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Seller Strategies: The Importance of Showing Instructions

2 Comments / Real Estate Education, Seller Information, Videos / Heather Ostrom

Seller Strategies:
the Importance of Showing Instructions

This post was original created back in 2017, but has been revised in 2026.

Those first two weeks your property is active on the real estate market / MLS – are important. It’s when the property is fresh to the market with more buzz and the largest pool of buyer eyes will be drawn to the property. You don’t always have the biggest window to capture the hearts of buyer’s to decide if this is the house to call “home.”In today’s “seller strategy” session, we’re discussing positive ways to improve your pool of potential buyers – by ways of how your “home showing instruction”s are set-up on the MLS (Metrolist / Prospector – main hub for all real estate input in our area – Placer and Sacramento County). There are other ways of course, but this is what we’re tackling in this post.If you don’t understand the pros and cons of home showing instructions when you’re active and on the market and getting ready to entertain buyer showings, be sure to ask your listing agent, or give us a call if you’re looking to interview a listing agent. Steve O and I, are both full time REALTORs®. There’s no other “side hustle” – we’re just REALTORs and primarily listing agents.

Some of the showing instructions in the video may have evolved, but many facts hold true, the easier the home is to see, the easier it is to sell.The more friction and challenges you create, to not allowing your home to be shown, can backfire on you and limit your “buyer-interested” audience.

Some of options (but limited to) showing instruction options:
Vacant with Lockbox
Call 1st Lockbox
Appointment with the Owner
Call Listing Agent
Call Listing Office
Appointment with Tenant
(there are many more, but these are some of the common ones).

There is also a program called “ShowingTime” to assist both buyers and sellers with managing appointments to see the home, blocking off certain times from showings, etc. We can discuss the strategy of using that – yes, it is indeed a really great tool to use, but we do have some downsides that we can discuss in person.

Stay educated and always make smart choices – both in marketing, accessibility (and of course, which listing agents you choose). Short-term discomfort, can possible expand your opportunities to a larger bottom line at the closing.

SAFETY REMINDER: Never allow someone who states they’re an agent, into your home – particularly if there’s no appointment set AND without using the Supra Blue iBox lockbox. That iBox (in the video above) – it tracks the date, time, agent’s name, phone number, company, and email. If you’re in our area and you’re not using the Supra Lockbox – iBox BT LE – you probably picked the wrong listing agent. From a safety standpoint for property access tracking and for showing follow-up, a contractor lockbox (as of 2026) does not do those items.

More about Metrolist MLS and Participants

REALTORs® Steve & Heather Ostrom

Roseville & Rocklin Real Estate

Seller Strategies: The Importance of Showing Instructions Read More »

Smart Home in an Ostrom Home

3 Comments / Agent-to-Agent Education and Helpful Tips, Real Estate Education, Seller Information, Videos / Heather Ostrom

This post needs to be updated * – thank you for your patience! 1/2026

Maybe you’re new to all the “smart-home” technology. Perhaps it scares or overwhelms you? Welcome to the club, the Ostroms are right there with you … We’re in California, and sometimes we see a few things sooner in seller homes than the rest of the country, but there’s a good chance your clients know more about smart-home technology, so let’s get you on a quick start on the Smart-Home highway. Smart-home items are showing up in homes for sale. There’s a lot of information out there, so we’re going to do our best to lay down in a blog post (or two) … also if you’re about to sell your home, start thinking of your “smart-home” exit plan. Fixtures or items attached to the hhome are assumed to state and there’s been changes in recent years about smart-home devices being included in the sale.

Pro-tip: before beginning in the adventure of “smart-home” makeoversand putting a ton of time and money into a system, be sure your internet is fast enough to handle the load and talk to friends so you can learn from their experiences.

We started out small and I am not sure I would even qualify it as smart home devices, but we started small with light bulbs – and we thoroughly enjoy having it. Our kids loved their speaker lightbulb to play their music to – and it was very easy to get it up and running. Not all devices are easy to get set-up as advance warning and some might even have safety warnings for your network.

So after I got back from “CES” (Consumer Electronics Show) with the Coldwell Banker crew and my good buddy, Roy Powell – I came back to my home in Roseville, with a smart-home fire in my heart and was ready to make the plunge into learning more about Smart-Home tools and slowly start adding items to our home system.

We started out with Amazon’s Alexa (which we had bought for ourselves at Christmas – and we have her dialed in for connection to our twinkle lights in the backyard, to ensuring that the front door can be locked, but be aware, Alexa cannot unlock the door for safety reasons).

Pro-Tip with Alexa: “Go in the Amazon Alexa App” and play around. See what you can “sync” up with other devices so you can fully utilize all of the skills for maximum enjoyment. She can do SO much – I lurve her.
Pro-tip with Alexa: If you have Amazon Prime, have fun with the music,
Pro-tip with Alexa: With your iphone, if you want to just play your music on Alexa from your phone, go to “settings,” then to your “bluetooth,” and then select your Amazon component (in our case, it’s “Echo”)
Pro-tip with Alexa: Be sure to go into the app and play around the “Smart Home” option in the drop-down menu (see above) and “Skills” to really maximize the fun and usefulness of Alexa.

Our next piece we added was the “Ring” doorbell. Coming back in to revise and freshen up this post, doorbell cameras can be a contentious issue – so do thorough research for any and all cameras and doorbell systems. Some questions that are good to consider:

What are their monthly subscriptions costs
Do the mutual cameras have any known connectivity issues
Do you need to get any modifications to your internet coverage for all cameras to work? Extenders, connectivity limitations of cameras that make it not worth it, etc.
How is the resolution during the day and night?
Hard wire, battery pack, and solar -pros and cons of cameras
Who can access this camera? IF your cameras are only outside, be aware there is speculation (only) about Ring cameras having third-party access* so if you have cameras in your house, things to think about …
Do you need a bridge to get things to work together?
Get on reddit or reviews to see the feedback on products and brands. I find the “best of the year” posts to be not fully trustworthy on feedback.
Location of cameras should determine their power source, particularly on two-story or high access points for outdoor cameras (don’t ask me why I know now – ha!)
We loved ours when our kids were little (doorbell camera) and they had no phones – they would use it as a way to communicate with us since it’s a two-way microphone.

The next piece, is easily my favorite addition to the home, the Schlage Connect deadbolt (back to revise this post, not sure I would recommend it, but the battery life is solid, but their app is AWFUL), but the doorbell lock is my favorite still! We have three kids, our lives are busy, and we’re REALTORs, our lives are always at a fast pace. There are SO many options for keypad entry, but we went with the highest tier option with security in mind and it’s used in conjunction with a bridge (you gotta research this one, I don’t even know how to explain it). Be sure it’s fingerprint resistant if it’s a finger soft pad entry – that’s my only comment and I recommend having a back up key option (many don’t now and that stinks, IMO). It’s a good backup option in case the battery goes dead. What’s really cool about the lock is that I have it paired with my Ring doorbell and it auto-locks if any movement is on the front porch and my kids forgot to lock a door (or husband). It’s so rad! It’s annoying though when you’re unloading groceries though I set it up through “routines” (which you can do on Alexa, most smart apps with these devices, or via IFFTT). I do not recommend “oil rubbed bronze look” for a lockhandle as it didn’t age well.

Pro-tip: 1. Pay your trusted locksmith to help install or just kick down for the professional installation on this one. You want the auto-lock option moving smoothly and clean. Unless you’re a superhuman tech savvy person. If I wasn’t tech-savvy, I would have paid the Amazon technician to install. In our case, we had our locksmith install the key pad/deadbolt.
Pro-tip: 2. You’ll need to involve a locksmith if you buy online or if you know how to get the deadbolt keyed to your system.
Pro-tip: 3. Stay with the brand of keys you already have in the home (whether Kwikset or Schlage) – so to stay on the same system, work with what you have … or talk to a locksmith before kicking down the big bucks
Pro-tip: 4. The app is a bit rough … get a bridge piece that offers an app to house all your smart home pieces (see below)

Please always understand security or find a friend that gets it – it’s not worth it to have this in place as a security measure and it can be easily compromised whether from a network and bridge standpoint or using a third-party app that might not have the same security as door lock or camera system (products or apps). Our other product we love, but another awful app – our Honeywell smart thermostat. It was recommended to us and it’s great, but another rough functioning app (but better than Schlage). Do know ALL the devices mentioned here – they’re all still going strong and still being used! 1/2026

If you have any questions – hit us up, or if I typed something inaccurate here – correct me. We’re all here to learn and succeed and we hope you enjoy our research here. I had to delete a lot of the links on here as they weren’t functioning, so this page may not be as useful until I do a deeper dive on recommended products.

REALTORs® Steve & Heather Ostrom

Roseville & Rocklin Real Estate

Smart Home in an Ostrom Home Read More »

Best day of the week to list your home for sale

7 Comments / Agent-to-Agent Education and Helpful Tips, Real Estate Education, Seller Information, Videos / Heather Ostrom

Best Day of the Week to List Your Home for Sale

Steve + Heather Ostrom

on Realtor.com Seller Series

Life is all about timing, and it doesn’t change with real estate and listing your home. Each real estate market and area is different, but we have noticed there are definitely better days than others, to list your home. Granted sometimes life doesn’t always play by “ideal rules,” and ultimately, the seller is our boss, so we will always be awesome – no matter what day you’re able to list your home. But if we can have an ideal world, we have strong opinions for homes in Placer County, California to be listed …Our why? Well, check our featured video on REALTOR.com “seller advice video” series. And don’t worry, I’m not quitting my day job for any karaoke work. Along with the three “hot” reasons why in this video, we also have another set of reasons. By default, the offer won’t expire till Monday, unless specifically set to expire before Friday evening. So it gives us a full weekend to be on the market. It’s always nice to have it exposed to the broadest audience, for the largest pool of the best buyers out there – while your home is still “fresh to the market.” Plus, reality check, a lot of folks are on their email – even at work on Friday morning. We like that email showing up in folks’ email boxes Friday morning when they’re setting their schedules.Each home and neighborhood is unique – so let us know if you would like a detailed analysis on your home.

REALTORs® Steve & Heather Ostrom

Roseville & Rocklin Real Estate

Best day of the week to list your home for sale Read More »

Mocha Chip, also know as Mocha or Java (depending on the Ostrom child you spoke with - lots of controversy). He was the best piggie.

Love Where You Live Animal Style

4 Comments / Media Interviews, Videos / Heather Ostrom

So I found this old draft post and it was about comparing the concept of, “Love where you live,” but with animals in mind. At the time of writing the words below, we had a household full of young kids, dogs, guinea pigs, and fish. Life was so busy and a blur. I almost deleted this post, but I got emotional reading it and I found it has some great content that might warm your heart. Enjoy.

Love where you live … Animal Style

“Love where you live” can mean something different to any of us, depending where we are in our lives, our jobs, and those that might be depending on us. It is complex and never a straight answer of “what is love and what level of perfection do I expect to achieve said happiness?”

If one’s living environment isn’t ideal. Stress can set in … we can act out, or we can even shut down. If our home is not close to the grocery store, what are my systems in place for meal planning over a longer period of time, can I get items delivered in a pinch, etc. Some of the stuff we might take for granted in our life, can pose challenges with a change to our living situation (including location and proximity to items).

It can affect us both in success in business, and in life with our mental health and physical limitations to ensure we have time to manage it all.

Animals can also feel the stress of their living situation isn’t large enough, how social are they and do they need to be solo or with a partner, etc. Are they being held enough? What are the physical and social requirements? Are there limitations and what are safe “toys” for them physically? Food and diet quality matters as well. These fuzzy buddies are reliant on their owners to ensure a safe place to live and thrive.

If you don’t like animals (or maybe guinea pigs), this probably won’t be your type of post and wondering how is this on a real estate blog? And no, that “love where you live, animal style” is not a reference to In-N-Out, though we do love their burgers.

Our Guinea Pig Journey in making their house a home!

When we first got our single guinea pig, we were bad about it. We didn’t research the “psychological and physical needs” of a guinea pig.

We started out with the typical “starter” guinea pig cage. It was a good starting place for us – but we sooned learned thanks to Reddit and research that this cage was NOT adequate and that our guinea pig needed a buddy for social. (Did you know it’s illegal to have a single guinea pig in Switzerland?)

My kids … after a year of extensive research on guinea pigs … started wanting more for our sweet Dini (Houdini) and our newly added (at the time) Java Chip / Mocha to the mix (there was a slight controversy to Mocha’s name whether it was Java Chip or Mocha Chip or just simply Mocha).

The girls had big, big dreams for the ultimate bachelor pad. I so wish I had photos of it, but it wasn’t that fancy, but the girls did an incredible job with though towards all variables of entertainment, functionality, joy for the space, and ability to be cleaned easily and without the burden of one-use bedding.

The girls wanted the best for their piggies. Sure it might seem silly to some, but I am so proud of girls, for wanting to make a better space for them

My girls planned extensively how to craft a homemade cage (I initially thought it was nuts) … and finally, both Steve O and I gave in to the idea of a homemade guinea pig cage … Thanks to YouTube … their hints at a “better space for ‘Dini’ only grew. But you know what? That cage was so dang awesome, the girls made it happen.

Steve O took the girls out, to get all the supplies, watched a million more guinea pig blog posts, and YouTube video “how-to” videos … and voila … here we are … they put their dreams into motion for our sweet ‘Dini and Mocha!

I really encourage before embarking on ANY DIY project, research, research, research before adopting or contstructing anything. So many gracious folks share all their ups and downs for you to learn and benefit from their prior journey.

So what did the cage look like, Ostrom?

Gosh, I wish I had some photos of the cage, but I do not … I found one that it KIND of looked like … this photo belongs to DIY Michelle. I’m linking to her post. So check out her page

There’s so many great DIY creators for guinea pig cages.

Our piggie palace palozza was huge – it looked like a model raptor cage from Jurassic Park, minus the electrified perimeter. It was much larger than I envisioned and liked, but you know what – it was the right thing to do and our guinea pigs lived for almost seven years each – which I think is pretty solid. Animals are a responsibility and privilege. It’s our job to be better.

All joking aside … our guinea pigs were out more, they were “pop-corning” (I didn’t know what the heck popcorn meant, until my kids educated me on guinea pig behavior). I wouldn’t have believed it all, till I witnessed it.

The girls are truly our kids – mini-salespeople, trying to make a deal come together and it wasn’t what was best for them, it was what was best for their animal family and others. So proud of them.

For all your guinea pig needs – we’ll direct you to the O-girls. Though, after updating this post in 2026, they’re now in college and now I will try and not cry thinking about how time flies.

We all should be so lucky to love where we live. Including our pets .. if you need help finding a place to love to live … we’re here for you.

ADOPT, Don't SHOP

One other word of advice, update again from 2026 Heather Ostrom, adopt don’t shop. The more I have learned, I had no idea how many guinea pigs are given up. They’re even possibly at your local SPCA – so do your research. If you’re in Roseville / Sacramento region, google “guinea pig rescues.” I found one called Gardener’s Pig Pen – linked here and on the piggie photo. Don’t go to PetSmart. We didn’t start things out the right way, so we hope you can learn from us how to be a better piggie owner and new piggie parent.

REALTORs® Steve & Heather Ostrom

Roseville & Rocklin Real Estate

Love Where You Live Animal Style Read More »

Podcast Ostrom Time with Marguerite Crespillo

7 Comments / Agent-to-Agent Education and Helpful Tips, Loving Placer County, Media Interviews, Podcast, Real Estate Education, Seller Information, Videos / Heather Ostrom

So we have been good friends with the awesome Marguerite Crespillo for years, and she has a fabulous real estate podcast “Real Estate Real World.” Marguerite is a top-producing REALTOR and broker in our area, for years.

Marguerite is a wealth of knowledge and experience, she’s a real estate trainer and coach, and she loves to help others.So, what did we cover in our real estate interview podcast? Well you’re going to need to listen in, and hear the scoop! We covered: marketing, in-town behavior philosophies, agent-to-agent interactions, our love of #OstromOrange, why you rarely see Steve O not in a suit, the issue of low inventory (Placer County), and finally … “best tips for any new real estate agents.”

I truly believe you’ll enjoy, you’ll be educated, and I’m certain you will be entertained, while learning. And we hope you take away a few Awesome Ostrom, RE Nerd Nuggets!

Quick background on Marguerite: She’s a real estate coach and trainer. On Marguerite’s real estate podcast, she has interviewed Hal Elrod, the awesome Sean Carpenter, Tamara Dorris, Bob Corcoran, and Ryan Lundquist (and many more). Since there’s no visual, you can still do work, walk, exercise, drive, and still listen in … I love podcasts!

I can’t thank Marguerite Crespillo of Realty First in Roseville, CA. Thank you for having us on your show.

So listen here – and give us your feedback! We would be honored to have you listen in. (you can listen on the link, and/or go through iTunes and subscribe to Marguerite’s channel). And as my awesome friend and CB trainer, Sean Carpenter always says to all – “Build Relationships, Solve Problems, and Have Fun!”

REALTORs® Steve & Heather Ostrom

Roseville & Rocklin Real Estate

Podcast Ostrom Time with Marguerite Crespillo Read More »

Ostroms Featured on Seller Tips Series for REALTOR.com

4 Comments / Agent-to-Agent Education and Helpful Tips, Seller Information, Videos / Heather Ostrom

Recently we were honored with the opportunity to be part of REALTOR.com’s new “Seller Tips” Video Series under their “News + Advice” drop-down menu on the main site. (“Realtor.com” > “News & Advice” > “Advice” > “Sell”).

We always try to be forward and upfront in our thoughts, with the intent to help our sellers. So we hope you enjoy these videos, and feel free to share the links with friends, that might need some help.

We hope you’re educated on some topics for seller preparation and also that you’re entertained, in an Ostrom-sort-of-way.

To all the sellers that already know how we are, and love us still – thank you for your support. We wouldn’t be here without you. If you’re new to knowing us, whether virtually or in-person and are looking for someone to list your home – know we’ll always be honest, to the point, and always have the mind-set of having you win in the world of home selling (and hopefully in terms of less time on market and higher-price point).

Thank you for watching and thank you for sharing our “seller conversations” – we have three listed below (with hopefully more to come). If we haven’t answered one of your seller questions – comment below – or call or email us.

Video One: Seller Advice – “Awkward Seller Conversations“

Video Two: Seller Advice –“Smells Don’t Sell”

Video Three: Seller Advice –“Three Things Tall REALTORs See, That You May Not …”

If this is your first time visiting our site – welcome … we’re REALTORs Steve and Heather Ostorm in Roseville, CA at Coldwell Banker Realty.

We primarily work with sellers and their listings, and move-up buyers. So we have had a lot of great learning experiences and opportunities to help our sellers. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn’t – but we’re always learning how to be better. But what we’re not is … we’re never afraid to tackle awkward conversations, if it means our seller having a better opportunity for a better experience with selling (and hopefully maximizing their bottom line, to the best of our ability – we want our sellers to win).

REALTORs® Steve & Heather Ostrom

Roseville & Rocklin Real Estate

Ostroms Featured on Seller Tips Series for REALTOR.com Read More »

2016 Real Estate Market Predictions – Roseville + Rocklin, CA

2 Comments / Real Estate Education, Seller Information, Videos / Heather Ostrom

This post and information below is from 2016 – please let us know if you would love a current real estate market update. If you’re looking in Placer County – this is an evergreen post that updates monthly and quarterly

First thing we need to do, is thank our friends and family for an amazing 2015. You are the reason we continue in this business. Thank you for your support and referrals. There’s no greater honor, than to be trusted with your business.

So on to the show … what you’re all waiting for …

2016 Real Estate Market Predictions – Roseville and Rocklin, California.

We quickly review 2015, real estate market patterns we observed, and items we experienced … (and if you are a buyer, be sure to ask what TRID – TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure is before you start your loan adventure – but that’s another blog post, by itself).

So … thank you for watching. We promise you’ll be entertained and educated … always.

If you would like to specifically know about your neighborhood and/or home, and current pricing for your home – give us a call or shoot us an email (info below). We’re happy to provide feedback, always.

REALTORs® Steve & Heather Ostrom

Roseville & Rocklin Real Estate