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More buyers are asking to stay overnight in a home before making an offer, and more sellers are extending an invitation.

“If you can drive a car off a lot, why not test-drive a home?” says Compass real-estate agent Ari Afshar, who is based in Los Angeles.

Afshar represented a buyer looking at a $14.6 million, 8,500-square-foot spec home in Los Angeles’s Hollywood Hills during the pandemic. At the showing, Afshar’s client proposed an overnight stay. “I thought, ‘Good luck,’” says Afshar, who was surprised when the seller’s agent agreed.

The stay was free, though Afshar’s client offered to carry a one-night renters insurance policy through insurance company Lemonade. Furniture wasn’t a problem as the home was staged, but there was one issue. “The house didn’t have toilet paper,” Afshar says. His client had to BYOTP.

Ultimately, the bachelor buyer didn’t make an offer. The stay made him realize he wanted a more compact space. But it did give him a feel for the neighborhood, where he eventually purchased a property.