To be sick of time wasting house viewers?

[PinkBalloonsAndCherryCoke]

We've had our house on the market for just over a month, and during that time have had several viewings, of which most have been time wasters.

Our EA has said that in the current market it's best to let anyone view who wants to, as people have been known to view a house and like it so much that they then decide to sell theirs.

So far the time wasters we have had have been:

A couple viewing who took ages and really faffed around, asking lots of questions then at the end were chatting and said that they had already had an offer accepted on another house in our area and were going ahead with that sale and were due to exchange soon, but just wanted to see our house to see if the layout is similar to the one they are buying.

A couple who again took ages and faffed, and said at the end of the viewing that they are looking to move 'in a year or two' and just wanted to see what they could get for their budget!!

A couple who looked round and seemed to like it. The agents phoned them for post viewing feedback a couple of days later and the couple said that they were looking for a house with more bedrooms than ours has and that they didn't want a house without an ensuite. Our full house details are on right move and on paper details from the EA office, so why the heck would they look round a house knowing full well that it didn't have as many bedrooms as they want, or an ensuite?

It's really pissing me off! DH and I both work, and we have DC and pets. Each viewing obviously requires a certain amount of cleaning and tidying and preparing, and to find out after that it was just a waste of time and effort is so annoying.

AIBU to be pissed off?

Poor you, it sounds like you've had some real idiots viewing your house.

We're selling ours at the moment too and it's so stressful. I hate getting the house ready for viewings.

The worst we've had so far was one very spoilt girl whose Dad was offering to buy a house for her, who was just really rude about everything and an elderly couple who hadn't even decided if they wanted to live in our region, let alone our town yet.

We do ask for details of the prospective viewers before they arrive (e.g. have they sold their house, do they want to move to/within this town) now because the house has been on the market for a bit and we just don't want people wasting our time!

The EA wouldn't even allow us to view without them seeing proof of funds etc. Personally, I think this is the best way of doing it. You should ask yours to do the same.
Then you're losing potential buyers.
As a few of us have said, we'd move for our ideal house but wouldn't be putting our house on the market on the off chance that something ideal might come up. We'll see the house we want and then sell ours. Ir's not like we can be psychic and know what we want will come up.
Same for proof of funds, why should we keep having to apply for mortgages in principle etc just to satisfy someone who thinks they know best about our ability abd willingness to buy?

Yes there are timewasters, but I'd have massive reservations about getting involved with a seller who thinks they can start stipulating how we manage our own house move and finances.

Then you're losing potential buyers.

For everyone saying 'I found a house then put mine on the market and it sold immediately'

There are plenty of 'I might loose the house I put an offer on, because mine won't sell'

And also plenty of 'I wouldn't let anyone view who hadn't accept an offer' and it worked for them. This worked for me. We sold our house loads quicker than the average.

Buying and selling is a business transaction and you have make decisions and make the ones you can live with.

Anyway of doing it, has risks associated with it. I would rather have missed a buyer than have loads of viewings and an offer that depended on the buyer hoping they sold theirs quickly.

And it paid off.

The viewer that enraged me is the woman who feedbacked she didn’t want to buy as she wanted a “project”. If you saw our house you’d laugh - every room has been done up, lots of high spec, it looks like a show home in the online ad and it’s priced accordingly. There is NO way she could have thought it was a project from the photos or price so why the hell did she look round and waste my time?

A month is nothing! We've been having people come and view for three now, the feedback is largely ridiculous or about things that are obvious from the listing and can't be changed! Soooo sick of it.

We wanted off street parking for two cars, ideally not one behind the other, an ensuite, space or a garage or something to install/convert into a workshop and were heavily leaning towards 1960s houses.

We bought something which has street parking in a residents scheme, doesn't even have a loo on the floor we sleep on, and has a dilapidated semidetached shed which is way too small for a workshop. Oh, and it's 1840.

So whilst I completely understand how frustrated you must feel, the third viewer could have turned out not to be a time waster.

@problembottom maybe she was getting ideas for what she could do to a similar property in the area. However, the house we bought last year was spotless and looked like it needed no work however it has turned it to a project for us as we're getting it the way we want it.

I feel for you OP. We moved (finally) in January so the pain is still fresh. I'm never moving again.

We had some ridiculous time wasters - my favourite (I say favourite because I'm through it now bit at the time I was banging my head against a wall with frustration) was the "downsizing" couple who complained that they couldn't fit their grand piano in the hallway. I think they must have been downsizing from a stately home and unable to read a floor plan!

The house we bought was a curiosity and, according to the EA, three people put their houses on the market purely to buy it. I know at least one of the couples who did this actually so I know it's not just EA flannel. But they didn't manage to sell their own places.

Our vendor had 50 viewings in the first 3 weeks. That must have been really stressful.

I think it depends on the market in your area OP, but an open day sounds as though it would suit your circumstances. I like open days - I went to a couple on places I wasn't sure we'd like or were a touch out of our price range, just to see if I liked it enough to try and raise the extra funds. I hated the idea of the owner having to spend time cleaning for me when I wasn't really sure.

Definitely have your EA vet the viewers more thoroughly so that they at least have their place on the market.

Andromeida59 looking around someone’s house to get ideas is rude though surely! I’m pregnant, DP is working abroad and I spent hours getting the house ready, getting the cat and his paraphernalia into the car, driving round the village while conducting work interviews on my hands free (I work from home) with the cat yowling all because she wanted ideas! As you can tell I’m not over it.

If she wanted to buy a house like ours and then completely redo it then great but her feedback really didn’t suggest this. It suggested she had no intention of ever buying the house.

Do you not have open viewings? In Ireland most houses have a half hour set aside on a Saturday morning and it’s open to anyone who wants to come and view the house. It saves you having to keep tidying the house all the time and the estate agent can answer everyone’s questions at the same time.

Currently on the market too and totally fed up of the no shows.

Some cancel the same morning which is annoying if I've been up since 6 tidying up but a few just leave the agent sitting outside twiddling his thumbs,

Oh god ive been in my current home 14 years and will have to sell in 3 years due to divorce....im dreading it....i will have to do it all alone and am sure i will get screwed over...

Our house is on the market and the market's so flat around here that any viewing is welcome. I keep it viewing ready all the time - no small children so it's not difficult - all we want is to sell the house and I'd never, ever refuse a viewing.

Huge sympathies OP, keeping the house pristine for viewings (especially with DC and pets) is massively stressful at the best of times.

To be fair though, often you really can't tell whether it's the house for you (or not!) until you actually see it. And then when the agent calls for feedback afterwards, people end up flailing about for something concrete to say because it seems wrong to just say "it didn't feel right" and end up saying something daft.

Actually, our previous house was down to an admin error - there were 2 houses for sale on the same road with the same agent. One we thought looked promising, the other looked slightly disappointing and over-budget. We arranged a viewing with House 1, but somebody in the EA office messed up and set it up with House 2. We didn't realise until the agent led us to the wrong door, then we felt we had to go ahead with the viewing because otherwise the poor vendor would have prepared for nothing. Well, we damn well fell in love with House 2.

Agree with other people. I don't NEED to move, I love where I am. But I do keep an eye on the market, and if something comes up that I love I would go to see it. If I loved it, I would then put my house on the market.

But there's little point in me marketing my house when actually I'm in no rush to move, and pissing off prospective buyers of mine.

I wouldn't dare go to view someone's house just for a nosey about. It's pig ignorant. There are some CFers around!

We had a few time wasters when we put ours on the market some years ago. The most memorable being the woman who brought along her entire extended family and then told the EA she didn't like the front steps. The sales picture and info quite clearly showed a 3 storey house. Not sure what she was expecting. We decided to stay not long after that and took the house off the market.

We fell in love with a house last year that ticked all boxes for us, only sods law the day we found it, it was withdrawn from sale and let instead. EA refused to give us the owners details so we did some detective work via the neighbours and found her on Facebook. Admittedly 'Can I buy your house please?' via messenger is odd, but happily we stayed in touch and when the let came to an end we started the buying process, should complete shortly. We haven't sold our house and probably wont until we've moved and are settled.

I can't tell you how happy I am not to have to deal with the EA's over it all though.

@problembottom it's dreadfully rude but just trying to figure out why someone would be so rude.

I totally understand tour frustration. People are rude. I don't personally think only allowing people to view who have their house on the market or under offer is the solution. As I know people who have seen a house they love and sell their house to buy it. Could you ask your EA to do a bit more in terms of pre viewing enquiries?

Or an open day could work too. Or even just an informal version of this where all the viewings are on one Saturday per week for example. Hang in there.

When we were looking to buy we looked at lots and lots of houses that looked ok online but IRL just weren't right for many many often seemingly insignificant reasons, or just didn't "feel" right, or we just disliked it. After viewings when the agent phoned for feedback instead of giving an answer that was long winded, or vague, or seemed rude I'd often just say "no en suite" or "no off street parking" etc just to stop the EA hassling is. I suspect a lot of people do the same, so what your lookers say to the EA isn't necessarily the whole story.

I know it's frustrating, I sold my last house heavily pregnant/with a newborn and 18 month, 3 and 5 year olds. It was really hard and stressful but do try not to take it all so personally, you will drive yourself mad.

When ours was on the market we had a phone call while out saying potential buyers wanted to view immediately. Couldn't get back in time but changed our plans for the following day to wait in for them and they didn't show.

When I called the agent to let them know they said 'But Mr & Mrs CF were so interested' (husband took the original call).

No, Mr & Mrs CF were the people we bought the house off. I am sure they just wanted a nose but changed their minds when they realised it was still us in the house. They left us with lots of problems including unsupported floorboards which they hid pre sale by putting the double bed over it. Bailiffs came round looking for them too. No wonder they didn't dare show their faces!

Maybe it's just us that had to jump through ridiculous hoops. There was one group viewing. It then went to sealed bids and we also had to write a letter on why we wanted the house. Our circumstances were easy though as we turned our old place in to a BTL so had no chain to worry about. There was so much interest that the place went for 40k over the asking price.

Pressed send before I finished.
I also think we're in one of the areas where the housing market has exploded.
I don't agree with people wasting the vendor's time. If you want to see what a house looks like, look at the pictures.
We had gone through hundreds of viewings and only booked to see houses to confirm what we thought.

We had this when we were selling a house. One lady wanted a downstairs loo, which we didn't have, and there was no room to put one. Another lot turned up with half an hours notice, (l was at work and my husband was at home) then demanded to know why we weren't leaving the white goods.
The couple who eventually bought it were a nightmare. While all the legal stuff was going through, they weren't getting in touch with the EA or solicitors and just were basically obstructive. On the day of the move she turned up in the morning with a friend and three cats in baskets demanding to be let in. The money hadn't even gone through by then, so legally it was still our house. She asked where they could put the cats (we had two dogs!) and eventually for the sake of peace we said she and the cats could go in the small bedroom upstairs. Then we found out that they'd given all their friends our phone number as they'd be 'taking it over' which certainly wasn't the case! My husband was so sick of their antics by then that when we left, he locked her in the house and took the keys to the estate agent....

We had our house on the market for AGES with no sale. We had one second viewing and that was it. We took the agents advice in terms of price, it was pristine for every viewing etc. The feedback from people was that they didn't like that it was by a main road.....which was CLEARLY shown on the fecking map. I had one couple come along (with their own young family) who, after a 30-minute viewing, told me that they hadn't put there house on the market yet and what a pain it would be getting it tidy for viewings tinkly laugh.

DH is talking about putting it back on again with a view to buying a doer upper and the very thought of it makes me want to weep.