to want to view a house more than once before putting in an offer?

[ohhifruit]

We've viewed a few places and 3 of them have been potentials.

1. Viewed 3 times before deciding it wasn't quite right for us. We were very close to putting in a bid but the work required would have been too much. The EA seemed to think 3 times was excessive but I did not think it was outlandish when spending thousands upon thousands of pounds.

1. We're booked into see a house for the second time this weekend with a builder friend so he can tell us what kind of work he thinks would be possible. When I spoke to the EA he said "a second viewing, do you think you'll be making an offer?" as if viewing a place we could potentially live in for more than 5 minutes was totally unreasonable unless we were 100% sure we'd put in an offer.

1. Viewed a house about 6 months ago and the vendors said our second viewing could only be for 5 minutes. I felt like Anneka Rice. The first viewing hardly took 10 minutes so it's not like the last time we were in there watching Panorama and eating their cheese and motherbanging crackers.

I'm half imaging viewing retirement properties in my 70s by merely opening the letterbox and having a good sniff.

How many times did you view your house before you put in an offer?
How many times is unreasonable? 2, 3, 4, 9, 67?

Biggest purchase of our lives and we spend such a short time viewing in order to make that decision! I spend longer choosing a car than I ever have when looking around a house. I think first time around you don't really look for things that would cause concern, so second and maybe third viewings give you a chance to see beyond room layout and sizes and pick out obvious failings.

Twice, with the second being a very detailed look that takes an hour or so. A 5 minute 2nd viewing would be utterly pointless.

I'd do a 3rd viewing if the second threw up a specific issue that I wanted to get a specialist in to check - in that case I'd probably put in a conditional offer after the 2nd viewing and confirm it after the 3rd.

I'm trying to sell my house and it's soul destroying. I've had people come round who then reject it for reasons such as room size or layout (clearly shown on the brochure), not in the catchment area of their preferred school (why not check with the school beforehand?!), not enough room for their horses (it says how much land there is on the brochure), or location (look on Google Earth perhaps?!). All I ask is that viewers do a little homework before viewing, and that they have a clear idea of what sort of property they're after. I've had viewers not know what sort of property they're after, which isn't great considering mine isn't a standard terrace on an estate but an individual property in the countryside. I do the viewings, happy to do so as I know my house best (and it's more practical for various reasons), and they can take as long as they like looking around. But I'm self employed and every viewing costs me money in lost earnings so I want viewers to be serious.

I would hope a vendor knows beforehand that my place ticks the boxes that are important to them and are really viewing to see if the "feel" of the place suits them too. By all means come back for a 2nd viewing (with relevant people in tow) to check for nasties and to ensure their stuff fits, but I'd wonder why they'd need a 3rd visit after that really. If they weren't sure about the place after 2 leisurely viewings and a detailed brochure I'd be getting worried TBH, but would show them round a 3rd time. Any more than that though and I'd be thinking they could be a total PITA with every tiny detail throughout the sale. I know someone who has taken 6 years to find a property because she was so fussy, yet her new place isn't even her forever home. Some people would be better off building their own property so every tiny detail is to their satisfaction!

I've bought 3 houses in the past 4 years and offered after the second viewing and had vendors who were happy to let me do more detailed viewing after the offer so I could arrange for the builders to get started ASAP after purchase (but to let properties). Mind you, they knew we were good buyers who would complete the sale.

Once or twice. If we like somewhere we're fairly thorough with our viewing though

If you can offer a buyer an hour long second viewing then they shouldn't need a third.

Trouble is a lot of agents won't do this - you get an awkward 10 minutes with them standing their checking their phone and looking cross.

Start questioning anything (like, what is this big bunch of bare electrical wires doing behind this cupboard?) and they clam up.

It's hopeless, you feel so unwelcome that you just think fuck it.

I would have loved an hour long second viewing.

Rooners This is exactly it, the agent makes you feel so unwelcome and like you're out of your mind for asking questions. Last week when we viewed this house for the first time I asked 3 questions
"Do you know how old the boiler is?"
"Is the ceiling rose/skirting/picture rail original?"
And best yet "Are the vendors actively looking for a house?"
All to be met with raised eyebrows and "that would be for your sol to ask during searches."
WTF?

Ok I thought you were being a bit unreasonable but after your last post you're not at all. I think 2 viewings are probably enough, 3 if you are 99% and just want to check something but if the Ea can't even answer those basic questions he's an arse and I'd tell him so - I wouldn't be making an offer and instructing a solicitor just to find out info that a vendor or ea should be able to give you. I think it's time to get arsey with the ea

Once. Then brought dh along for the second viewing after they'd accepted my offer.

Did the same on a previous house that fell through as the vendors decided they'd sold too low.

Was the only way to go here at the time as "good" properties were sold as soon as they went on the market (or sooner!). Took me a while to figure that out - once they were on Rightmove they were either sold or overpriced... Fortunately DH & I had looked at enough houses together for me to be confident he would agree with me!

Here in Perth, Australia it seems to be a 15 min Open House with potentially dozens of other people and you virtually make an offer on the spot for c. $600k for a 4 bed house.
Thank goodness we're renting!

Having said that, the people who bought our old house had one 5 minute viewing (she came first, then he came later that day). He came back with a builder after getting the survey through. Then they moved in 4 months after her first & only viewing - that seemed crazy to me at the time & I felt (still do) v v guilty at the things that I am sure they would have missed on a first viewing that they wish they had picked up on...

I would say twice is perfectly reasonable, more if major work is likely to need doing.

Sounds like the EA's in your area are not up to much. I think in London you may only have chance for 1 viewing, but in a "normal" market, I would always make 2 viewings before making an offer. After looking for 2 yrs I fell in love and decided to buy my current house within about 20 seconds, but still came back for a 2nd long, hard look before offering. Listen to Kirstie and Phil - the second viewing is about head not heart.

I was blessed to deal with some very professional and patient agents in my search - they do exist. It's always worth making your number with the key EAs and letting them know you are a serious buyer, in a position to proceed.

You are spending 100's of 1000's of course you should view twice. 3 times is OK if you have a particular issue, but do it repeatedly and the EAs will thing you are extracting the Michael.

Once for every house we have owned except this one. We viewed this one several times as it was the show house for a group of 6 and we could just trek in and out to our heart's content while we made our mind up. We had never lived in a new house before ( previous two both over 300 years old) so it was more a case of hanging about in it and seeing if we could ever see it as home.

I knew as soon as I saw it on RM that it would tick most of our boxes and then again, walking around it, that it was the best we were going to get for the price.

It's just the other stuff.

And if you get arsey at the EA then you risk their treating you like rubbish in return (unless they are already anyway).

I think all you can sensibly do in a competitive market is to offer, then get your further viewings, then withdraw your offer if it doesn't hold up to initial impressions.

Which feels like wasting everyone's time but when you are faced with that or losing it before you've even seen it twice, you're kind of stuffed whatever you do.

It doesn't sound like they want to sell their house. If my house had been on the market since May, I would be very keen for you to do a second viewing.

i viewed our house 3 times, once with me, then dh came along (he left the checking out to me, and said when you like a house i will come) and once put offer in we went again to measure up etc

The first flat we bought, we didn't see at all! We had spent a few weekends wandering around the area, we knew there was a block of flats we liked and we knew which size we wanted - all substantially the same layout. One EA had a 2 bed flat on the market in that block which was £10k cheaper than any other flat on the market at the time as it needed some cosmetic work. The EA was so horrifed that we put in the offer without seeing it, she arranged a viewing with us on the Sunday (office usually closed) and spent some time showing us round the block and hte area - she had lived there for a while and that made it a lot easier.

2 viewings second time round.

When we were selling, we knew the people booking in for 3rd/4th viewings probably wouldn't buy. In the end it went to a lady who put in an asking price offer on her first viewing! She's still there 4 years later so she must like it...

I'm desperate to measure up. I have drawn an accurate floor plan, well as accurate as I can but there are things like chimney breasts and fireplaces, and cupboards and so on and I can't guess at the exact sizes from the photos - and you know when you have furniture that needs an alcove to go in, or at least something that will fit in the alcoves - this is an issue.

We've so much furniture from donkeys years of renting that it's not a case of 'move in then buy stuff' - we have to fit in as we are.

Once, but it was the top end of our budget and didn't need any work so we could start a family straight away.

Next time will be twice though at least as we will be pricing up building works.

2-3 times maximum visits/property is a reasonable / average number.

Once people have exchanged, they may need to revisit to do things like measuring up for curtains etc - by then everyone is really happy that exchange has gone through and are more relaxed.

on the other hand, I do 'get it' how stressful it is having people invade their home (sometimes people instruct their SA to limit the number of visits) - unfortunately there is no perfect solution to that, it's an awful lot of money to spend, you do need to feel 100% certain you are making the right choice. I always think once you have put your house on the market, it isn't your home any more, time to detach emotionally.

Out of the 4 properties I have bought, I have known 100% within 5 minutes whether it was the one for me. Goodness knows how I know, there is just something I can feel (my current home, I said to my DP the first time we drove up - yup this is the one - we were parked over the road! He thought I was crazy!). Of course it does then depend on a positive survey.

We're looking now, and most houses we see twice. Mostly because DH cannot get time off for weekday viewings. So I do the leg work and do a first viewing in the week, and if I like it & think DH will we'll make another appointment for him to see it.
We send a LOT of time on rightmove!

Twice. I'm on my 4th property and I'm always amazed how different a house seems compared to the first view. Second viewing should be a good long one with tape measure and notepad. If somene viewed our house 3 times I'd think they were very unsure and probably a no go but I'd still let them. The EA is being a cheeky barsteward- it's in his best interests to keep you happy.

Two viewings is reasonable/sensible. I think three times is excessive though. I don't think anyone has done that when we were selling a house. Most people are a bit more organised and can work out what needs doing etc. after two visits.

We had a lady view our house three times and after much faffing about with her two friends on the third viewing she decided not to put in an offer as the house was too small.

It had obviously shrunk in the time between her and the EA viewing, her viewing again and her mates all popping round. I wouldn't care but they ate all my bloody jaffa cakes on the third viewing!