Won't your agent be able to send someone a little early to get the house ready to show & more importantly make sure everything is off & secure after the showing while you are out of town?

We haven't gone on vacation when the house was on the market, but have been out of town on a house hunting trip, on one occasion. We left all the lights off and house buttoned up as we would at any time we were gone for a period of time. We let our realtor know we would be gone and he kept an eye on the home while we were gone.

We actually moved to another state while our house was on the market -- with all of our stuff in it! We just turned the heat down, turned off the water heater, and instructed our agent to check on it before/after a showing. This only bit us in the butt once when another agent showed it without notifying my agent for a couple of days. The showing agent left the door open to the garage (which was right near the thermostat inside), causing the furnace to run continually for about 4 days. Of course, this was in the coldest part of the winter. Our electric bill was MUCH higher than I had expected because of that.

I also had a trusted neighbor who would go over and wipe out the sinks (for water spots), swish some bleach in the toilets, and vacuum every few showings. We sold our house after 110 days on the market, which is about average for that market.

Our real estate agent stopped in before/after showings to get things ready when we were on vacation.

The RE agent should getting things ready for each showing.

We always waited till after we moved to do vacations. Seems with all the stress involved after the sale was an ideal time!

The great thing about being on vacation when your house is on the market is that you don't have to keep cleaning up after yourself for showings. Really, all that you need to do is leave it clean and set the thermostat at a comfortable temperature. An automatic setback thermostat is perfect for this. Open as many blinds/curtains as you are comfortable leaving open. The showing agent should turn the lights on and off, but you should make sure that your agent is checking the house after showings to make sure everything is okay.

Thanks for the replies, I feel better now.

I guess I have a general question here, is it normal to have your RE agent present for a showing?

At least with mine, I'm supposed to be at the showing to let the buyer and the buyer's agent in to see the house and my agent doesn't normally come. Only if I'm going to be out does my agent end up being there.

chrisk -- generally in many parts of the country the listing agent isn't present. However, there are some areas of the country and some price ranges where this is actually common for the listing agent to be present.

When we were selling, If we had a lock box, then the buyer's agent would get the code from our listing agent and our agent and he/she would show the home and lock up. The few times we did not use a lock box, either the buyer's agent would have to pick up the key from my listing agent or my listing agent would have to be there to open the door.

In any event, when you're on vacation the listing agent will often go the extra mile and check to make sure the house is ready in the owner's absence and make sure the home is secured after the showing.