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.

How can any reputable estate agent be sending viewers like this to people’s homes ?

Most agents won’t book an appointment unless they have clarification that your home is on the open market.

What a small, sad world people like this must live in. Well done for telling them to fuck off.

my late mum liked looking round show houses but would never have dreamed of going to private houses. a lot of folk like nosing around show homes im assuming the companies factor in a percentage of lookers may not be buyers

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 brilliant!.
But 3 hours!? Jesus, I'd have sent them packing before then. I wouldn't think a nice day out would be rooting through folks drawers!

I just don't believe that anyone let house viewers stay for 6 hours. After a couple of hours it must be obvious that they are taking the piss.

It's Lo and behold, by the way, not low.

We are going through a house sale now and our estate agent did all the viewings. It would be my worse nightmare to have to show the house. What are estate agents for if not to show the house?

I just dont understand why you would let them stay so long without saying a anything to them?

The mum of my BF from school said she wanted to live in our area. She had my mum driven mad telling her of properties for sale. Even after I told my mum what she was at, my BFM still contacted us if anything was advertised. It only stopped when BF married and moved 15miles away. BFM promptly moved in next door to her. She was a nightmare and I felt sorry for my BF having to put up with her as she continued to house view even after moving. 🤪

Many years ago I had an 2 hour viewing which was followed by a list of questions from the viewer (the agent who conducted the viewing having declined to answer them on the phone). I decided he would be purgatorial to deal with in the event of a sale so I answered accordingly. My replies in italics

Thanks for the call at lunch time. It was very nice speaking to you.

Here are the questions that I’d like to be answered before I can make an informative offer. As you can see, they fall into three main categories:

Motivation and readiness of moving house

1. How long has the vendor been living in the house? I can see the only recent transaction listed in the Land Registry is the one in 2002.

1. I now understand that the vendor is trying to move into a bigger house and won’t be able to move until the sale of the current house. However, I do see a couple of sticking points that could potentially falter the whole process. What if the vendor decides not to sell anymore if she can not locate an idea house or can not get an appropriate mortgage to move on? It would make sense if I can get a rough idea of how quick the whole process can be, as I don’t want to be strangled after I make a commitment to the house.

Rather confused as to what is being actually asked here unless it's "How long is the piece of string with which the gentleman might be strangled?" At a guess, I would suggest that would be dependent on his collar size. What I can definitively state is that, despite my Persian origins, I do not regard strangulation as a legitimate negotiating tool and the death of a prospective purchaser would be as counter to my interests as it would be to his.

Condition of the house
I reckon the renovation has been done to a standard. However, I have the following questions:

1. There’s an obvious dampen/leak in the ceiling of the first floor landing area. From my past experience this obvious leaking is not something minor, which may require a lot of work to identify the leak (as it can come from any part of the roof rather the one above the leaking area) and then to get it fully repaired. Therefore, I would like to know whether this will be fixed before sale and whether I can have the evidence of the fix (i.e. a simple repaint to cover is not what I would be looking for).

The leak in question was due to a weathered concrete gulley at the junction of the roof tile and the flat roof over the study. Luckily, for the gentleman's peace of mind, we were able to pitch the concept of a "Repairing our roof" documentary to a major Hollywood studio so there is ample evidence of the whole course of the repair - a word of caution here, some of the footage is "dramatised", specifically the scene when the leak was first discovered. The film is currently in post-production but we'd be happy to arrange a private screening of the rough footage. Knowing, however, that the camera can lie, perhaps the best evidence would be for the gentleman visit during the next heavy, sustained rainfall and peer intently at the ceiling.

1. Front garden fencing – The house is off a very busy road, which infers high noise and dust level. Currently there’s some wooden panel fence in place, although the height is quite low. I am just wondering whether the vendor has any plan to enhance that before sale or has gained any planning permission to extend the height of the fence.

We were all at loggerheads over how to finish of the frontage in a really imposing and impressive manner so we decided in the end to leave the final choice of boundary marker to the ultimate purchaser. We plan to set aside up to 30% of the sale price for completion of this work. We have outline planning permission for a 3 meter high stone battlement but, unfortunately, the planning authority felt that the moat and drawbridge scheme we originally proposed would interfere significantly with local traffic patterns and public utility provision and maintenance.

1. The property has been listed since end July. Anything major to set this back for that long?

The end of the world on 21st December as predicted by the Mayan calendar was surprisingly high on the list of purchasers' reasons for not proceeding. To be fair, if they had been correct in their prediction, I can see how galling it would have been to fork out for the removal men.

1. The asking price is significantly higher than other similar properties in the areas nearby (there are some recent sales with very similar size, condition, but the sold price is significantly lower). Any other particular reason apart from newly renovated? Is that because the vendor needs to achieve such a level to enable her to buy the next house, if so, that could be tricky?

Yes, but none of the other properties in the area have an exploitable oil field in the back garden. The price would be higher yet if this didn't significantly increase the risk of the property being occupied by the US Armed Forces.

1. What fixtures and fittings will be included as part of the sale – ideally in a list format.

In hindsight, a list would have been much more sensible than our solution of a short animated collage using dried macaroni and crumpled multi-colour tissues. We'll have a re-think and get back to you on that one.

Environment, Neighbourhood, etc

1. What are/were the primary schools her children go/went to?

We don't really think revealing our daughter's whereabouts to a complete stranger is a terrific idea. However, to show willing, we will confirm that her (current) favourite colour is purple.

1. On the police.uk website as well as neighbourhood stats website, it is indicated that this area has a really high crime ratio, with a lot of cases (in particular, burglary, vehicle crime) recorded close to the address. How do people living there feel?

Really high crime ratio? Not sure we'd agree with that assessment. However, as our family and its associates are responsible for upwards of 80% of local crime, any purchaser can expect a significant drop once we've moved out of the area.

1. Any neighbourhood information?

Yes. I know something you don't know, I know something you don't know.

Some other questions for you:

1. Some of the agents in the market now have some policies in dealing with gazumping. Do you have such policies?

1. How many serious interests you have received for this property?

We've had a few serious interests but most inquirers have been fairly jocular and light-hearted.

In the mean time, I would like to book a further viewing (Sat PM 12th?), ideally with the vendor present so that I can have a chat with her just to get some further information, which would enable me to put through a sensible offer after that.
It's our policy not to be present during viewings as they represent a golden opportunity to burgle the viewer's house while it is empty.

Good on you!!! Pair of time wasting CF's!

We had the same, Mother and son, we had two very small children at the time and they stayed about 2 hours, it became obvious that they were on a day out but I didn't have the energy to tell them to sling their hook. Two hungry toddlers soon put them off.

You should have reminded them that they already spent 6 hours in your house before you told them to f-off.

I’ve only read the first statement & im roaring with laughter it’s the sort of thing I’d do!!! Good on you

Bloody brilliant.

years ago me and my house mate used to do this of a weekend, although we were never obnoxious, just 20 and ridiculous 😂
Then I became an estate agent 😂

Different House!!

House viewers can be odd, one woman came, who lived down the road from me, unfortunately for her, I drove past her house every day, went to school with her and her sister, and of course remembered her, and I mentioned this to her, and she had to admit she wasn’t buying, just wanted to see the size of our kitchen, and I’d had to take a days holiday for this !!!

Another woman wanted me to leave my hall phone, I explained it was quite a cheap one, but I wasn’t on planning on leaving it, she was adamant, and eventually I said I could. She then went on to tell me, she heard we’d flooded.
I was at pains to say we were on a slight incline, and clearly next door were a little higher than us, and we were a little higher than our neighbour. Not near a river or stream. and we had never flooded, and probably couldn’t.

When I sold my first house quite a few years back. I was shocked when one of the neighbours turned up for a viewing. Later on the couple across the road from me told me he had shown up to view theirs too. I was stunned. He was just being nosey. I only moved a about 10 minutes away, I bumped in to the nosy neighbour months later and he asked me if I'd bought the house with the big conservatory, which me and DH had, he'd been to look at that too! I thought he was just random nosey parker... He was probably one of these serial house viewers. 😂

Brilliant! Well done, you 😊. And any posters who say you should not have sworn at them can FUCK OFF themselves! 🤣. Some people are so bloody crazy that only a dramatic response will have any effect. Nutters.

Slightly more delicacy ? Are you kidding me? Invite them into your house and then tell us after three hours what you would like to say to them. And don't leave anything out!

So they won't be allowed a second viewing then?

The only way you could have made it better would have been to tell them you'd had a bit of a set back and could they give you 20mins.....then left them outside till they knocked again...and then told them to fuck off

Made my day!!!

I don’t believe that anyone would allow this gif 3 hours, let alone 6. Just don’t believe anybody would tolerate that. And why are they viewing alone and not with Estate agent? I call BS.

Thanks for the story, really had me laughing!

My theory is they do this all the time and the estate agents know it. The agents are using this as their weekly entertainment! Can just imagine the stories they get with various reactions from each seller. Bets on how log each seller lasts😂😂😂

I bet your reaction was the first of its kind though 🤣🤣🤣

We once had viewers on boxing day. It was the only day they could make it as they were visiting relatives. They brought all those relatives with them! and after a Christmas drink one tried to sit in our library. I sent the DH to see them out after discussing my wallpapers. They 'disappeared' and the EA couldn't explain why.

However we have been banned from viewings locally for not proceeding with a sale last year due to a shocking survey. We bought a new home recently and had to prove funds even to view it. No sorry for treating us like sh*t during the process.

It’s not. The person that sold the OP this house told them they spent 6 hours there before Op bought it.