Is Accushow Really The Best Show?
August 20th, 2009 categories: For Sellers, Rants & Riffs
In past posts, I have talked about the importance of making sure your Honolulu home is really easy to show. There are several components to this equation.
1. You, the homeowner, must be willing to show your home on as short a notice a humanly possible (same day with an hour notice will get you many more showings).
2. Use of a lockbox. Lockboxes give you the security of knowing that your keys are in a safe place and available for agents appointed showing times. A listing with a lockbox will get many more showings than a listing without one and here is why. If you don’t have a lockbox, one of two things will have to happen, your broker will have to meet every showing or a showing agent will have to pick up keys from your broker. In each case, the additional complexity will chase buyers and their brokers to properties that are easier to see.
3. Your Realtor and their system for setting up showings. I have found that the sooner we can respond to showing request the more showings we will have of our listings. At KU Realty, we set up our showings and it is our team’s goal is to make it as easy to show your property as humanly possible.
This brings me to a recent experience with a new showing system called Accushow. In a nutshell, the company is trying to create a business out of setting up showings for Realtors and the properties they have for sale. In concept, it sounds like a great business. However, if my experience was any indication, in practice Accushow may create more issues than they solve. The following is a chronology of the events that led to this blog post.
1. I found a property that I wanted to show one of my buyers.
2. I called the listing broker and received a voicemail that gave me a menu of services. One of the options was to set up showings I should press 3. I pressed the appropriate number and was transferred to Accushow’s phone system. Accushow then gave me six (6!) options and since I wasn’t a member, I decided to go to their web site to do their easy registration.
3. At their web site I was prompted to give them my information, create a user name and password. Then I felt I was ready to attempt to set up a showing.
4. After requesting my showing, the site informed me that they could not confirm the showing until I logged in (they would send me an email so I could login).
5. Being the antsy guy that I am, since I was now registered with them, I called their toll free number to see if a human could help me set up my showing. The call was answered by a digital voice that told me I was calling outside their business hours! As it turns out, their office closes at 3:00 Hawaii time (apparently they don’t yet have enough users in Hawaii to justify working within out business day).
6. Since my showing request was for the afternoon of the next day, my only option was to wait for their email confirmation. The confirmation came, sort of, I checked my email at 6:00 the following morning and the email told me I needed a special code to open the lockbox, but the owner had confirmed the showing.
7. I called the toll free number and finally had a real human to talk to and I was told immediately that I could not show the property because the instructions required 24 hours notice and since it was the same day the showing window had closed. Being the persistent guy that I am, I told the person that their email had confirmed the showing and that I just needed the code for the lockbox. After a long pause, the person then told me that I had to get the code from the listing agent.
8. Since it was the early a.m., I waited a little while and called the listing agent. He was gracious enough to give me the secret code.
9. About a half hour later, I received a call from cheery person at Accushow who was excited to let me know that my showing had been confirmed. I was all too happy to thank them and let them know that it was already confirmed via an email.
10. Adding insult to injury, note that this part is not Accushow’s fault, in another half hour a bubbly person from the company called to confirm that the showing had been cancelled! By this point, I was a little disoriented and about to go out of my mind, but my inner chi prevailed and I was able to decipher that the owner had just emailed the company to let them know that they no longer desired to have the home showed.
Outside of the cathartic practice of writing this synopsis, here is my point! If you are a seller, be sure to confirm what system your broker uses for setting up showings. If they use Accushow, you may want to use a Realtor that has a different system or request that the Realtor not use Accushow with your property. It is my belief that the complexity of the Accushow system will mean fewer showings for your home (if there are other homes that can be more easily shown). Fewer buyers through your home means less demand and lower demand can lead to less money in your pocket.
If you are a Hawaii Realtor considering implementing the Accushow system, I advise you to take heed. Given local Realtor acceptance of other technologies (Sentrilock as an example), implementation of this system could cost you showings and therefore sales.
In summary, Accushow is an interesting theory, but if others have had my experience then it is a system that may add a level of complexity to arranging showings that is not good for anyone. As I have gotten older (and maybe that’s my problem with Accushow) the Keep It Simple Sweetheart (KISS) theory has proven its value again and again. The tried and true method of agents or their team arranging the showings for their listings is still the way to go.
If you would like to discuss your real estate needs, feel free to call me at 808-737-2093 or toll free at 877-737-2093. You can email me at keahi@lava.net.
; ?>/images/MatoChiclet.gif)
