Seller Strategies: The Importance of Showing Instructions • Steve + 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

Ryan Lundquist

February 16, 2017 at 8:49 am

Great stuff. I always enjoy your videos. I agree the first two weeks are definitely important. When I pull neighborhood stats I usually see homes that sell within the first 30 days command a higher sales to list price ratio compared to properties that sit on the market for 30-60 days and 60-90+ days. Properties simply tend to be able to command higher prices while the listing is fresh and the seller still has more power to negotiate. If a property sits on the market for too long, buyers gain more power.

Heather and Steve Ostrom
February 16, 2017 at 9:05 am

Thanks @ryanlundquist:disqus – and I always love your stats and data. You are amazing. So true with the shift in power …

Steve + Heather Ostrom