Showing Agents Go Mainstream

How Dedicated Showing Agents Are Transforming Property Tours

Modern shoppers’ demand for flexible property tours is reshaping how buyer’s agents approach showings. Instead of managing them all on their own or occasionally relying on fellow agents, more realtors are opting to hire licensed showing assistants.

Traditionally, when a client requests to see a home at an inconvenient time, agents enlist other agents to handle it. This arrangement, often informal, could be changing in the face of rising demand for dedicated “showing agents.” Google searches for the term have been steadily increasing since the 2000s.?

This trend was further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. When lockdowns and travel restrictions made it harder to show homes in person, agents had to get creative. Some resorted to video calls with clients to conduct “virtual showings,” yet most buyers still wanted to walk through the house before they actually bought it.

“The tactile experience is important,” Los Angeles-based realtor John Maseredjian told CNBC. “If you’re gonna spend that much money on a property, you really want to see it in person.”

To continue offering in-person showings, many agents started looking for help.?

Florida-based Realtor Jessica Peterson put it this way: “When I've been sick, I don't want to put my customers in danger. So that's when I've explained to them I'm sick, but I might have another agent go show these houses, and sometimes I'll join by Zoom or WhatsApp and watch the houses with them.”

Showami, a company that connects buyer’s agents with on-demand showing agents (for a fee split between Showami and the showing agent), grew at the fastest rate in its history right after COVID-19 hit.?

“At one point in 2020, our transaction volume was up 760.4% from 10 months prior,” Matt Kuchar, Founder and CEO of Showami, said.

Denver-based agent Mike Thys started using showing agents exclusively for home tours during the pandemic. “I made a personal family decision to not be out there in person showing property,” he told the company, “so I enlisted Showami to actually be my feet on the ground.”

Showami serves over 100,000 users across all 50 states.?

Another trend fueling interest in showing agents is consumer expectations about home tour availability. Leading real estate portals Zillow and Redfin, for example, now let users schedule home tours on demand, with times available every half-hour throughout the day, every day. This is great for shoppers, but it puts a lot of pressure on buyer’s agents to be constantly available for showings. To buy back some flexibility (without giving up buyer leads), agents often outsource the home tour to showing agents.

“I found it to be very beneficial when I'm on vacation or if I have important meetings or time with my family to be able to utilize them,” Peterson said.

Of course, clear communication with clients is crucial when involving another agent in the tour process. However, “when you can offer a really exceptional customer service and customer-based experience,” Missouri-based realtor Kari Wyrsch told Keller Williams Realty, [buyers] don’t care who they’re working with.”?

Peterson’s experience has been similar. When she’s had clients ask to see a house while she’s already out showing real estate to someone else, she lets them know she’ll send another agent. “They're super happy about it and they show the house and then we have a whole conversation about it,” she said.

For agents and brokers alike, hiring a showing agent for a fixed fee per showing is also more cost-effective than sharing a commission with another buyer’s agent. If a showing costs $50, for example, that’s 100 times less than a 50/50 split on a $10,000 commission. This is why real estate teams nationwide are trying to hire showing assistants. A search on job site Get.It, yields over 7,200 open positions for “showing agent” (as of 27 September 2023).?

What’s in it for the showing agent? Extra income (an average of $35 per showing on Showami) and valuable experience. As a new agent without any clients, for example, being a showing agent is a great way to hone your skills and get your name out there.

Ultimately, many agents still rely on fellow realtors for showings when unavailable. But the convenience of enlisting a dedicated showing assistant is gaining traction. With the growing demand for continuous home tour availability and buyer’s agents realizing that they don’t need to personally conduct every tour, showing agents are becoming a defining feature of U.S. property transactions.