Sellers doing viewings rather than EA?

[Done41]

How do you feel about this? Do you prefer the seller or an estate agent to do viewings?

This is the first house I’ve sold so I’m lacking experience!

We did our viewings when we sold our house as realistically the estate agents didn’t have the time or the flexibility like we did. The estate agent couldn’t offer evening viewings or weekends. Personally flexibility is key.

I have no preference. As PP says the flexibility is the important thing. If both the vendor and the agent can do viewings you can offer them at times more convenient to various buyers

Also unless it was an open house viewing on for example a Saturday AM…… every viewing we did was the owner showing us around.

I hated being shown round by the vendor personally. I felt like I couldn’t make any comments to DH as we went around without potentially offending them in their own home. A well briefed estate agent who knows the property can be hard to come by though!

Unless you’re likely to be really bad at it for some reason, sellers can be way more effective than agents in showing off the positives of their home. Not the agent’s ’and here’s a cupboard, for storage’ but your ‘this cupboard is really good for putting x and y in as it’s way bigger than you’d think’ etc.

On the other hand, some people feel uncomfortable being shown round by the owner as they feel they can’t be open about their feelings or discuss potential changes. You could mitigate some of that maybe by making it clear you understand someone new would want to make it their own, but you’ll always have buyers who really prefer agents.

No preference
but
do not follow them around pointing out the “nice fireplace” or the “power shower”

greet them, suggest they have a look around and that you’re available me for any questions at all.

Prefer the EA.

When I first put my house on the market I absolutely didn't want to show buyers around, but as time went on I got used to the idea. It feels so intrusive, but you have to remember that most of them won't like it, but they are not judging you, they are judging the house - the layout, size, location or whether it needs more spending on it than they want.

I think that you are better able to point out the nice things eg. you get the sun in the evening in this room, what work you've had done or things about the area than an EA.

Your EA should give you some tips, and I was advised to show them each room working up the house then leave them on the top floor to work their own way back down and for them to feel free to ask any questions.

I prefer the EA. There was one I read the other day where they couldn't work out why their house wasn't selling and it turned out it was because one of the couple insisted on following potential buyers around wittering on about all her memories of various parts of the house.
You've really got to have the right personality to do viewings on your own house.

We have just sold our house and I did the viewings myself. Everyone seemed open to me showing them around and it gave them opportunities to ask me questions that the estate agent wouldn't know. Once I had shown them around and had a chat I would leave them to go around again by themselves. This meant that they could talk to each other and point things out without me being in earshot as I know most people like to discuss things between themselves.

When we viewed the house we are buying the vendors showed us around and I liked meeting them and they actually offered us a cuppa and we sat and had a chat. You can also ask them questions about the neighbours, the area, why are they moving, what the broadband speed is like etc etc which we found useful.

Its personal preference really. We always told our agents that if anyone wanting to view wasn't comfortable with me showing them around then I would go out and leave the agent to do it.

This is what I was worried about! You feel you can be more honest with an EA than the seller, get more feedback from them if it’s not selling too?

I prefer to use the EA myself but there is a value in meeting the vendor if you’re serious to ask questions about the locality, garden etc.

In Scotland it's normal for the sellers to do the viewings. If someone got their EA to do it instead I'd wonder what they were trying to hide tbh. Sellers obviously know much more about the house, area, neighbours so it's better if you can get info straight from them.

Yes agree, if I do viewings I think I’ll greet and then disappear into the garden for a while.

I’ve sold a couple of properties in London and didn’t do a single viewing myself. I think there may be regional differences in what’s considered normal.

I prefer a EA. Last time we looked around house, the vender ones weren't very informative and it was awkward asking some questions. Some just followed us around not really saying much

But I would consider doing it for selling our house when we get there if it means more flexibility for buyers.

We’ve just moved house, and I don’t really like being shown round by the sellers. But also I find that an awful lot of EAs just don’t have the info you ask for. And I don’t think I ask difficult or unexpected questions!
My preference would be
-well informed EA
-nice helpful seller who lets you look round by yourself and is available to answer any questions
-annoying seller, at least you get some info
-useless EA who knows nothing and they may as well just not be there

Also concerns me as my neighbours are pretty shit…if buyers ask outright I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say, no actual huge issues but parking and noise can be annoying. I couldn’t honestly say the usual ‘oh they are quiet’ ! I suppose I’d have to appeal to families with ‘oh they have children of that age too’ …etc 😬

“We keep ourselves to ourselves”

With neighbours and the area, you’re unlikely to get accurate answers either way. The EA won’t know the detail, and the seller won’t say if it’s negative. No one is saying “actually the reason we’re moving is because the neighbours are a bloody nightmare who’ve made our lives hell”.

That sort of info is stuff I try to find out separately from the seller or EA.

If I want to check in a cupboard to see how big it is or whatever, I would far rather the vendor wasn't there!

Fair enough! That was probably a poor example, mostly inspired by a dreadful agent who dragged us laboriously round a house intoning ‘and this is a cupboard that you can put things in’ etc until I wanted to cry a little. But I think the chance to point out some of the subtly great things about your home is good, if you can do it without being overbearing.

You need to do whatever is "standard" for your area.
Round here, I have never known an estate agent do the viewing. So it would be treated with unease. My understanding is in other areas most viewings are EA hosted.

It's awkward but it's good to get an idea of the sort of people the vendors are and whether they are going to be a pain in the arse to do business with. I ignored my instincts about a vendor once and they ended up gazumping us. I won't make that mistake again.

I've also found when viewing properties with an EA, if you ask for specific information about something that they don't know immediately, they say they will email you as soon as they get back to the office but I have never had one follow up on it.