Would you rather ....

[123rd]

We are putting our house on the market but can't decide if its better for the agents to show potential buyers round or should I do it? When we have been looking I prefer the owners showing us round. Dh would rather have the agent. What would you rather???( I think you can get a better idea of the place if the owner shows you. )

[MaryMotherOfCheeses]

I'd rather have the agent. Means you can have a good old nosey without having to be polite.


If a viewer has particular questions, it might be helpful to meet the vendor on the second viewing.

[gnoomi]

I've viewed lots of houses recently: agent. It's very awkward with the owner there, you can't talk freely about what you might want to do to the property. I find it so off-putting it actually puts me off properties. I wouldn't refuse to see one if the owner was there, but this is what you are paying the agent for.

[AFishWithoutABicycle]

I like the owner being there.

[aufaniae]

I also liked the owner being there, I felt you got a truer picture of what the house was really like to live in, and its history, from them.

[123rd]

Was thinking that if it was evening viewings then I would probably have to do them-and get dh out of the house with dc. But also also make the EA earn their fee! So maybe I can do "out of hours" viewings. And I agree people would probably come back for a second viewing if they are seriously interested. I know I would

[aufaniae]

Why not go for an online agent like housenetwork.co.uk? You do your own viewings and pay only £600, not 2% of your fee or whatever.

We sold our flat through them and it worked well.

[OneStepCloser]

Interesting aufaniae, we've just put ours on with Housenetwork, good to know it worked out for you, I am a bit nervous about it

Sorry, I wouldnt mind either way, agent or owner.

[123rd]

Where does that get advertised? I only ever checked right move for houses. I had looked a couple of other "sell your own property" sites but none of them had anything in our general area. That figure is a lot more attractive than the 1% we will end up paying....but we have had an offer accepted on a house and want to get ours sold ASAP before we lose out.
I really hate this whole process....and ours hasn't really started yet !

[123rd]

I just checked that website. No properties at all for the town I want!
I wonder what it is with folk round here..probably don't trust the tinternet!

[aufaniae]

House network advertise on all the property sites, so rightmove, zoopla, prime location etc etc. Mine was the only one in our area too.

The downside is they don't do valuations. We invited 4 traditional estate agents to cone see the place and got the valuation from them. (There was £40k difference between valuations!) We decided to give the online agents a go and if it didn't work use an agent. You're not tied into a contract with an online agent.

My flat was in a suddenly trendy part of London so bound to sell however.

What's the market like near you?

[aufaniae]

There was nothing else on in my area rather FWIW.

But that doesn't matter IMO when you're advertising online IMO as the buyers just find it on rightmove or wherever.

[MrsRoss26]

Like pp I'd go for EA viewings. When I was in the process of buying my previous & current house I've refused to look around properties shown by the seller. My dh had to do a first viewing and decide if it was worth my looking after. You can't be as detailed with the sellers, less prodding, fewer questions etc. Don't do it!

[aufaniae]

Onestepcloser good luck! Has yours been listed yet?

[aufaniae]

A tip for viewing on your own: tell them up front that you are going to show them round, then go sit in the garden (or wherever) while they have another look by themselves.

Show them a room, then let them enter the room in front of you. If it's a small room, don't even go in with them, hover at the door. Have something nice to say about each room, plan this ahead of time. As you've actually lived there use that to your advantage and tell them great stuff about the local area an estate agent wouldn't know (about the great local school / community feeling / whatever)

We printed out a copy of the photos details for them to take away - if you visit a traditional agent you get a paper set of details, and if you're viewing lots of properties it helps you remember all if them, they can kinda merge into one after a while! I didn't want ours to be the one that got forgotten!

[aufaniae]

But do let them have a good look round without you (if you can bear to trust them!)

[ZingWantsCake]

I think I'd better at selling our house than agent, but as I buyer I'd prefer neither!

I just want to be left alone to walk around and have no pressure at all. I hate people talking to me when I want to be quiet and concentrate.

any "technical questions" can be discussed on second viewing.

[aufaniae]

Zing that's why we thought it important to let them know upfront that they would get an opportunity to loon round again in a minute, so if they were the kind of person who wanted to be on their own they knew they only had to suffer us for a bit!

[aufaniae]

Or look even!

[ZingWantsCake]

sorry aufaniae

mine was just a general reply to OP, not directly aimed at you! ]

[frostyfingers]

We've always done the showing round and not had any problems. I think as a buyer it helps because it gives a more personal feel and you can ask questions directly whereas quite often an EA has to answer at a later date.

On the last 2 occasions of selling our EA has gone round the house with us showing us the order in which to do it and roughly how much time to spend. When we were selling our last house which was on a really quiet lane he advised that we spent a bit of time standing right next to the road to demonstrate that it was quiet and how few cars used it. It worked too - the people who bought it lived on a main road and were thrilled about it being so quiet!

When I'm buying it doesn't really bother me either way, although the agent when we looked at one house put me off with all his estate agent speak.....deceptively spacious, versatile blah blah!

[OneStepCloser]

aufaniae, its going up early next week and we are London as well, the market is moving very fast here. We had some traditional agents to value and will go with their estimates.

Great tips about viewing, thanks will use them!

[TooMuchRain]

I find it really awkward when the owner is there, I feel I can't talk about the house with DP

[123rd]

Thanks for all your posts. I would say it pretty split. We had three EA round today-another one tomorrow. We are looking to put it on ASAP. But now have the quandary of wording on the sale. One EA said to get offers in excess of £200k and it can only go up. the others said put it on at £210k and expect to get less
Hadn't even thought about OIEO!!!
I like the idea as you will catch people of put £200 max on the search parameters. But would it put you off if you saw it in an advert?
Tia

[mummaemma]

the agent. after all thats what you pay them to do

[Relaxedandhappyperson]

Personally I wouldn't even register OEIO and would just see the nimber. Then I would offer less than the asking price. I'm not in trendy London hotspots though.