$235.50 Per Showing (or Thereabouts)

How Much Does a Showing Cost?

Showing a home doesn't cost money, does it?

It does if you're a Realtor.

My cost accounting expertise -- such as it was -- is long gone, but that doesn't mean I don't have a rough sense of how much each showing costs me.

Whereas listing agents -- representing Sellers -- typically spend more out-of-pocket (for things like staging, photography, ads, etc.), Buyer's agents mostly invest time.

I don't know about other Realtors . . . but my time is pretty valuable.

Here's how I break down what goes into an individual showing:

A. Time

--Actual showing: 1 hour
--Travel time, to and from: 20 minutes
--Time to screen active listings, run by client (or screen client suggestions): 15 minutes
--Time to set up showing; prep for client, i.e., photocopies of MLS listing, run Mapquest for directions (if applicable); give feedback afterwards: 30 minutes

Total time: approximately 2 hours

B. Out-of-Pocket

--Gas: $5 (1/8 of tank); Photocopies: $.5

C. Overhead

--% of my annual state license; monthly Edina Realty fee (for my Web site, ProKit, desk fee); annual Realtor fee and continuing education; car expenses (lease payment, depreciation, etc.); monthly Realtor access key payment; etc.

Call it $30.

Not all Realtors put a dollar amount on their time, but I do: $100 per hour (and a bargain at that: as an attorney/CPA, I billed out at $175 an hour -- almost 20 years ago!).

Grand total for all the above: well over $200 per showing.

No wonder Realtors try to be efficient establishing their clients' wants and needs, zeroing in on the listings that are the closest match.