To all the agents in the house,
I have a spiral-bound, college-ruled notebook where at the end of each work day I write down tasks for the next work day, and also write down scheduled interviews. This notebook is "updated" via mechanical pencil scribblings throughout the day.
I also use the calendar feature on Google email, or don't resist when colleagues or sources want to use it.
These quite mundane details of my work life bring us to the topic du jour: Why is ShowingTime important and even necessary? And what are you looking for in a home-showing scheduler?
Zillow announced in February that it was buying ShowingTime, a Chicago-based company that has been around for two decades, for $500 million. ShowingTime's company name describes what it does, which is assist in scheduling private home showings.
The deal hasn't closed, but already the National Association of Realtor-owned SentriLock unveiled a competing home appointment scheduler, with NAR CEO Bob Goldberg stating, "Competition anywhere benefits consumers everywhere."
Indeed, ShowingTime has perhaps cornered the electronic home-showing scheduling market after buying Centralized Showing Service two years ago.
I'd like to know more about why I should care about the "electronic home-showing scheduling market."
What can ShowingTime (or SentriLock) do that Google calendar or one of the zillions of organizing apps on the market can't do? Is ShowingTime just something that agents have gotten accustomed to using?
I've received high-level answers to this question from real estate executives and observers. But I'd like to know more from agents if you use home-showing services, and the value they add to efficient work.
Please email me at mblake@housingwire.com. Your anonymity is presumed.
Sincerely,
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
EmoticonEmoticon