The Role of Access in Selling Your HouseOnce you’ve made the decision to sell your house and have hired a real estate agent to help, they’ll ask how much access to your home you want to
Selling your home? Access Approval Required!
Dated: March 21 2023
Views: 32
The Role of Access in Selling Your House
Once you’ve made the decision to sell your house and have hired a real estate agent to help, they’ll ask how much access to your home you want to give potential buyers. Your answer matters more now than it did in recent years. Here’s why.
At the height of the buying frenzy seen during the pandemic, there was a rise in the number of homebuyers who put offers on houses sight unseen. That happened for three reasons:
- Extremely low housing inventory
- A lot of competition from other buyers wanting to take advantage of historically low mortgage rates
- And general wariness of in-person home tours during a pandemic
Today, the market’s changing, and buyers can usually be more selective and take more time to explore their options.
So, in order to show your house and sell it efficiently, you’ll want to provide buyers with as much access as you can. Before letting your agent know what works for you, consider these five levels of access you can provide. They’re ordered from most convenient for a buyer to least convenient. Remember, your agent will be better able to sell your house if you provide as much access to buyers as possible.
- Lockbox on the Door – This allows buyers the ability to see the home as soon as they are aware of the listing or at their convenience.
- Providing a Key to the Home – This would require an agent to stop by an office to pick up the key, which is still pretty convenient for a buyer.
- Open Access with a Phone Call – This means you allow a showing with just a phone call’s notice.
- By Appointment Only – For example, you might want your agent to set up a showing at a particular time and give you advance notice. That way you can prepare the house and be sure you have somewhere else you can go in the meantime.
- Limited Access – This might mean you’re only willing to have your house available on certain days or at certain times of day. In general, this is the most difficult and least flexible way to show your house to potential buyers.
As today’s housing market changes, be sure to work with your local agent to give buyers as much access as you can to your house when you sell.
Andrea Galvan
I was born and raised on the west side of Indianapolis and have been living in Avon with my husband and son for over 20 years. After graduating high school in 1988, I pursued my passion for Travel and....
Latest Blog Posts
Experts Forecast a Turnaround in the Housing Market in 2023The housing market has gone through a lot of change recently, and much of that was a result of how quickly mortgage rates rose
Where Will You Go If You Sell? You Have Options.There are plenty of good reasons you might be ready to move. No matter your motivations, before you list your current house, you need to consider
3 Graphs To Show This Isn’t a Housing BubbleWith all the headlines and buzz in the media, some consumers believe the market is in a housing bubble. As the housing market shifts, you
MIBOR REALTOR® Association All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. All properties are subject to prior sale, change or withdrawal. Neither listing broker(s) or information provider(s) shall be responsible for any typographical errors, misinformation, misprints and shall be held totally harmless. Listing(s) information is provided for consumer's personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. The data relating to real estate for sale on this website comes in part from the Internet Data Exchange program of the Multiple Listing Service. Real estate listings held by brokerage firms other than eXp Realty in Metropolitan Indianapolis may be marked with the Internet Data Exchange logo and detailed information about those properties will include the name of the listing broker(s) when required by the MLS. Copyright ©2026 All rights reserved.
Last Updated: September 21, 2026 6:57 PM UTC
