Feedback from viewings

[Madinitials]

Our house has been on the market for a few weeks, and we have about 10 viewings, plus a couple of second viewings and even an offer. Out of all those viewings, only about half have left feedback - is this normal? I spend hours making the house look good, getting the children looked after and they can't even be bothered to say what they didn't like about it.

Have those of you who are selling have the same the experiencing and do those of you who are buying avoid leaving feedback?

Reading that back I seem like such a moaner and I am!!

[RCheshire]

Have sold two places and I'd say got feedback from between 25% and 50%. I leave feedback on places I've viewed if the agent asks me. The most common feedback people give/get is just "It's too expensive for what it is".

[typicalvirgo]

doesn't the EA pester phone the viewers up and ask for their thoughts ?

Thats what I would want my estate agents to be doing for me.

[FruitShootsAndHeaves]

I got feedback from most of the viewers when our house was on the market, but tbh a lot of it was ridiculous and pointless, obviously made because the estate agent pushed them for something to report back.


"It was so nice but such a shame that it is semi-detached"

"oh we could never live in a house without an ensuite now" ...well why bother bloody looking round then!

[BerthaTheBogBurglar]

There is so little on the market at the moment that we are going to look at anything and everything that might possibly be suitable, in the hope that once we get inside we'll love it, and not mind that it is a semi/doesn't have an ensuite/whatever. Most of the time our feedback is "nope, it didn't do it for us, we'll keep looking"

If there is anything really specific we say so. The last lot of feedback was "we love it, let us know when you feel they're ready to accept about 20% less than it's on for now".

[Lizcat]

Better than the feedback my DH once gave of " I would rather sell a kidney than buy this house" since then I have always made sure they phone me.

[KnitterNotTwitter]

It is very annoying when the feedback is something you just can't do anything about - "wish it was nearer the train station" or "wish it had a bigger garden" etc...

[Vickles]

I blame the estate agent for not getting feedback.. no, it's not normal. You are paying them a bloody fortune (when you sell your house) and they're doing very little really for it! They should be chasing the viewers and asking them for feedback! You shouldn't be chasing!

If your estate agents don't sell it for you... then, I cannot recommend the House Network online estate agents enough! Sold our house within 4 weeks... I did all the viewings (who else can sell your house better!) and I arranged all the viewings when it was suitable for me... and I asked for feedback.. and got it, within 48 hours. Really great experience.. and only cost us £350 to sell the house!!! I spent the commission on me!!!

[Madinitials]

Virgo the EA actually calls us a day or two after the viewing to say "this is what they said..." or "we have been chasing them but have heard nothing yet". After a few days I know that it's a no but feedback would be helpful, although if they are saying the garden is too small Knitter then they may as well say nothing, maybe that's why they say nothing!

[GrendelsMum]

I think so often it's something intangible that either makes you buy a house or puts you off it. So when the estate agent asks you for feedback, you scrabble round trying to think of something reasonably polite and sensible to say.

[jollydiane]

You can always put a link on here and you will get more feedback than you will be able to cope with!

[karatekimmi]

As a recent buyer, I hated giving feedback- as said most of the things were unchangable, and the other stuff, well it's not really my place to say. I went to see the house, surely what I thought about it is my business?

Very rarely said what it actually was that put me off. And sometimes, I didn't know what put me off!

[Tothebeat]

,lk

[Flatbread]

Often when I view, the main issue is that price is too high. But if I say that, the EAs usually get defensive. So much easier to say something about the size of the kitchen or another 'acceptable' reason, even it that is not really the deal breaker.

[Busyoldfool]

I hated giving feedback for the same reasons as karatekimmi. In the end it is rarely anything that the seller can do anything about - unless it's drop the price - in which case make an offer and see how they react.

[GrendelsMum]

Just popping on to say how much I like 'Busyoldfool's name. Love that poem!

[buggyRunner]

We sold on out first viewing yet got no feedback
Anyway as someone who has viewed 8 houses and is buying 1 of those I always give feedback. Yet fully appreciate that feedback has sounded ridiculous.

House 1- too expensive to justify the increase in commute. Plus lack of dining space.

House 2- liked, offered, gazumped

House 3- great area, excellent finish but 2 single bedrooms too small and not enough storage. Great garden.

House 4- lovely but lack if external space and too overlooked (by a factory)

House 5- poor quality, bad layout that would be too expensive to change. Beautiful area though

House 6- loved it- great features, excellent decor, garden but on investigation don't like the area / schools

House 7 - loved it buying it

[TunipTheVegemal]

I don't mind silly feedback. If someone says 'It just isn't for us' I know what they mean and it's still helpful to know it's that and not, say, the state of repair that's putting them off.

[Stokey]

We just sold and apart from the five people that put offers in, we only got feedback from two others (out of about 15-20 viewings), one of whom I was sure were going to make an offer but then got offered a job in different part of city. And the other feedback we got, from the person who didn't offer, was "there's no outside space"... which was blatantly obvious from prospectus.

I was a bit surprised that some of the chattiest viewers didn't give feedback, but just assumed they decided it wasn't the place for them so couldn't be bothered. Ours was all done online, so the feedback was in email form so maybe took a bit more effort than just speaking to an agent.

[plutocrap]

It's not really surprising, though. Honest feedback can only benefit the seller and possibly disadvantage a buyer. After all, if the feedback is positive, the buyer is immediately in a weaker position vis-a-vis not only the seller but also the estate agent , through whom they may be looking at other properties, so that enthusiasm - or information about a willingness to pay £x - could follow the buyer to other viewings.

That is, of course, the best case. The worst case is what has just happened to us. We viewed a house and initially didn't want to make an offer, so our feedback may have been rather lukewarm (DH did it). Then DH went around with a friend who has a property project background and engineering in his family, and again, feedback was honest (critical, since the place has got some damp and cracks. Also, I could smell piss in the carpets, though no-one else, apparently, could!). We put in a low offer. Another family also bid. We counterbid twice, and were rejected, and although our last bid was close to the original, outrageous, asking price, the vendor has told us to stop bothering her! We believe our "honest feedback" offended her, and she is willing to get £15K less from the other family, who may also discover structural problems when they do their survey.

Given this, we're not going to give anything but bland feedback ever again, unless we don't want a house. We just don't trust vendors and agents not to turn it against us! OP, you may be a normal and reasonable person, but in a market like this, where there's so little available, we buyers are going to be careful with what few possibilities there are!

[plutocrap]

P.S. no-one mentioned the piss to the vendors/agent. I discussed it with DH and FIL at home.

[NightLark]

Last 3 places we viewed: one of them the estate agent asked for feedback but cut me off the second I started, so I got to say "lovely, but a bit too small for us" and that was all!

The others we never heard from the agents again - I'm not going to phone up in order to tell them that I'm not going to buy a house!

So sometimes it is crap agents not doing their job.

Maybe they make up feedback for the vendors?

[Longtalljosie]

I think probably irritating feedback (if only it had an en suite) is probably estate agents saying "this one's nearby, why don't you look at it at the same time". Which can be helpful but also means you're scrubbing your house for someone who's unconvinced.

[NoraHelmer]

Our Estate Agent appears to be giving viewers a feedback sheet to complete when they're at the viewing, so presumably they have to hand it back when they go. So far we've had 100% feedback but then we've only had 2 viewings :(.

The market is really slow to non-existent in our town. We've been on the market for 18 months and have switched agents to a national chain in the hope they have a bit better luck.

We've had stupid comments, in the past, like "loved the house, but where's the garage and why isn't there a shed?". Well, the sales particulars say there's no garage (we converted part of it to extend the house), so they obviously didn't read the SP. As for the shed - put your own in if you want one - we didn't because we don't want one!

[pootlebug]

I think sometimes the feedback that should be obvious from the particulars is because the viewer wondered if they could compromise on it, but the house wasn't 'right' in enough other respects to do so.

Say I wanted a garage....if a house had no garage but was right area right size right orientation etc I might view it anyway. But in the end if it didn't seem nearly perfect in other respects I wouldn't go for it because it lacked one of my main criteria. But that means that when the EA phones me up I might end up saying something about the lack of garage (and annoying the vendors for stating the bleeding obvious....)

[lottiegb]

We looked at about 30 houses in a short time before buying, partly to get a feel for the local market, partly chasing everything that met our criteria, so this included houses we knew we were unlikely to be interested in and some that were ok on paper but unlikely to appeal on viewing. Trying to remember which was which when asked for feedback by different agents a couple of days later, never mind find something constructive to say was quite hard, though we did try, as I know how helpful feedback can be, if it's on anything you could do something about.

The reality is I know almost as soon as I walk through the door whether it's a yes, no, or maybe, especially so if it's a no. That's an instinctive reaction, 'not right for us / doesn't feel right' not a rationalised one, so trying to pin it to reasons afterwards is an effort. The only ones feedback would really be relevant for are the maybes, where there's either something that could be improved, or it depends on price or what else is available.