Time wasting househunters

Hang on in there @kissngate, I'm sure the price has risen yet again now the BofE haven't increased the interest rate. Fingers crossed for you.

Sorry NotTooOld, I've given the wrong impression. The station was closed in 1958 to passengers, 1962 to cattle and goods. The house was left derelict for ten years and then sold as private residential, but the East Coast Main line was still serviced by the Alnmouth station up the road.

Shandy57

I saw that Penelopebee, it seems the vendors had too many viewers who hadn't read the particulars and making the same old same old comments.

I sold my railway station last year and so many people asked 'what times are the trains' I got some timetables to hand them I was so used to the trains I had no idea of 'times' and the question really irritated me in the end. The house was a railway station and very clearly advertised as being on a live line. So very glad it sold!

Shandy - do tell. How did you get to live in a 'live' railway station? I've seen old stations converted into houses but that's usually where the railway line is no longer used. I'm intrigued!

I could write a book on awkward vendors. Still not moved in, probate granted, house empty and vendors still don't want to sell, not returning calls or emails. Various swear words .... .... .... ....

We came across a very awkward vendor when we were house hunting. We made an offer and got a phone call from the EA to say that the vendor hadn’t even started a property search. He was intending to move to Cornwall and told the EA he was leaving the following day for a 2 week visit to view properties and make sure he could afford to buy in the area. He refused to accept our offer until he had secured his own purchase and refused to even consider to move into rented accommodation to allow the sale to proceed. We pulled out. Interested to note that his property was still on the market months later while others were selling fast. Not just buyers who are time wasters.

A bit off topic - fairly recently (pre-covid) when we were looking to buy a property we encountered the vendor from hell. The estate agent accompanied us to the viewing as the vendor was away that weekend. We liked it enough to put in a very decent offer but unfortunately the agent was unable to get hold of the vendor to inform them. Several days passed before our offer was accepted by the vendor - however the agent suggested we should meet up with the vendor to " have a chat". It quickly became clear that the vendor didn't really want to sell when she informed us that on the day we viewed the house she saw that the agent was trying to contact her on her mobile but that she "couldn't be bothered to answer her phone". Several weeks passed with the vendor making more and more conditions of sale until we felt unable to continue and withdrew from the purchase. We had no regrets as shortly afterwards we found a house we love in an area we much prefer. The reluctant vendor still hasn't moved.

I saw that Penelopebee, it seems the vendors had too many viewers who hadn't read the particulars and making the same old same old comments.

I sold my railway station last year and so many people asked 'what times are the trains' I got some timetables to hand them I was so used to the trains I had no idea of 'times' and the question really irritated me in the end. The house was a railway station and very clearly advertised as being on a live line. So very glad it sold!

There was a thread on mumsnet recently about someone being annoyed by the estate agents vigorous quizzing to them as prospective buyers. But obviously a good tactic by the sellers to avoid timewasters x

Depends how quickly you want to sell. Myself we didn’t allow any viewings unless our agent could confirm the
viewers had a definite offer on their property.
Also first time buyers are not always ideal - ours turned out to be the buyers from hell.

Gabrielle56

Well, here's a thing, my sibling used to be a "professional"-ahem- house viewer!! She'd book appointments to view properties way way out other league just so she could have a nose! She roped our mum into her despicable cheap behaviour too, I was disgusted with the pair of them, they saw it as their entertainment, sometimes the agents would let her view unaccompanied and I would wish that she be secretly filmed and get caught out! .....never happened. Back to subject , I've had the most revolting people view my properties over the years who literally pull it to pieces, in the end I snapped and yelled at one stinking example that they wouldn't know à clean house if one fell on them and they smelled like they live in a midden !! Nonplussed look told me they knew not what that was.......

Hmm, my friend and I would sometimes go to view new show homes to get ideas for decorating our owns homes! This was over 20 years ago so the ease of wandering around new estates might have changed but we certainly enjoyed our days out! If asked, I was very good at lying about why I was looking for a new house and what my financial situation was!

But at least they were show houses and we were not upsetting home owners.

This post has made me think of the stress of my 60+ viewers. The most memorable, an elderly mother and daughter from Barnes, my old haunt, rushed around with phone aloft photographing everything which unsettled me. Next thing elderly mother feels faint in the kitchen and has to stay seated in there with a drink of water - so I show the daughter the garden. Suddenly we hear elderly mother calling and she's teetering around at the top of the 18 steps at the front of the house. Nightmare. Feedback was 'if' she offered it would be 'cheeky' - I would have expected nothing less from her.

We find that we have a 'viewing' level home as you put it anyway! I cannot understand how people can live in abject chaos all the time and not tale the trouble to clean properly, I find that I cast my German trained eye around people's homes unconsciously and 9/10 times shudder! It's very telling how people have said that they didn't realise how much they had to clean everything including their own hands(!) Until the pandemic! Yuk!

NotTooOld

Selling a house is a nightmare whatever you do. I wore myself ragged for about a month, constantly tidying and cleaning and cleaning again. And it didn't work anyway. We gave up and are still here!

Here's the thing, I viewed a house that stank of dog, was occupied by two academics(speaks volumes) and was virtually impossible to walk around freely due to the 'papers'/ files / general academic type junk stuffed in there, but I fell in love instantly, put my offer and was in there within 8weeks! Another 8weeks and it was actually clean too!!

Fernhillnana

It is SO frustrating. We had endless time wasters when we had our house (briefly) on the market. One couple openly admitted they’d just come to see “how a bungalow can have a cellar” (it does)! For them to come and have a nosy I had to arrange for my husband to take our dogs off the premises for an hour having cleaned the place from top to bottom, done the garden etc. Why are people so selfish and inconsiderate?

I blame the greedy agents. I suppose one can insist on viewers who have firm evidence of their ability to purchase at the level wanted before they set foot inside! Nowadays viewing can be done virtually anyway, so only those taking it to the next stage and really serious should be offered a viewing anyway I would hope? I'd require full disclosure of anyone entering my home nowadays anyway,if the agents messed up they'd be all over social media with a damning report from us!

It is one of the pitfalls of selling. A lot of people used to do this on a Sunday, their way of having a day out. Lots of really nosey people out there! You could have Open Days so that viewing is on that day only.

Well, here's a thing, my sibling used to be a "professional"-ahem- house viewer!! She'd book appointments to view properties way way out other league just so she could have a nose! She roped our mum into her despicable cheap behaviour too, I was disgusted with the pair of them, they saw it as their entertainment, sometimes the agents would let her view unaccompanied and I would wish that she be secretly filmed and get caught out! .....never happened. Back to subject , I've had the most revolting people view my properties over the years who literally pull it to pieces, in the end I snapped and yelled at one stinking example that they wouldn't know à clean house if one fell on them and they smelled like they live in a midden !! Nonplussed look told me they knew not what that was.......

Whenever I sell my house, I always stipulate - only buyers whose house is on the market already - to the agent. They don't like it, try to talk you out of it and generally make a fuss, but stick to your guns and you will have people who are motivated to put in a good offer to secure a place quickly.

Selling a house is a nightmare whatever you do. I wore myself ragged for about a month, constantly tidying and cleaning and cleaning again. And it didn't work anyway. We gave up and are still here!

It is SO frustrating. We had endless time wasters when we had our house (briefly) on the market. One couple openly admitted they’d just come to see “how a bungalow can have a cellar” (it does)! For them to come and have a nosy I had to arrange for my husband to take our dogs off the premises for an hour having cleaned the place from top to bottom, done the garden etc. Why are people so selfish and inconsiderate?

Get a really good agent. We put our house on the market with an agent who came highly recommended. She suggested a few things to help with sale (get gutters/soffits cleaned/ replace a blown double glazed unit, dress the bedrooms on viewing day, remove pet paraphernalia etc). She knew her buyers and what they were looking for and arranged six viewings over two days, we went out. One day after the viewings we had four offers way over and above the asking price and after discussing with her what stage they were at chose our buyer. It took a while as covid lock down happened two days after offer accepted but we moved 6 months later. Worth every penny of her fee.

Get a decent estate agent. They should sift out the timewasters for you.

know - terrible typist.

We put our house on the market and had two sets of timewasters; one woman confessed she had been dying to have a look inside and went off giggling - I had murder in my heart having taken a half day's leave to allow her to view in the afternoon. Another couple spent ages wandering around and finally announced they couldn't afford anything like the price we were asking. I don't now if they expected us to say that was fine; just give us what you can afford and you can have it. At the same time we tried to view a house where the vendors kept cancelling, were incredibly evasive, and eventually said they didn't want to sell at all. I will NEVER move again!

grandtante
We bought one of those that nobody would have touched with a barge pole.
It had been empty for 7 yrs with a leaking roof. The previous 10 yrs it had been offices. Then there was the squatters drug paraphernalia to dispose of.
But with a lot of hard work we sold at a handsome profit.

I agree with the comments on buyer readiness. But would add that if you are selling you need to almost live at 'viewing' standard. Flowers/plants, candles, cafetiere out, bottle of wine in view, lovely folded towels, soaps etc. I say this as we did once sell to mere passers by who were checking whether our road was OK while I was tidying the front garden. They came in and loved our house... Strange things can happen and it pays to be prepared.