How to Handle Showings Safely and Effectively as a Marysville FSBO
How do you safely show your home to buyers when you're selling FSBO in Marysville, Ohio? Pre-screen every buyer with a pre-approval letter or proof of funds, never show the home alone, lock away valuables and personal documents, and keep the conversation focused on the property — not your timeline or motivation.
When you sell a home with an agent in Marysville or Union County, showings happen behind the scenes. A licensed agent screens the buyer, opens the lockbox, hosts the tour, and locks up. When you sell For Sale By Owner, every part of that job lands on you — and so does the responsibility for who walks through your front door.
Most FSBO sellers in Marysville do fine. But the ones who get burned tend to make the same handful of mistakes: showing the home alone after dark, skipping buyer verification, leaving prescription bottles on the bathroom counter, or talking themselves out of leverage during a casual tour. This guide walks through how to handle showings the right way — physically safe and strategically effective.
The Two Risks FSBO Sellers Face During Showings
Every showing carries two distinct risks. Treating them as one problem is how sellers get hurt — financially or otherwise.
The first risk is personal safety. You are inviting a stranger into your home, often when you're alone, sometimes after work hours. The National Association of REALTORS® publishes extensive safety guidance for licensed agents precisely because this part of the job is not theoretical. FSBO sellers face the same exposure without the training.
The second risk is strategic. A buyer who walks through your home is gathering information — about the property, about you, and about how badly you want to sell. Anything you say during a showing can be used against you when offers come in. Most FSBO sellers don't realize they've already lost the negotiation before the buyer ever writes a number down.
Before the Showing: Qualify Every Buyer
The single most effective thing you can do — for both safety and outcome — is refuse to show your home to anyone who hasn't been pre-screened. Real buyers will respect this. Tire-kickers, scammers, and bad actors will not, which is exactly the filter you want.
What to Require Before You Schedule a Showing
- A mortgage pre-approval letter from a lender, dated within the last 30 days, showing the buyer is approved for at least your asking price. Pre-qualification is not the same thing — pre-approval means the lender has actually verified income and credit.
- Proof of funds if the buyer claims to be paying cash. A redacted bank statement or a letter from the institution is standard. If a buyer refuses to provide this, they are almost certainly not a cash buyer.
- Full name, phone number, and a verifiable email address. Call the phone number before the showing to confirm it works. Look up the name. A two-minute search has prevented a lot of bad situations.
- The name of their agent, if they have one. A buyer represented by an agent should send their agent to schedule the showing. If they're calling you directly while claiming to have representation, something is off.
If a buyer pushes back on any of this — "I'll just bring proof to the showing," "My lender will email you later," "I don't have time for that" — that's your answer. Don't schedule.
During the Showing: Safety First, Selling Second
Showings in Marysville, Ohio happen in subdivisions like Mill Valley, Scott Farms, Adena Pointe, Green Pastures, Hickory Run, Skybrook, and Amrine Meadows where neighbors are close and visibility is high. That's an advantage you should use. Most of what follows is about not undoing it.
Safety Practices Every FSBO Should Use
- Never show the home alone. Have a spouse, adult family member, or friend physically present. Two people changes the dynamic of every interaction. If you can't get a second person there, postpone.
- Tell someone the showing details in advance. Time, duration, buyer's name and phone number. Set a "check-in" text for 15 minutes after the showing should end. Have a code phrase that means "call the police."
- Show during daylight whenever possible. If a buyer can only come at 9 p.m., that's a scheduling problem, not your problem. Offer the next available daylight slot.
- Lock up valuables, medications, and personal information. This means jewelry, prescription bottles (especially anything controlled), cash, firearms, laptops, tablets, mail, bank statements, passports, social security cards, and spare keys. Put them in a locked safe, in your car, or off-site.
- Don't lead the buyer through the home. Let them walk in front of you when possible. You direct from behind. This keeps your exit clear and lets you observe their behavior.
- Keep your phone in your hand or pocket. Not on a counter. If you need to call out, you need it on you.
- Trust your instinct. If something feels wrong before the showing, cancel it. If something feels wrong during the showing, end it. "I'm sorry, my next appointment just confirmed — we'll need to wrap up" is a complete sentence. No explanation needed.
How to Run a Showing That Actually Sells the Home
Safety gets you home in one piece. Strategy gets you a clean offer. The two are not in conflict — but they require different muscles.
What to Say (and Not Say) During a Showing
The temptation when you've lived somewhere a long time is to narrate every detail. Don't. Buyers tune out talking and tune in to space. The best showings are quiet ones — let the home work.
A few things to keep out of the conversation entirely:
- Why you're selling. Job change, divorce, retirement, downsizing — none of it is the buyer's business, and all of it weakens your position. "We've enjoyed it here and it's time for the next chapter" covers every situation without giving anything away.
- How long you've been on the market. If they ask, "We've had steady interest" is honest and neutral. Don't volunteer the date the sign went up.
- Your timeline pressure. Never mention that you need to be out by a certain date, that you've already bought another home, or that you're paying two mortgages. Every one of those statements is worth thousands of dollars to the buyer.
- Price flexibility. If a buyer asks during the showing whether you'd take less, the only answer is "We'd consider any written offer." Period. Negotiating before there's an offer on paper gives away your floor for free.
What to Have Ready
Hand the buyer a one-page property summary on the way out — square footage, year built, mechanicals, recent updates, average utility costs, school district, and HOA details if applicable. Anything they don't have to remember is something they can revisit when they're thinking about an offer.
You should also have your Ohio Residential Property Disclosure Form completed and available. Buyers who are serious will want to see it. If you haven't filled it out yet, that's a problem to solve before your first showing — Ohio law requires it under Ohio Revised Code § 5302.30.
After the Showing: Document and Follow Up Carefully
Within an hour of every showing, write down what happened. Buyer name, time in and time out, who was with them, what rooms they spent time in, what they asked about, and what they said. This becomes your record if anything ever comes back — a missing item, a dispute, a future offer.
Follow up once, briefly, within 24-48 hours. A short email — "Thanks for coming through Saturday. Let me know if you have any questions about the home." That's enough. Multiple follow-ups, long messages, or anything that reads as pressure will cost you the buyer.
Open Houses in Marysville: Different Rules
Open houses concentrate the safety and strategy problems above into a single afternoon. If you choose to hold one, three rules apply:
- Two people, every time. One at the door with a sign-in sheet checking IDs, one circulating through the home. Splitting up means losing track of who's where.
- Lock down the whole house in advance. Everything in the safety list above, plus garages, basements, and any room you don't want walked through. Close and lock interior doors to rooms that aren't part of the tour.
- Have a real sign-in process. Name, phone, email, and address. People who refuse to sign in are not buyers. They're walking through to see what your house looks like, or worse.
Open houses in Marysville can work — especially in newer subdivisions like Skybrook or Amrine Meadows where weekend foot traffic is natural — but they require more preparation, not less. If you can't staff one properly, a private showing schedule is safer and more productive.
When a Showing Reveals That FSBO Isn't Working
For a lot of Marysville FSBO sellers, the showings are the moment the math stops adding up. Taking time off work, screening every call, hosting strangers, fielding negotiations on the spot, locking up valuables every Saturday morning — it adds up to a part-time job, and that's before you've sold the home.
If you've run three or four showings and feel like you're losing more time and leverage than you're gaining in commission savings, that's data. You're allowed to change course. Bringing in a local agent partway through a FSBO listing is more common than most sellers realize, and a good one will pick up exactly where you left off.
Frequently Asked Questions About FSBO Showings in Marysville
Do I have to let every buyer who asks see my home?
No. You set the rules for who comes through your home. Requiring a pre-approval letter or proof of funds before scheduling a showing is standard practice — agents do it on every listing. Buyers who refuse to provide it are filtering themselves out for you.
Is it safe to do open houses as a FSBO in Marysville, Ohio?
Open houses can be done safely as a FSBO, but they require at least two people present, a real sign-in process with ID check, and the entire home secured in advance. If you can't meet those three conditions, run private showings by appointment only.
What should I do if a buyer makes me uncomfortable during a showing?
End the showing immediately. You don't owe an explanation — "We need to wrap up, my next appointment is here" works. Walk them to the door, lock up, leave the property if you need to, and document what happened. Trust your instincts.
Should I require buyers to be represented by an agent?
You can, but it limits your buyer pool. A better middle ground is to require pre-approval or proof of funds from every buyer regardless of representation, and to schedule unrepresented buyers only when you have a second person with you and during daylight hours.
The Bottom Line
FSBO showings in Marysville, Ohio aren't impossible — sellers run them successfully every month across Union County. The ones who do it well treat showings as a structured process: screen hard, host carefully, say less, document everything. The ones who get hurt — financially or otherwise — are usually the ones who skipped one of those steps because the buyer "seemed fine."
If you're working through the rest of the FSBO process, the Marysville FSBO Guide covers pricing without MLS access, the disclosure requirements under Ohio law, and the mistakes that cost FSBO sellers the most money. It's free, there's no signup, and it's written specifically for sellers in Marysville and Union County.
If you've run a few showings and decided FSBO isn't the right fit — or you'd like a no-pressure conversation about what your home would likely sell for with full agent representation — I'm happy to talk. Call or text Jim West at (614) 507-5732 or visit jimwestteam.com. I've been helping Marysville and Union County homeowners sell for over 20 years, and I treat FSBO sellers as informed adults — not leads to convert.
Jim West
REALTOR® | Certified Divorce Real Estate Expert (CDRE)
Jim West Team — Marysville, Ohio
(614) 507-5732 | jimwestteam.com
