Time wasting househunters

I think time wasters are part of selling a property, you could always ask your estate agent a few questions about the interested buyers;

Who is the buyer?
Do they have a mortgage arranged in principle?
Who is the mortgage lender?
How much deposit do they have?
Are they in a chain? If they are, what is the status with the chain and who else is involved in the chain?
What is their timescale?
Are there any conditions of their offer?

Yup - drives you mad. Sometimes it is obvious they are just there for a nose.

But recently because of covid estate agents are only supposed to send viewers whose ability to proceed they have checked. But even at the height of the pandemic (when I was selling) I am not convinced they checked very thoroughly.

I got very fed up with tidying up!

Having sold a lot of properties we have an expression “buyers are liars”

You must tell the agent you will only show the property to purchasers with funds in place and a property sold or under offer.

A property we recently purchased we had to give proof of funds before viewing.

I haven’t but I know it can happen. I would suggest using a good agent who before allowing them to view vets people and makes sure they are in a position to buy (mortgage offer in principle or ready cash) house already under offer and preferably not in a chain or chain complete. Ours did that. Most nosy parkers won’t be able to stand that level of scrutiny. If your agent wobbles about doing this (eats into the big fee) then find another who will commit to being a gatekeeper. Good luck!

You could ask your estate agent to arrange one of those open days, where you go out for the day and they get as many prospective purchasers to view the property as possible. After that you can never really be sure whether people are really serious viewers or not, but it is up to your agent to vet their status as to whether they would be able to afford the purchase. As far as stupid offers are concerned, we had one several years ago when we marketed our house, it is of course your prerogative to turn such offers down. You should mention to your estate agent what figure you wont drop below, but an estate agent is still obliged to pass any offers on to you.

We sold our house this year and got the asking price, it all depends on the market at the time, as stated we got a stupid offer a couple of years ago and decided to just withdraw our house from the market and shelve our moving plans, that depends on whether you really need to move right now. As you say, having to keep your house immaculate when life goes on around you is a bit of a drag, worse when our children were at home. Just pack away any surface clutter and present your home in the best possible light.

I wish you good luck, let us know how it goes.

Look round your area at houses which have sold and note the names of the agents.
Get about 3 of them to come round and give you a valuation.
Pick the one who is most enthusiastic and who has sold property near you recently because they will have other clients who are looking for property in the area. Let them do photos, brochure, window display internet etc.
Arrange with them a viewing morning when 2 or 3 people will come round or a day if there is more interest. Let the agent do the showing round (I went out for coffee)
Repeat last if necessary.
I did 2 mornings but the first person who saw it actually bought it.

We asked that only those with their property under offer viewed ours. It made no difference, though, as the useless estate agent just asked them.

One couple, in particular, seemed to be gathering ideas for how to update their own place - very annoying.

Another chap turned out to be a friend of the agent, just there to boost the number of viewers, I believe.

I did wonder if he was due to make a low offer, too, so we'd decide to reduce the asking price. Of course, the agent was pushing that idea - as they go for quick turnover, rather than best offer.

We sacked the agent, then sold independently for a lot more.

Thank you for all the helpful responses.

I agree with Sago's 'buyers are liars' comment. My EA was very diligent but had to work with the information she was given, which was untrue in more than one instance. I agree with asking for procedable viewers only.

I was on the market for a very long time and the cleaning/tidying is wearing. In the end I did a sparkle clean once a week and maintained it vigorously so I was viewing ready at any time, to the point of not cooking prior to a viewing in case the house smelled of food.

I wish I'd relaxed more during my sale, I feel that I put my life on hold waiting for 'the one'. I had to visit my aunt during the selling process and my son lost a day's work doing a viewing for me for a timewaster, it makes me angry to think of it. Cash buyer living in rented, second viewing, with his family and his Dad arrived an hour early and my son had to entertain him. He was a liar, he was a houseowner and not even on the market yet.

I think the best advice is to maintain the level of cleanliness you are happy with, accept that there will be some timewasters, plan nice things to do when you go out for the agent to do the viewings, do not take feedback to heart as people say the most ridiculous things, and be prepared for offers to be withdrawn.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Do read the agent’s terms and conditions before you sign up. They are not all the same. When we sold our last house one nationwide agent who I won’t name was rather put out that we wanted time to read the conditions. When we did we found they contained a clause saying that if we refused an offer that the agent thought was reasonable their fee was immediately payable and that it was also payable if the house hadn’t sold after a specific time. Needless to say we didn’t sign but in the meantime the agent had appointed a drone company to come to our house next morning. They weren’t best pleased at being told they weren’t needed. I frequently see this agent advertising properties in the national press and wonder how many of the owners have read the ‘small print’.

Very good point Germanshepherdsmum.

On MSE several people who have changed agent have been caught out by not reading the contract, and have had to pay a fee to their previous agent as well because they were tied in with them for six months. I sold at auction to a horrible buyer who had been introduced and offered through my second estate agent. I was very lucky the manager used her authority and waived the commission.

Don’t agree to a contract longer than 3 months. It can easily be extended if you feel they are doing s good job.

Here in Australia most viewings are set as Open for Inspection between this time and that time - usually half an hour- and usually on a weekend. Sometimes Open Inspections will be both Saturday and Sunday and occasionally during the week. The agent is the one who is there for the viewing, owners leave the property and let them get on with it. These viewings are usually weekly until the property is sold. This is all part of the Agent's job.

DD1 sells new build houses and the term for their time wasters is ‘carpet treaders’. However, Covid and Financial Conditions put paid to them. I often watch old episodes of The House Doctor who advises to sort out stuff into keep/donate first and box up what you want to take with you (without leaving the place completely bare of course) then it’s already packed and ready to go when you are.

As others have said, covid will have changed how viewing happens.

My experiences have all been pre covid but I've always had three valuations Interests rates can vary as can length of contract. Check terms carefully on what happens if you change agent at the end of a contract. Have a look at this about what continuing liability means and how to avoid double commission when you are switching estate agents.

hoa.org.uk/services/ask-an-expert-2/ask-an-expert-i-am-selling-questions/if-i-switch-estate-agents-will-i-still-have-to-pay-commission-to-my-old-one/

HOA - Home Owners Alliance is a brilliant website.

For my last house, the agent did the majority of viewings as I was often away visiting where I was moving too. She was excellent and gave me instant feedback (that or next day) on every single viewing.

I have been on the other foot. On finding a house I liked, on two occasions, the owners hadn't found a house to move to.

Sorry to say, that despite all that I or my agent checked on, some people lie. Good luck with your sale.

The HOA have good advice about conveyancing too.

I would never agree a sole agency longer than one month. That’s plenty of time to see whether the agent is performing or not. It can always be renewed but a longer period can’t be cut.

You can ask your estate agent to only arrange viewings for buyers either with an agreed mortgage and/or a sale agreed on their current property. A house near me had all their viewing on one afternoon the other week , timed at intervals and the sold sign went up the next day. It was a nice family home but not fantastic . Thing is everyone can look at the house online on rightmove and Zoopla so make sure you're stands out and photos compliment your home make it clutter free there are some horror photos online. Look at the sites to get an idea of what has sold in your area and how long they are taking.

To add to Muse and slightly off topic - 30 years ago we sold our house to a couple moving up from London to work in a nearby new high security prison. We viewed a bigger house just round the corner and offered the full asking price - however the vendor’s husband was working overseas so they only communicated once a week! Two weeks later they decided they wanted to hang on for another couple who’d viewed the house several months earlier, to sell their house. The EA (we had used the same) was tearing his hair out saying he’d spoken to her several times and assured her we were sold, but she was adamant. In fact, she’d done this to 2 other couples and the Agent said he wished he could force the sale or at least bill her for what he considered 3 sales. We moved out, rented for 3 months then bought the same style house on a different part of the development.
A friend of a friend moved nearby and frequently put her house on the market just to get people in to look at her latest high end purchases! I’m still in touch with 2 families who viewed her house in different years and both realised straight away that she had no intentions of moving and is still there.

I had one couple come back for a second viewing and they took loads of photos especially of the kitchen, which had been extended and was a stunning room. They did not put an offer in for the house which was disappointing but that happens. A couple of months later, I realised they were now living round the corner, they had bought an unextended house identical to mine and were using the photos of my kitchen to show the builder what they wanted! I suppose I should have been flattered!

We are selling our house at the moment. Nobody could view unless they had either sold or were in the process of selling their property. These weren't my rules - they were the estate agent's. But I will say that people often view houses they don't really want. It's more for curiosity or comparison I suppose. However an estate agent told me people often explain exactly what they want and then go on to buy something completely different. People are fickle.

Have a open day or half day. Common around here, sold my mums house like that. All those interested arriving at planned slots by Estate agents and hopefully you get your buyer, she had x3 offers by end of the day.

There was a house for sale that we wanted to buy.

We arranged a viewing. We arranged 4 viewings in total. The vendors kept cancelling.

Turns out they didn't want to sell at all.

It can be such a challenging time. We're sticking with the house we have now. Our children have all left home and I guess we could downsize but I just couldn't go through all that again.

I haven’t read the previous posts - someone may have already suggested this - why not have a. Open Day. My neighbour had this when she was selling her house. Keep one day for viewings ….

Unfortunately estate agents locally were reluctant to hold Open Days with Covid, I'm not sure if that has changed now. When I had to allow viewings for future tenants at the rental I was leaving in February, the first couple arrived without masks and gloves, luckily I had some.