I would not let them in!

[snowandshowers]

5 years ago we had viewers to our house which was for sale. A retired couple arrived with a clip board held out in front of the man. They came in and were a nightmare. Opening my windows, wardrobes, kitchen draws, running taps, jumping up and down on my floor, taking photos, flushing toilets, and much much more! After 3 hours I had had enough and said we were going out so they would have to leave.
We never heard from them again but the owner of the house we eventually bought said she had had them view hers and they had stayed 6 hours doing the same things.

I later found out they are serial house viewers and do it as a "nice day out".
Anyway we are now moving again and low and behold who turns up at the door, only Mr and Mrs pain in the arse. I did not remember their name or I would have refused a viewing. Same as last time clip board and pen ready.

The moment I opened the door I recognized them.

I was so angry with these time wasters I just said "YOU AGAIN! FUCK OFF! and closed the door.
I feel better now.

Can you clarify something for me @snowandshowers - you had your house on the market 5 years ago and this couple spent 3 hours in it testing everything out for sturdiness.
You then mention a second house that they had spent 6 hours (essentially a day in, to all intents and purposes) in and you bought that second house?
So this couple wouldn't know that you were the fortunate buyers of the 6hr house at all.

This couple would probably only remember you from the first house and when you opened the door in the second, they wouldn't have had a breeze or expected you to be there, let alone remember them from 5 years ago.

It's a small world after all!!! 😆😆😆

This story is just pure comedic gold! 😂😂😂

This is genuinely the most satisfying thread I've seen on here. I'd like to give you some kind of award. Riposte of the day, perhaps? 😂

Oh god, this reminds me of this AWFUL family who came to view our house. Young couple with 3 young kids. It was during covid times and we had to be out for their viewings.

Our house was absolutely massive and took 8.5 hours to prepare for each viewing (we timed it). They stayed for HOURS, didn’t take their shoes off, we found mud prints on our light carpet and a sofa and it was very clear that the kids jumped on our beds. We sent pics to the idiotic estate agent who allowed it and he apologised profusely, but said maybe it was worth it because they booked a second viewing and it looks promising.

The second viewing (another 8.5hours or work) was cancelled 15 mins after they were supposed to be there.

Third viewing (more fool us!) - many hours of more disgusting behaviour, kids once again had a field day on the swings, even rolling on the grass with their idiotic and erratic mother. Then… blocked the phone no of the estate agent.

If you recognise yourself in my post… we HATE you.

3 hours?!?! Or 6?!? I would not be allowing that!!!!

I once went to view a house I had zero interest in buying. I had just bought mine, and this one was in the same neighbourhood, exactly the same layout, but they listed 2 bathrooms (mine only had the one - which was the standard for this layout), so I booked a viewing to see how that had been done!

I then did it to my own house (I was going to remodel anyway)

But this house was empty, having just been fully refurbished by investors, and I was there only about 20 minutes, if that!

I think you should print out their happy -> shocked faces from the doorbell footage, put the pix on flyers & hand them out to local estate agents.

It reminds me of someone saying one of the hazards of opening your garden to the public is that some couples bring a packed lunch & stay in your garden ALL DAY, just sitting on a bench.

I love this, well done 🤣

Ex agent here. Reckon I've sold around 1,000 houses. I can assure you that the overwhelming majority of people do NOT do these things! Certainly not on a first visit.

If they are known for being serial house viewers who never buy, surely all the estate agents in the local area would know them well as time-wasters by now just like you do, and be reluctant to let them keep viewing houses?

Why don't you put a screenshot on here of their shocked faces

I'd love to have seen their faces. I'm nosy and love looking at houses - but I stick to Rightmove!

It does raise an interesting point, though, that we make what is, for most of us, the most significant value purchase we'll ever make on a quick tour or two of the house.

You can’t post a photograph of someone without their permission.

If you don’t believe the OP, report the post.

People cannot be this gullible

I would quickly stop the first visit after 20 min

Well done you.
Never allow strange people to photo your house though.
Make sure estate agents do a thorough check to see

1. if finances are available
2. do they have their house up for sale

We had day trippers once. Now I don’t allow anyone in unless they satisfy 1 and 2.

The last part of this has truly made my day 😂😂😂 well done OP!

These checks are why surveys are done.

Pretty sure PP wasn't being serious 🙄 or troll-hunting the OP...... although who knows on MN these days.

I read the thread on the spirit in which it was meant, a funny story 😄 🤣 Thanks for the laugh @snowandshowers !

I know a couple who does this, go on house viewings as a hobby I mean. They are pretty open about it, they say that they like to look inside houses, and that they are curious. They are early retirement age.
They are a very nice couple though, so I hope they don't act like the couple you met! I think they just look around, and then leave.

Interestingly enough, the couple I know, they actually move house quite often. They have lived in 4 different houses in the same county during the last 10 years. So maybe they are just very interested in houses!

OP, by the way, you did the right thing!

Not quite as bad as these 3 hours viewers, but I have to confess to an awkward moment viewing houses.
I was looking at a potential purchase on a new estate and headed to what I thought was the show home. I tried the front door, which appeared to be locked, so I decided I might as well look in the windows to get an idea of the layout.

The living room looked ok but there were newspapers scattered all over the coffee table. I mentioned to my DH that I assumed the house builder was trying to make it look a bit more “homely” and less staged.
We walked around the back, let ourselves in through the garden gate, to the kitchen window and saw dishes draining by the sink and slowly things started falling into place.

Unfortunately, DH had moved along to the patio doors and already had his hands cupped around his eyes and face pressed against so he could see in better and yes, there was a man sitting working at his dining table. He glanced up and I’m not sure who was more horrified. Imagine suddenly finding a random couple standing on your garden borders, having let themselves in, peering closely at you through your own window.

We did the sensible thing and scarpered. I felt at the time that an explanation would have made it even worse - so if the homeowner is on here and remembers this incident, I genuinely apologise.

God this unlocked a memory, I remember being dragged round show homes of a weekend with parents who definitely not

Going to buy anywhere. I remember thinking the fake cardboard tvs were weird but it was always a bonus if the loo was plumbed in.

Would just add that, while the way it works in England it is really unfair because of the seller's time they are wasting, in other countries this is a well known thing and accepted. In Australia where I grew up, most houses were sold by auction, and the estate agents would designate a day or a certain number of days for viewings by prospective buyers. They would put it on the hoardings outside the property sayng when the viewing days were, and you could just show up. My DM used to love going to these in the neighbourhood to see what people had done with their houses even though she had no intention to buy. She sometimes went to the auctions too - although you had to be careful not to do anything that might suggest you were bidding. In fact, the estate agents encouraged you to go to auctions you were not interested in as a crowd somehow makes people more encouraged to bid - but you were generally advised to send somebody else to bid for you if you were actually really interested as it is too easy to get carried away and bid well over what you can afford - with a bidding agent, they will stop where you tell them to stop. Numerous cases of people who hadn't intended to bid or been unsure and then ended up with the property on a whim.

Auctions were again generally at the house in question, giving people another chance to look around. Never having sold that way, I am not totally sure what happened to the sellers, but i think they might have made themselves scarce - or at least knew that from the hours of X to Y people would be traipsing all over the house.

This is hilarious.

To be fair, if I was buying a house I'd want to know about the water pressure so flushing the loos and running the taps would important.