When you sell a home in Toronto, showings are private appointments that a buyer's agent books through TRREB's BrokerBay system, and your listing agent confirms them based on the instructions you set before the property goes live. Most sellers are not home for these visits. You agree on how much notice you want, what hours work, and how buyers get in, then the requests arrive as they come.
The booking usually starts on a phone. An agent whose client wants to see your place opens BrokerBay, picks a time, and sends the request over. If your listing is set to auto-confirm, that slot is locked in right away. If it is set so the listing side confirms by hand, nothing is booked until someone on your team says yes. Sellers who want a say over their week tend to use that second setting.
Access is almost always through an electronic lockbox mounted near your door. The box holds a key and opens only for an agent whose credentials the board has verified, and it keeps a record of who came in and when. That log is a big reason sellers feel fine stepping out during a visit. Your listing agent installs the box, sets the access rules, and can wall off certain hours if you have pets, tenants, or a work-from-home setup to protect.
Notice matters more than most people expect. Some sellers ask for a few hours of warning. Others accept same-day requests rather than turn a buyer away. Shorter notice usually brings more showings, and that is the tradeoff against the hassle of clearing out fast. A home that is easy to book and quick to tidy tends to get seen more often, which is part of why staging earns its keep over a busy listing week.
Private showings run next to open houses, and the two reach different buyers. A showing is a scheduled, one-on-one visit. An open house just leaves the door open for a couple of hours so anyone can wander through. Between them, you cover the range of how people actually shop for a place.
Related reading: How Do Open Houses Work When Selling a Home in Toronto?, What Are the First Steps to Selling a Home in Toronto?, and What Does a Listing Agent Do in Ontario?
