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Steve + Heather Ostrom

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Seller Strategies: The Importance of Showing Instructions

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

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
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REALTORs® Steve & Heather Ostrom

Roseville & Rocklin Real Estate

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Buyers
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Coldwell Banker Realty

916-308-2446 • Homes@RosevilleAndRocklin.com • • 2200 Douglas Blvd Building B, Suite 200, Roseville, CA 95661 • CALBRE# 01344154 • #01899313

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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 /
best day of the week to sell your home

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.
footer ostrom steve heather coldwell banker realty

REALTORs® Steve & Heather Ostrom

Roseville & Rocklin Real Estate

Call
Buyers
Sellers
Contact Us

Coldwell Banker Realty

916-308-2446 • Homes@RosevilleAndRocklin.com • • 2200 Douglas Blvd Building B, Suite 200, Roseville, CA 95661 • CALBRE# 01344154 • #01899313

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The Importance of Great Photos for Seller Marketing

3 Comments / Real Estate Education, Seller Information, Videos /

So you’re starting to research selling your home. Where do you start?

There’s so much to consider when hiring a listing agent. 

Typically, one of the first questions we’re asked is, “What is your past and recent work experience?” A great question, and that way you know the listing agent is well-versed, current to real estate changes and knows what’s going on in the market, and qualified for selling your home.

So what’s the action often forgotten by sellers, before they hire a listing agent … 

We believe it’s “photo interviewing” their listing agent. What’s a “photo interview?” We define it as a seller requesting to see the listing agent’s current or recently sold listings “online,” and seeing how their photos look and are displayed. How was the lighting, quality, cropping, and visual interest of the photos? Were there enough photos, and how was their quality?

It breaks our heart to see awful photos or even NO photos online, of homes that we know are gorgeous (regardless of price range). So we want to empower sellers to ask the right questions. And more importantly with bad or no photos, you’re risking frustrating or turning-off buyers. Do you want to risk this?

Listen in on our interview with one of our photographers, Trevor Jobson, with Trevor Glenn Photography.

Our mixture of excellence in sales, paired with quality marketing and graphic design background, equals success and a happy experience for our sellers. 

Photos sell your home during the day and at night – when buyers are searching online. Do you want to take the risk of not maximizing your audience that might be interested in your home by not having amazing photos?

Click the Photos Above to View Trevor’s Photos for Steve Ostrom

View Trevor’s Samples for Listing Agent Steve Ostrom

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Steve Ostrom is an experienced listing agent, with an excellent selling record both in time on market, sold price, and also in his negotiation skills. Heather Ostrom is an experienced and successful graphic designer and REALTOR. She’s spoken on numerous real estate tech panels on her marketing approach and experience.

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Need to Sell Your Current Home before Buying the Next: Contingent Sales

See More of Trevor’s Real Estate Photography and Design

Property Questions or Showings?
916-308-2446 – Homes@RosevilleAndRocklin.com
REALTORs Steve + Heather Ostrom

See more informative posts at: 
www.RosevilleAndRocklin.com – Roseville and Rocklin Real Estate + Lifestyle

Author: Heather Ostrom, Real Estate Marketing – REALTOR

Steve Ostrom, Primary Listing Agent + REALTOR – 916-308-2446
RosevilleAndRocklin@gmail.com – CBPlacerRealEstate@gmail.com
Coldwell Banker  – Roseville, CA – CALBRE# 01899313 + 01899313
2200 Douglas Blvd B-200, Roseville, CA 95661

Learn more about listing your home with us!

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Being Prepared for the Appraiser

3 Comments / Appraisers or Inspectors, Real Estate Education, Videos /

REALTOR Steve Ostrom talks with Appraiser Ryan Lundquist about the agent perspective and the appraiser perspective about an agent meeting the appraiser at the property, at the time of appraisal with paperwork on comparables (called comps) and giving insight to those comparables which may not be readily available on the internet or know because a home may not have been on the market that long.

Ryan also explains his thoughts, on the best approach, what to say and what not to do as an agent … it gives sellers a good perspective on what we do as listing agents, but also what we as agents, are dealing with when approaching an appraiser. Each appraiser is different and will have a different take on the listing agent meeting the appraiser to discuss comps …

Give us your thoughts? What do you think?

Thanks Ryan for your interview, as always! It’s always great to get another person’s perspective so we can stay fine tuned.

Ryan Lundquist
ryan@lundquistcompany.com
TEL: 916-595-3735
FAX: 916-361-1964
@SacAppraiser on Twitter
FB – https://www.facebook.com/SacramentoAppraiser

Coldwell Banker Sun Ridge • 4011 Woodcreek Oaks #110 Roseville 95747

Visit our Real Estate Educational Library – RosevilleAndRocklin.com

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