House sale & people not turning up for arranged viewings!

Grandmotherto8

When I sell a house I always instruct the estate agents to only allow viewings from buyers who have already sold, subject to contract. I am very firm about this otherwise you get voyeurs who have house viewing as a hobby. When the EA, who always takes the potential buyers round, call to make an appointment, I get details from them on the position their buyers are in.

You might be missing out on one or more suitable buyers by doing that.

When I came viewing my current house = my last house had been on the market for about 2 months at that point. I decided to have it and said to the vendor that my house was on the market and "It will sell at 3 months on the market - that's 2 weeks time. I'll let you know when I have that buyer". That is exactly what happened. I'd allowed 3 months exactly at the start for the time it would take and - at 1 day before 3 months I rang back up to the vendors estate agent and said "I told him it would take 3 months - this is 3 months minus 1 day and my current house has just sold today. I now have my buyer".

Personally I cba to view a house unless I genuinely regard it as a "possibility"...

When we sold in 2006 we had so many viewings arranged. Some did not turn up, others just looked round for a minute or two, it obviously wasn't what they were looking for - so why did they come? Such a waste of our time to get the house ready and to go our whilst they were there.
Last time we sold I asked the agents not to put our house on their website, and to only offer to show it to people who were genuinely looking for a house like ours and whom they knew had the finance. There was a similar sized and priced house very close to us and they often showed both together. This worked well, we had just three viewers and one of them bought it.

Grandmotherto8

When I sell a house I always instruct the estate agents to only allow viewings from buyers who have already sold, subject to contract. I am very firm about this otherwise you get voyeurs who have house viewing as a hobby. When the EA, who always takes the potential buyers round, call to make an appointment, I get details from them on the position their buyers are in.

I think that this is very sensible, though you might miss out on some buyers. Usually the agents can find out if the buyers are realistically close to selling their house (if they are working for them or know their agents) though things can always go wrong.
Most agents won't consider an offer unless the buyers are in a position to proceed anyway, and a few days delay before viewing the house they like won't realistically make much difference.

cc

Grandmotherto8

When I sell a house I always instruct the estate agents to only allow viewings from buyers who have already sold, subject to contract. I am very firm about this otherwise you get voyeurs who have house viewing as a hobby. When the EA, who always takes the potential buyers round, call to make an appointment, I get details from them on the position their buyers are in.

I think that this is very sensible, though you might miss out on some buyers. Usually the agents can find out if the buyers are realistically close to selling their house (if they are working for them or know their agents) though things can always go wrong.
Most agents won't consider an offer unless the buyers are in a position to proceed anyway, and a few days delay before viewing the house they like won't realistically make much difference.

That few days may make a difference.

I came here on holiday to check out the town and do viewings of the houses I'd decided on whilst here. The one I got in the event was the one I'd deemed "most likely". If I'd been refused a viewing = I wouldnt have been able to buy it (as I'd not have put in an offer on a house I wasnt even allowed in).

With that = I anticipate the house would have taken literally months longer to sell - as (unbeknown to me) there were two potential local buyers lurking in the wings pretending not to be interested - working on a strategy of "Let's pretend to the vendor no-one wants this tatty old-fashioned little probate house (as it was at the time) and make him wait for months thinking no-one wants it - and then he'll reduce the price and we will pounce and suddenly show our interest after all".

I'd say they would have made him wait - with an apparent lack of interest going on - for at least 3 more months before they stopped pretending not to be interested. They may well have pretended disinterest for a few more months on top of that as well.

Personally - I think a good estate agent can pretty well suss out what's what when they show someone around. The one I had selling my last house pretty much told me exactly what they thought of all viewers and their likely intentions. That culminated in them telling me which viewer would be making an offer I'd accept - even though she pretended not to be interested for a few days after viewing and they told me exactly why she wanted the house and that she was actually desperate for it (despite the faked low interest level she showed). I was highly amused at the way they showed her a cheaper/better house near local "dump estate" school and then commented on the (much better) near-to-me school. They spelt it out LOL - just in case I'd missed the point....

I do viewings for a local estate agent (a brilliant post retirement job) and in three years I can only recall 4/5 no shows. Most people let the office know if they can’t make it, sometimes very last minute. You can spot the time wasters if they’re more interested in the decor, furnishings, book collection etc. than the actual property.

Selling our house in the north of Scotland we had a trio of very " merry " viewers who giggled all through the viewing and had no intention to buy anything. They had had a very liquid lunch.
In Aberdeen we left my mother in charge of the children and two ladies came to the door asking if they could view the house. My mother told them that the house had been sold but not to be put off they asked if they could look round it anyway . They did not get the chance to look round.

Floradora9

Selling our house in the north of Scotland we had a trio of very " merry " viewers who giggled all through the viewing and had no intention to buy anything. They had had a very liquid lunch.
In Aberdeen we left my mother in charge of the children and two ladies came to the door asking if they could view the house. My mother told them that the house had been sold but not to be put off they asked if they could look round it anyway . They did not get the chance to look round.

Well at least your mother stuck to the agreement and didnt plan on reneging on it by showing other people round after it had been agreed. Good for her!

I had to be quite firm to make vendor of my current house stick to the agreement. It had all been agreed and, very fortunately, I'd already sussed what the vendor was like and told their estate agent "If I hear of anyone else viewing what is now MY house - then I will drop it like a stone and buy my 2nd choice house with that other estate agent instead".

Just as well as, in the event, the (previously silent) would-be local buyers promptly requested a viewing of my house as soon as they heard I'd had my offer accepted!!!!!! Cheeky "expletive deleteds"! The estate agent didn't dare show them "my" house after what I'd said - and they had to go off with steam obviously coming out of their ears and kicking themselves that their strategy of "keep quiet and pretend not to be interested - until he puts the price down" had failed them. Blinkin' little vendor promptly demanded a bit more money than we had already agreed - only days before!!!

One of those two people concerned still wanted my particular little area....and I landed up with her buying the next door house when it became available (she'd taken the precaution this time of telling her friend the owner not to put it with an estate agent - so no-one else would know it was up for sale.......). She is not a good next-door neighbour.......

They might have done a drive past, noticed that the property was not for them and wiped the viewing off their appointments. Not having common curtesy is the thing, they should have informed the estate agent, who should have informed you.

karmalady

They might have done a drive past, noticed that the property was not for them and wiped the viewing off their appointments. Not having common curtesy is the thing, they should have informed the estate agent, who should have informed you.

On a lot of properties one doesn't even have to do a drive-past to check out the vicinity these days.

There's Googlemaps and one can manage to virtually "walk" around an area and up the street in question in advance that way. There are odd houses that won't be featured on it - and that's actually one of the reasons why I bought my current one (ie as I could see the entrance to the road and "walk around" the area generally - but I couldnt "walk" up to the house and therefore figured it would have a degree of privacy - something pretty important in the 2020's onward I feel).

Though I still think it's an idea to have an "in person" walk past if possible - but, in conjunction with that, not actually book a viewing until having done at least a virtual "walk past" (that should be enough to show up a scrap yard next door garden or a nearby pub or, for those of us without a car, a nearby busy road).

theretheredear if you type in Help calm, me house buying and selling stress.
You will find a thread I joined in March 2019.. it was a lifeline for me and I wasn't alone going through this hell by myself. The last of that thread is 2021. But I am sure it will help you.

Just found part 10 dated 13th December 2022.

I’m afraid dd and I once didn’t turn up for a viewing (she was buying) because when we were just yards away we saw noisy young blokes drinking in the front garden of the house next door, and very loud music blaring out.
We did phone the agent and tell him not to bother, though - he hadn’t arrived yet.

CariadAgain We do the same thing - photos and videos can be so misleading about room sizes, etc.

We get the plans on the website showing room sizes and go through room by room, checking the plans against the photos. If it's still okay we do a virtual walkabout courtesy of Google (bearing in mind Google may not be up to date), and even a virtual look over the garden and surrounding area sometimes.

If it still pans out we make an estate agent booking for the afternoon, and travel to the area and do a walkabout in person in the morning. If we change our minds then we still have time to cancel without it being too short notice.

Whiff

theretheredear if you type in Help calm, me house buying and selling stress.
You will find a thread I joined in March 2019.. it was a lifeline for me and I wasn't alone going through this hell by myself. The last of that thread is 2021. But I am sure it will help you.

Thank you Whiff, I’ll check it out!

The NHS is free

No, it’s not.

Which is why missed appointments etc with no good reason should be charged for.

Calendargirl

^The NHS is free^

No, it’s not.

Which is why missed appointments etc with no good reason should be charged for.

There is that on the one hand v. on the other hand if we are expected to be aware of "fulfilling obligations towards them" - then the expectations in reverse will be higher too.

I was only reading a letter to a newspaper earlier today where a woman has obviously been pretty recently widowed and now she needs to go into hospital for an operation and they won't let her. Their "reason" being that there is not a relative or friend available to pick her up after it to bring her home again. She has been asking around about this and promptly found 3 other people living on their own in the same position. The NHS won't accept any of the four of them getting themselves back home by taxi - but keep on demanding a friend or relative pick them up afterwards. Basically they are being prevented from having their operations by the NHS - and so I guess it's a case of having to have them in the private sector (whether they can afford it or no) and presumably they will accept the person making whatever arrangements they make for pick-ups (including taxis).

CariadAgain

Calendargirl

The NHS is free

No, it’s not.

Which is why missed appointments etc with no good reason should be charged for.

There is that on the one hand v. on the other hand if we are expected to be aware of "fulfilling obligations towards them" - then the expectations in reverse will be higher too.

I was only reading a letter to a newspaper earlier today where a woman has obviously been pretty recently widowed and now she needs to go into hospital for an operation and they won't let her. Their "reason" being that there is not a relative or friend available to pick her up after it to bring her home again. She has been asking around about this and promptly found 3 other people living on their own in the same position. The NHS won't accept any of the four of them getting themselves back home by taxi - but keep on demanding a friend or relative pick them up afterwards. Basically they are being prevented from having their operations by the NHS - and so I guess it's a case of having to have them in the private sector (whether they can afford it or no) and presumably they will accept the person making whatever arrangements they make for pick-ups (including taxis).

I’m not sure if you meant to post this on my thread?

But, I think it’s incredibly sad if an individual has no friend or relative to take them home after an operation….

CariadAgain

Calendargirl

The NHS is free

No, it’s not.

Which is why missed appointments etc with no good reason should be charged for.

There is that on the one hand v. on the other hand if we are expected to be aware of "fulfilling obligations towards them" - then the expectations in reverse will be higher too.

I was only reading a letter to a newspaper earlier today where a woman has obviously been pretty recently widowed and now she needs to go into hospital for an operation and they won't let her. Their "reason" being that there is not a relative or friend available to pick her up after it to bring her home again. She has been asking around about this and promptly found 3 other people living on their own in the same position. The NHS won't accept any of the four of them getting themselves back home by taxi - but keep on demanding a friend or relative pick them up afterwards. Basically they are being prevented from having their operations by the NHS - and so I guess it's a case of having to have them in the private sector (whether they can afford it or no) and presumably they will accept the person making whatever arrangements they make for pick-ups (including taxis).

If that were me, I’d just pretend I had someone - and then ring for a taxi.

On a similar topic, a friend’s dd - a single parent* - had her 4th baby not long ago, and walked out early on the morning after giving birth, and took 2 buses home.
Her own mother was as 😱 as I was - we were both astonished that it was allowed. Usually they’re adamant that they must have someone with a car, or else a cab.
Almost certainly an oversight.

*not on benefits, in case anyone’s wondering - she’s self funded.

theretheredear

I realise this looks the wrong thread, (NHS) but it was in reply to an earlier comment by Claremont.