The "Due Diligence" Showing

I Guess That Qualifies as Feedback

I was wondering what was up with an agent who showed a couple of my listings near Cedar Lake in Minneapolis in the span of a few days last week.

The feedback was quick and generic, and there was no follow-up interest.

The "mystery" was cleared up this morning when I saw the agent's new listing on MLS, in the same area and general price range as mine.

Rules of the Game

Before Sellers get up in arms over the foregoing, two caveats: 1) an agent who is "just" previewing today may have a real, live Buyer tomorrow -- or work with a colleague who does.

That's especially the case if they're about to list a competing property and pull in a ton of prospective Buyers looking for a home in the same general area and price range -- Buyers who, for whatever reason, may not be candidates for the agent's new listing, but might be for yours.

If your home is for sale and on the market, there really is no such thing as bad exposure.

Caveat #2: your agent likely did the same thing before your home came on the market.

By way of clarification, most agents who want to see a home, but aren't actively working with a suitable Buyer, will set up the showing as a "preview."

That way, the home owner can hang around, and doesn't need to go through the fire drill of getting everything shipshape for an actual showing.

That's an especially nice courtesy in Minnesota around, oh, January.

P.S.: I am careful to coach my selling clients not to volunteer anything to the previewing agent if they happen to be around -- like, how many recent showings there have been, feedback from same, etc.