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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Viewing houses

34 replies

trinity0097 · 09/04/2016 19:55

AIBU to,expect vendors to at least flush toilets before viewings? And if there is an estate agent doing viewings for them to go round and check this kind of thing first.

Our agent made sure that all the back windows which I had opened to make sure the house didn't smell were closed to cut down road noise before a viewing on Thursday before he did the viewing, is this type of thing and cleaning just not the norm any more? Hubby and I are living in a show home environment at the moment until we sell!

OP posts:

edwinbear · 09/04/2016 19:57

We used to put toys that didn't fit into cupboards in the boot of the car for viewings! YANBU.

CombineBananaFister · 09/04/2016 20:04

Well I wouldn't want to see something left in the toilet so YANBU for that but I do find people are quite stupid when it come to house buying. You only need to watch one of the many T.v. programmes to see how ridiculously fussy some are - not liking wallpaper, instead of looking at structure/room size/location etc?!? Meh, each to their own.

I personally wouldn't expect you to live in a show home just because you are selling but then I tend to look beyond the superficial, I'd expect it to be clean though.

onecurrantbun1 · 09/04/2016 20:04

Good friends have spotted a poo left in an unflushed, open toilet in a house they went to view

When we viewed this house - pan of cabbage (!) Being cooked during second viewing. ASDA delivery arriving and being trailed through the kitchen on the third. I'm guessing that, because we bought it, the vendor will be none the wiser as to how offputting it was and may do the same again if she ever had to move again

When we were selling I kept it spotless, hid toys in the car, put fresh bedding on and sent DH out to the park with the kids. Common sense, surely?! (Round here, it is absolutely the norm for vendors to do their own viewing)

Original poster

trinity0097 · 09/04/2016 20:10

I have a bag for life stuffed full of porch shoes in the boot of my car at the moment - seemed the closest storage available!!! Luckily we have 8 viewings already booked for the open afternoon next weekend, so we are hoping it sells there and then!!

OP posts:

TheWernethWife · 09/04/2016 21:04

Selling my house atm - estate agent doing viewings. I give it a good tidy, clear kitchen surfaces, open all doors and put lights on. Ask if viewers are ok with cats (have 3) if not, keep them in the smallest bedroom.

toohardtothinkofaname · 09/04/2016 21:09

A friend of mine viewed a house where the bloke was still in bed!

toohardtothinkofaname · 09/04/2016 21:10

Oh, and heard a story about a female body shaped baby oil mark on a bedroom wall. Not sure how true that one was...

HoneyDragon · 09/04/2016 21:12

It depends on what the viewers are like too. The dc and I would leave the house with the dog when we had viewings but sometimes we'd have very little notice.

So one lot of viewers complained that the viewing wasn't ideal as the noise from my still running washing machine annoyed her.

Others came when we were packing (we had said absolutely no viewings for that week but estate agent just turned up with people ) and the woman complained about the clutter making it hard to view the house;ffs.

Occasionally the EA puts pressure on you as the viewer you don't know how much notice the vendor had had.

(Poo is unacceptable though )

Original poster

trinity0097 · 09/04/2016 21:18

In my case this was arranged on Wednesday and the seller had at least 3 sets of viewings consecutively, so no excuse really!!!

OP posts:

HoneyDragon · 09/04/2016 21:22

Whoa, they had three viewings booked in? I would so not be in the house to even do a poo.

Back to back viewings for me meant Clean, put lead on dog, sit and freeze my tits off outside Costa after a long walk until the EA said I could go home

lamiashiro · 09/04/2016 21:28

We bought our house about 10 years ago after viewing about 25 other houses and I was shocked at the state some of them were in. That's leaving aside the dodgy DIY:

'We removed the chimney breast ourselves with a sledgehammer, it's really easy!'

'We installed that beam to make it look medieval (30s terrace) but you can remove it if you want!'

The frankly weird:

'We fitted three locks on the outside of our loft conversion in case of burglars.'

And the plain dishonest:

'Oh yes, it's a fourth bedroom definitely. You need to climb a ladder to get to it and it's just boarded over but that's fine. Our kids love it.'

'No, those drunks never normally congregate in the alley next to my house, not sure what's happening tonight. Oh well!'

At least a third of the houses we looked at were untidy, with toys everywhere, cupboards/drawers open, dirty plates on the side, dirty bathrooms, washing on the floor, overgrown gardens and junk in side returns ('Oh yes, we haven't got around to taking that to the tip yet'). And this was in a supposedly desirable area with people asking top dollar.

I mean, you have to live in the house while it's being sold so any reasonable person might expect some day-to-day stuff, but seriously.

LaurieFairyCake · 09/04/2016 21:31

I've told this story before about some entitled twat who turned up 3 hours late to a booked viewing.

I said she couldn't come in now as it wasn't convenient and if she wanted to she could rearrange. She started ranting about how difficult it was for parents like her to get out the house on time (dad standing with said six month old embarrassedly behind her) and how I couldn't possibly understand.

At that point I let the door swing open behind me showing six children eating party food round a table. And said 'gosh, really' slightly sarcastically. (was doing respite)

She backed away

museumum · 09/04/2016 21:32

We bought our house when lived in by tenants who didn't give a shit. It was messy, washing everywhere etc but we weren't put off. If it ticks the buyers' boxes they'll buy it.

BeaufortBelle · 09/04/2016 21:45

We once viewed a house and elected to keep our shoes on to keep our socks clean. It was £1.6M

heron98 · 09/04/2016 21:52

I viewed a house at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon that had loads of half dressed students in it and a hand-made sign saying "ketamine, this way".

I didn't buy it.

lamiashiro · 09/04/2016 22:02

I'd forgotten the house we tried to view where we'd booked an appointment, turned up at the time and just nothing. Knocked on the door a few times, still no answer, but it was clear there was someone in the house because we could hear a TV and we saw a curtain move.

Called the estate agent and explained. She said sorry, we arranged it, is he not there? We said we thought he was there but just not answering. She said 'Oh dear, he has mental health issues and doesn't like strange people in his house.' I mean WTF? Poor guy.

And one of the other ones which was clearly a council house bought under RTB. Which was fine, except the owner spent literally the whole time showing us around boasting that he'd make a packet on it and was retiring to Fiji on the proceeds from the 'posh idiots' (i.e. us) who bought it. It wasn't even very nice, he'd knocked through the hallway so the front door opened onto the lounge and extended out the back but just made this cavernous kitchen with cheap units around the edge. He'd also decked over literally the whole garden.

chemenger · 09/04/2016 22:19

The last flat we bought had seventeen indoor cats in it when we viewed. They followed us round in a little herd. The smell was out of this world. The owner was a young, heavily pierced and tattooed goth, she was charming but deeply eccentric. The flat was filthy; before we moved in parts of the floor and the wood panelling on one wall had to be replaced because they had been saturated in cat pee and rotted. We could have knitted several cats from the fur we cleaned out of the radiators. The survey said "I cannot believe anyone would buy this flat, but I am not a cat lover. It is, however, generally structurally sound and potentially a lovely home". It was an amazing bargain under the grime.

MamehaSan · 09/04/2016 22:22

The "highlight" of my first house-buying experience was the house strewn with dirty washing (think men's pants, gym clothes and socks). It also featured discarded pizza boxes, plates of congealed food balanced on the sofa and armchairs, half-drunk mugs of tea/coffee, and the most disgusting bathroom I have ever been in. The pièce de résistance, though, was when the estate agent showed me the master bedroom. He clearly hadn't been in the house before, and was desperately trying to recover the spiralling situation when he flung back the bedroom door extolling the "generous proportions" of the room, only to reveal a series of rather pornographic pictures on the wall that looked as though they had been torn out of magazines.

I left.

If people can't be arsed to prepare their house for an viewing that has been booked for a week, the chances are they can't be arsed about maintenance and general upkeep of the house either.

Minshu · 09/04/2016 22:30

When I was trying to sell a house, I did my best to live in a "show home" environment and got used to a quick quarter of an hour blitz of clearing up toys, hiding washing, washing up, cat-detritus, polishing taps, etc. But still, some viewers would turn up an hour and a half late by which time I really did have to feed my baby, so they would be put off by the mess (twats)!

lamiashiro · 09/04/2016 22:34

minshu Yes, when I was selling my flat, it was show home and squeaky clean all the time. I didn't have DCs but even so, I had to constantly make sure the bed was made, no dishes on the side, no clothes not put away etc.

SweetieDrops · 09/04/2016 22:34

When we viewed our last house the kitchen stank of grease and the frying pan they'd used for their fry-up was still sitting on the hob. We still bought it but the former owners were clearly manky bastards, they left us loads of crap including full ashtrays and a filthy bathroom. They also had a thing for feature walls as there was one in every single room. All things that could be sorted fairly easily, it was a decent house if you looked past all that.

MidniteScribbler · 09/04/2016 22:38

I bought and sold many times, and it constantly amazes me the state that people are willing to show their homes in. One house had dirty knickers on the floor with period stains on them.

The worst wasn't that the house was messy, but that a kid kept following me around the whole time I was viewing, kept interrupting my conversation with the agent, and just wouldn't go away. Then it's grandfather says to me 'oh, he's home because he has chicken pox.' I was pregnant at the time. I was furious, how could someone not tell the agent that they had a poxy kid in their house?

madamginger · 09/04/2016 22:42

We viewed a house once where the teenage daughter was still in bed at 1pm and the house stunk of stale fags. I was pregnant with dc3 and was heaving the entire time.
We made a sharp exit

bertsdinner · 09/04/2016 22:43

I once had a couple come to look at my old house. They professed horror at the cat tray. It was clean, unused and tucked away. I said, dont worry the cat (and tray), are coming with me.
They then looked in the dishwasher. It was spotless, apart from a sideplate I'd put in there after having some toast. I heard the woman expressing horror to the agent and "hoping it will be clean", cheeky bitch! Im very houseproud and my house is spotless, but I was actually still living there and using it.
They also commented on all my boxed up books, asking if they would be gone.

They did take the house. I often wonder how they got on with the neighbour, who liked to store excess rubbish on the shared drive when they got an excess (quite often).

CheeseAndOnionWalkers · 09/04/2016 22:53

Opening windows to air the house is a must imo.

Even if you think that your house smells fine, airing it is better than using candles/sprays etc.

When we viewed this house, the teen son had page 3 girl posters on his bedroom walls. It's a 4 bed detached and not near a uni or station so most viewers would naturally be families.

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