What's a "Preview"?

Casing a Home in 10 Minutes Flat
(In a Good Way)

One of the many, behind-the-scenes things that good Realtors do for their clients is preview.

Whereas a showing is when a Realtor views a for-sale home with their client, a preview is when they look without the client along.

Schedule permitting, I preview as much as I can, for two reasons:

One. It saves me time.

Within 5 minutes of stepping foot in a home, I can tell whether the home is more or less than billed on MLS; whether the floor plan is coherent; and how updated the home is (memo to Realtors: the homes that exceed expectations sell).

I can also note any obvious deal breakers not disclosed on MLS -- like, the half-acre lot is actually a steep hill that stops at the home's back door.

If the home is still in the running, I then note how well it meets my clients' criteria.

Four bedrooms up? Check.

Bigger, updated Kitchen? Check.

Relatively modern, open floor plan? Check.

And so on.

In an age of instant, ubiquitous information, one of the big surprises is how much is not apparent online.

Best of Class

Two. It saves my clients time.

One of the most helpful things a Realtor can do for their busy clients is to synthesize and summarize what could otherwise be an overwhelming number of choices.

So, instead of showing clients 20 (or 50) homes in Minnetonka and Plymouth selling for $500k- $550k with around 3,500 FSF, I can show them the 4-6 standouts (and there always are).

The result of strategically previewing -- at least if the Realtor's good, and knows their clients -- is a faster, better housing decision.

Puffing vs. Lying

Subjective vs. Objective

See if you can spot the difference between the following, two groups of statements:

Group 1: "The prettiest house on the block!"; "character-filled"; "one of Southwest Minneapolis' most desirable neighborhoods"

Group 2: "2,650 finished square feet"; "1 1/2 story bungalow"; "4 BR/3BA"

If you can't tell, the first group consists of subjective statements; the latter, objective.

I just previewed a Southwest Minneapolis home that the Realtor billed as 1 1/2 stories.

Unh-unhh.

The "second story" was an unfinished, basically inaccessible attic.

Is my client going to buy it? Probably not, because I'm not going to show it to them.