Last minute showings and inconvenient showing times

We just had a seller who was having trouble getting showings on their listing, and therefore their home was taking longer to sell then they expected. I had a chance to talk to them, and looked at their listing and saw the common listing comments "hardwood floors, across the street from a park, remodeled bathroom..." and then I saw it: "No showings without 24 hour notice and no showings between Noon to 3pm."
I was surprised. I asked the seller why that was in there, and they said that they have a 6 month old baby and they don''t want her naps disturbed. They also said that their house was messier and more cluttered than usual because of all the baby gear so it took some time to get the home ready for showings. Being a fairly new parent myself, I tried my best to empathize with the situation. "Mrs. Seller, that is great that you want to make sure your home is in tip, top condition for every showing, but you have to remember the old basketball adage: you miss 100% of the shots you don''t take." To convert to real estate, every showing you refuse means you refuse a potential buyer for your property: "You miss 100% of the offers from buyers you refuse their showing request."
In discussing what had occurred, the seller had also flatly refused some showing requests because they were in the early afternoon nap time. "Did those agents reschedule the showing for another time?" I asked even though I knew the answer. The answer was no, they didn''t reschedule. Like so many properties, there were many other properties in that area and price range that were available. That buyer agent had just scheduled the other properties for their buyer to look at.
I strongly suggested that they remove those showing restrictions from their listing. "But what about the nap schedule and getting the house ready?" she asked. I said that they may get a showing request that falls during those hours but it was probably worth either taking the baby to a friends/grandparents for a visit those days. "When you put showing restrictions on a listing, you are sending a clear message to buyer agents: this showing will be a hassle to schedule. Therefore, they look for other listings to show instead of your home." If your schedule gets interrupted a bunch of days in a row then consider that a good problem to have. Every one of those showings that takes place means you are that much closer to an accepted purchase agreement and no more showings.
The preparation and showing time commitments exist no matter if you are paying an expensive fee to a traditional agent, selling completely on your own, or using BuySelf.com flat fee MLS listing service. There is no denying it is work (except for those rare people that are instinctively neat, tidy, and away from their home for most/all of the time).
This seller was also concerned about last minute showings "What if they call and say they would like to do a showing in 15 minutes?" I said to take those 15 minutes to pack up and do the best you can to get the house ready in that time. If it isn't perfect, it is better to have a showing where the home is a little messy than to not have a showing. Even better, short notice showings are rare because it usually means one of two things: (1) the buyer is a relocation buyer in town who has to buy a home quickly in a few days, and/or (2) a buyer was being shown other homes in the area and said "I like that one, can we see it right now?" Both of these are great situations involving a highly motivated buyer.
It is important to not feel put off by a short notice showing, and to be very friendly and professional with the request. Buyer agents don''t plan to or enjoy making a last minute request, they try to avoid it as much as possible. But if they have a buyer ready to go and buy, they will ask, which is good for everyone in spite of the inconvenience. Most showing requests will give you 6 to 48 hours notice.
So just remember, don''t try to force showings into your own schedule. That is a sure way to spend more time on the market and reduct the chances of showing success. And no matter what you do, don''t tell or suggest that agents come to the open house you have scheduled. The process of selling real estate effectively just doesn't allow for a seller to set a time some Saturday or Sunday and expect a whole herd of motivated and pre-approved buyers to come through. This is an area where traditional agents usually do a good job, if they need to they will hammer the seller to accept showings whenever they are requested.