House on the market ....

Hazel Glad you have accepted an offer. I do hope the rest of your journey is as easy -but be aware of the many bumps on the road of selling and buying property. House is NOT SOLD until Contracts are actually Exchanged - upto that time is is just 'Under Offer'.

Hazel is here ! So sorry not to have posted to all of you that wished me well and asked for an update - I am obviously crap at getting back to everyone. Your encouragement was so brilliant. Thank you.
House now sold. Caveat being that due to supply chain to our new home we will not be able to move until July which is fine with our buyer. Happy Days !!

biglouis

With the way houses are selling at present i dont think you need to be too fussy.

Yes, 4 sold near us last month within days of hitting the market. Our friends are buying one, that'll be the 2nd lot of acquaintances moving in, so we must have done something right here!

Where is Hazel?

hazel93 I can't be the only one wondering how your open day went. Did you have any offers ? Hope everything went well .

Owners do not do the inspections here, EA's do and the owners are not present as a rule. Agents much prefer to sell on their own as the owners are often far too emotionally involved.

As for taking photos, we always did that when looking. Not so much of the rooms that agents had taken photos of but of other things not shown, both inside and out.

I figure if I'm going to be spending the money then I want to know, and am entitled to know, what's what. We generally take longer to buy a pair of shoes than to view a house.

With the way houses are selling at present i dont think you need to be too fussy.

Callistemom21 don't let it put you off downsizing . Even though it was hell selling my house. I don't regret it for a bit. I downsized to a 2 bed bungalow and love it. I have gardens I can do myself even brought a greenhouse. I existed in my old house I have been widowed 18 years. Since moving I live my life to the full. And loved getting the bungalow as I wanted it. Best thing I did was move.

All this is putting me off trying to downsize!!
?

ha ha Franbern, poor ratty, that's worse than my overflowing septic tank drain the day before a viewing!

I didn't feel at all comfortable with one viewer. We had engaged a local about ten years before to build our pagoda and he disappeared off to Oz half way through doing it.

He turned up one Sunday unannounced - my daughter was away at Uni. My late husband had played darts with his Dad, so I felt obliged to let him in. I did let the EA know, and he came the following Sunday with his wife - who was there obviously very reluctantly - and their two children, who kept saying the house was haunted. He asked to see the coal house and I had to explain about the septic tank overflow, not great. Was just being a nosey parker, another Fat Controller.

I am not particularly happy living here, but don't think I could go through the selling process again unless the system changes.

How awful for you. When I was on my own and selling I had one couple who really, really wanted my place. They couldn’t afford it, retired and couldn’t get a mortgage in those days, but were so persistent, even suggesting a part exchange with their house nearby which I did not want. They were extolling its virtues (so why move?). How to tell them politely that I didn’t want or like their house when they were so persistent wasn’t easy. In the end I had to get the EA to get rid of them. He didn’t find it easy either.

Oh dear....brings back some memories of those dreadful viewing times. I can so well remember one dreadful day, my house was going to be viewed (EA bringing people). I was going out. House neat and tidy - had a garage/ very large storage shed at back of garden. It was reasonably cleared out - do not know what made me go up there that morning before I went out, but lucky I did - as there on the floor in centre was a dead rat!!!!!

I did have a couple of those plug in things to deter vermin, so I suppose that had effected this one (did also have a couple of poison dishes down). Loads of newspaper and plastic bags later, I had disposed of it. Can just imagine how it would have been if it had still been there when the EA took the prospective purchasers in there!!!!

The worst viewers I had was a second viewing - evening of the original one. That had been a pleasant young couple of Indian background. They turned up with both sets of elderly parents, who spoke little English. I was by myself. One of the Mothers almost stuck herself to me repeating a price well below my asking price, over and over again. The rest of them toured my house chattering to themselves. It was horrific. I told the EA the following day, that no matter WHAT offer they put in I would refuse it!!!! Never did ANY viewing after that without EA being there.

I'd be cleaning and my husband would be helping. Do I have the world's only helpful husband?

Yes Hazel23. Up at the crack of dawn running around like a headless chicken. My DH thinks I’m crazy. Like others, I’ve done it so many times.

Yes, GrandmaKT our son had an immediate full asking price offer on his townhouse before the viewers could get to visit. They had seen the house next door, but preferred the location of his in the crescent.
You did a good job filming for your sister. You might get some commission!

We viewed a house on behalf of my sister in law last month. They had gone off to complete the sale of their house in Spain, believing that the house they had offered on was nearing completion. Then the vendors' sale fell through (for the third time!) and they were left without a house to move to. She saw the property on Rightmove and asked us to view it. The estate agent gave us a tour and then I connected with her on WhatsApp and gave her a video tour.
They (very bravely!) made an offer on the back of this viewing. They are now back in the UK, have seen the house and it is all going through - at least I hope it is, as they and their two dogs are staying with us til they can move in!

I had a dreadful viewer with her elderly mother. The daughter was literally running with her phone in front of her, videoing my house.

We once viewed a house which had been lived in by students. It's was the untidiest and dirtiest home I've ever seen. The rooms were so full of things that I had to ask what room we were in and it was the kitchen - not even an oven or fridge visible under the detritus.

We didn't buy it.

Josieann

I'm not sure about allowing viewers to take photos. My reasoning would be that the agent had actually selected the best shots which should be the ones you want the prospective buyers to keep in their minds. You actually need a wide angled lens to create the best effect, not an image on a phone.
As an example, this was our hallway in London. It isn't quite as wide as it looks in the photo, so any viewers looking at the agent's photo would think it was like that.

It's very tidy!!! ?

Germanshepherdsmum

But when they visited they realised that the agent had rather misrepresented the situation?

I don't think so because they physically stood in the space, waved their arms about and commented on how spacious it was. Don't forget, the room plans have all the measurements, and anyway isn't there always some "get out" clause at the bottom of estate agent's blurb about accuracy?

From the sale of the house on the Island (2021) we bought two houses, one for ourselves and the other for our daughter. I shall be buying another later this year too.

But when they visited they realised that the agent had rather misrepresented the situation?

I forgot about having to get a local removal man to take stuff to the auction room. But in our case unsold items were put up the following month with a lower estimate. If still unsold we have the option of taking item back or they will dispose of same to a nearly charity. I was involved in another house clearance. This time the auctioneer guy took a look at the furniture and had little interest in same but asked to look over the rest of the house. He took two other items that fetched the best prices. The prices fetched are miserable though, the bid price has up to 20% taken by the auction house and they also surcharge the buyer another whack.

I'm not sure about allowing viewers to take photos. My reasoning would be that the agent had actually selected the best shots which should be the ones you want the prospective buyers to keep in their minds. You actually need a wide angled lens to create the best effect, not an image on a phone.
As an example, this was our hallway in London. It isn't quite as wide as it looks in the photo, so any viewers looking at the agent's photo would think it was like that.

ShazzaKanazza

When we sold our house in 95 it had been on the market a year without luck but this one day a couple knocked on the door and said they were passing could they look at the house.
I said ‘well you can but it’s a bit of a mess’ . We’d just come in from the seaside with kids buckets spades and sand everywhere but I had put a joint of pork in the oven. I’m sure that’s what sold it. They loved it and said it was homely and bought it.

When we sold in 1990, DH had just left taking a school trip to Switzerland and all 3 DC were in bed asleep when the doorbell went. The viewers had to peak quietly into the bedrooms. By the time DH returned it was sold to the viewers. They still live there.

What's the problem with people taking photos, perhaps to refresh their minds later or for family discussion? Surely the estate agent had taken photos but they wouldn't have been 'warts and all'. It's so easy to lose a potential buyer by objecting. We had so many visits from our buyer and numerous members of their family after accepting the offer I wish they had taken photos to share!