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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think feedback after viewing a house is pointless

108 replies

saymyusername · 02/08/2018 14:42

Seriously, what's going to please a seller, other than "I'll take it and pay what you're asking."

Am happy to be corrected with examples of feedback you thought was worthwhile.

OP posts:
Daisymalone · 02/08/2018 14:46

I think constructive feedback as to why you weren't interested could be very useful for the seller, especially if their house has had lots of viewings but no offers. It's not meant to please the seller!

ThePricklySheep · 02/08/2018 14:48

We had lots of feedback of ‘it’s much bigger than we expected’ which was really useful. It made us think our Rightmove listing was a bit lacking.

Bluelady · 02/08/2018 14:49

Feedback is incredibly useful if it's about something you can change.

GivenAndDenied · 02/08/2018 14:50

When we were selling, we asked our agent to get feedback - if there was a perceived issue with the house, we wanted the opportunity to fix it, if it was possible. As it happens, it sold to only the second or third to view it, so we didn't need to do much!

ScrumpyCrack · 02/08/2018 14:51

Agreed. I’m selling now and up to this week had radio silence as to why I wasn’t getting any offers. It left me questioning everything, changing things, worrying it would never sell.

Something as simple as: ‘too small for us’ or ‘garden not big enough’ may seem like pointless comments but it’s really helpful for the seller to know it’s not something they can do anything about. Or, of course, on the reverse if there is something they can fix then it’s extremely helpful to be told early on.

Babdoc · 02/08/2018 14:52

Obvious examples would be things in the survey, such as dampness or rot, that put you off buying.
Or something that the vendor could do to improve, eg the woodwork was chipped, the decor was tired, there was no shower over the bath, etc.
It might be something really easy to fix, like you hated the swirly patterned carpets and couldn’t afford to replace them all yourself! The vendor could then consider shelling out for some cheap neutral flooring to improve the appeal.

Mousefunky · 02/08/2018 14:52

It’s useful to the seller to see what they can change, if anything.

We viewed a few houses a couple of months ago before choosing one to buy and in one of them, it had been privately rented and the tenant was still home watching daytime TV in his slobs Confused. We could hardly look around it and talk to the estate agent about what we liked or didn’t while the person who lived there was sitting right there. It was plain weird and the house was really messy too, no effort had been made to make it look presentable in the slightest.

The estate agent called a day or so later to see if we were interested and when DP gave our honest opinion, she hung up Shock. V. Professional.

Sunnysidegold · 02/08/2018 14:52

The EA rang us after we had been to a second viewing of a house to enquire why we weren't putting an offer in.it was because I thought the steps to the front door wrre very steep and too difficult for my mum to manage. So not something they could really change. They did ask though!

Melliegrantfirstlady · 02/08/2018 14:54

Yabu

Of course feedback is useful! For obvious reasons

NancyDonahue · 02/08/2018 14:56

Its nice to give feedback if asked, the seller probably spent a lot of time preparing for the viewing. Many things can't be changed, parking etc, but you never know what the seller could find helpful, particularly if they're struggling to sell. Is the house too cluttered to see the space properly? Any area blocked off that you couldn't see? Is there some maintenance that needs doing that you would find an issue? Is it a colour scheme thing? Pet smell? Storage issues? Issues with TV/mobile reception? We're the neighbours being noisy?

IndianaMoleWoman · 02/08/2018 14:57

One of the houses we viewed was lovely but had no parking and was on a main road. It was a family sized home and our feedback was that we wouldn’t want to be getting our baby and toddler out of the car on the main road, potentially parked quite a way away if someone else was parked outside.

The agent rang us back about a month later to say they were putting in a drive, did we want to make an offer/view again. We would’ve, but we already had an offer accepted on a different property.

thecatsthecats · 02/08/2018 14:58

God, I'd LOVE to know why next door isn't selling - hopefully nothing to do with the neighbours!

Our house is a slightly premium three bed for the area - parking, larger garden, near park location. Only downside is a b-road busy front, but then the Outstanding primary school next door that keeps the limit to 20 should compensate.

Next door tried to go on for the same price, but no success, which is fair enoguh, as ours is in good nick.

The nosy/house price concerned part of me is gagging to know their feedback!

shoelaces · 02/08/2018 14:59

We gave feedback when viewing. One house (out of 8 we viewed that day) was totally not what we were looking for and at first o thought I had been mistaken when requesting a viewing. It turned out the agent has two houses on the same street and they took us to the one that was £150k below our budget. EA's make mistakes, feedback helps on that front too.

Pengggwn · 02/08/2018 15:03

I think it can be useful, but in general it's not very polite to give it unless asked.

I wouldn't mind someone saying, "We didn't offer because the third bedroom is smaller than our needs." Fine.

But - and I know this from reading too much MN - there would be far too many people sending me "feedback" like I was M&S, saying stuff like, "House set back from the road - positive. Negatives: dated kitchen, not up to spec, strong smell of damp."

And I would just want to tell them to piss off. So best not, in my case.

Tartsamazeballs · 02/08/2018 15:03

Useful for me- we've just had an offer agreed on our house, one viewer said they couldn't cope with the parking so I reminded the estate agent to mention the garage could hold a ford focus sized car. They'd forgotten to mention the garage so that was a handy nudge.

cadburyegg · 02/08/2018 15:04

It can be useful. We saw a lovely 3 bed house last year that was home to a family of 4 but it was cluttered, it was clear that they didn’t have the space or storage to put everything. I fed back to them that it was obvious that they had outgrown it and the reason we didn’t buy it was because we didn’t want to be in that position in a couple of years’ time. I thought if they were able to declutter a bit, then it might be more appealing.

thecapitalsunited · 02/08/2018 15:07

One house I looked at last year was a rental and the landlady who took us round proudly told us all about her plans to get lodgers in once her tenants had left so she didn’t end up with a void period. That had run don’t walk written all over it. I think the estate agent told her not to do any more viewings.

loveka · 02/08/2018 15:07

For me it was more that having spent 2 hours getting it ready for viewing I wanted to know why they didn't want it!

SweetLathyrus · 02/08/2018 15:12

Sometimes it's good to know that there is nothing wrong, it just wasn't for that particular viewer, indicates that they had an unreasonable expectation for the area. It might even indicate that the EAs are just pushing people to view so that they appear to be fulfilling your expectations as a seller. I've had all of these . . .

Selling one place, a bungalow in an area popular with families. Our particular bungalow had steps up to the front door, the first person who came to look wanted a huge reduction because he was buying it for his mother and would need to make mobility adjustments. "No, it's the wrong bungalow for you." Sold to the second, who loved everything about it.

Another, in an area with a 'local vernacular' of workman's cottages - small and quaint, with an emphasis on the very small, but actually very sort-after, with a price to match. Several viewings by people from out of area saying it was too expensive and there was no where for a dining table. Sold within a month to people who knew the local market.

Buying our current house - four bed detached in a particular price bracket - EA persuaded us to also visit a three bed at the bottom of our price range, new to market. It was tiny (esp in relation to the one we wanted to see -and bought), semi-detached and had no garden. Our feedback was that it was lovely, but not what we had been looking for or led to expect.

In each case, it was good to have a reason that wasn't just "the place is a mess and you need to sort it out!

allthgoodusernamesaretaken · 02/08/2018 15:13

I think feedback could be useful. My previous kitchen was a very bold, strong colour. I loved it, but if viewers didn't, then I would have painted it white myself

TheLionRoars1110 · 02/08/2018 15:15

YABU. We saw quite a few houses before deciding on one. Quite a few of them could have done with being better presented. One belonged to a lady one could easily describe as a hoarder. We diplomatically said we struggled to assess the size as there was quite a bit of furniture and stuff we couldn't see past. I'm sure she would have got that feedback from other people too. It looks like the penny dropped eventually/her family took charge, as someone cleaned it all up and put it back on the market. they sold for more than she was asking for when we viewed.

NapQueen · 02/08/2018 15:19

Weve sold stc and got very little feedback. 5 viewings, of which 2 offered, 2 radio silence, 1 bathroom too small. Had we not had the offers we would have been keen to have more feedback so we know whether to price accordingly/better photos/change a deal breaker.

We viewed lots of new places before settling and gave feedback:- put off by shared rear access, put off by neighbouring houses having fights/mess outside, put off by amount of work needing doing in comparison to list price.

KellyBailey · 02/08/2018 15:20

When we were house hunting a couple of years ago we rejected a house because next door had a big dog that barked in the garden the whole time we were there, I couldn't have done with listening to that every day. The estate agent seemed to think we were unreasonable for rejecting the house on that basis so yeah, pretty pointless in that case.

Polly2345 · 02/08/2018 15:23

We once fed back that the dimensions for one of the bedrooms was wrong on Right Move. This made the difference for us between being interested and not being interested. We wouldn't have visited that house if the dimensions had been correct.

Mumminmum · 02/08/2018 15:27

We viewed a house that had a realy good location, a great garden and the right number of bedrooms for us. The funny thing was that even though the EA who showed us the house clearly knew it was a fixer upper it wasn't reflected in the price. The kitchen had an odd form and the most of it had been ripped out, all exterior doors needed changing, some of the interior doors were damaged, there was no under floor insulation and there was no heating in the toilet downstairs. Add to this that one of the children's bedroom was twice as big as the other one, the road was cramped with parked cars and that the roof had never been changed so was 50 years old and would therefore need changing soon. The EA thought that if they knocked 50000 off the price it would be ok. Ummm, no. It would probably have cost at least £150000 to get that house up to an acceptable standard and here we are talking IKEA kitchen and not something fancy. That house has now been for sale for three years.