the right agent, he or she has a track record and knows the local market like a road map. Your agent knows how to sell homes like yours. He or she has spent the necessary investigative time to learn your home, its pluses, minuses, upgrades, fun features and best-selling points.
A good agent puts prospective buyers at ease when they arrive and drops all the important crumbs above. They’re more than ready for questions. Plus, if they can’t answer something, they’ll get the info from you later and forward it to the questioner.
You’re a wet blanket
No doubt you’re fun, cool person who only wants to sell your existing home so you can buy or build a new custom Florida home. But a homeowner’s presence complicates the dynamic between a real estate agent and prospective buyers.
You’ve probably been observed by someone while doing something — perhaps a professor while taking a college exam, or a security guard while shopping in stores — so you know how uncomfortable that can be even if you have the best intentions.
Most buyers feel the same way. They don’t want to tour a home with the owner present. Some may feel as though the owner is anxious about their reaction or hurrying them, and those are only two negative vibes that an owner’s presence can prompt.
Buyers want the time and freedom to reach their own conclusions. Your real estate agent is a neutral guide who can speak for you and relay any questions from a potential buyer.
Your time is better spent at the grocery store, the kids or grandkids’ youth-league games, or running errands. Or, grabbing lunch with friends. Go!
seller’s real estate agent might not know.
