House viewing tales

[Henrietta75]

Bought and sold 2 homes over 15 years:

Couple with a grown up daughter I’m showing round, the mother disappears. Mother reappears after 10 mins (assumed she was in first bedroom still as we’ve moved to second), moved to third bedroom and daughter disappears, come out of bedroom and see daughter emerging from bathroom with flushing noise. Not a word. They both used the loo without asking. How rude!

Viewer booked in for tues 1pm, Dh gets leave off work and waits - viewer doesn’t turn up. Complain to EA, EA sends screenshot of text to viewer confirming time and date, the viewer turns up weds 1pm with no one home and starts banging on the door (according to retired neighbour). Then sits in the car for 1 hour on the drive before giving up and leaving.

Couple having been shown around property then proceed to demand what is the “bottom price” and are not leaving until they get an answer.

Showing another pair around and the man starts to open kitchen cupboards....gets into the bedrooms and starts to open free standing wardrobes and chest of drawers....!

Asked another viewee to remove shoes AFTER he insisted on seeing garden first and traipsed all on the grass in the mud and he refused.

Different EA, different property, asked to lop £25k off our price so he could get the deal done quick. DH says ok, with one condition, find us a house in ‘x’ area where we wish to move to that’s priced similarly as ours and ask the owner to lop £25k off too.

And the best for last - sold the house and buyer wants wants to exchange and complete in 3 days. Due to circumstances I said not possible, the buyers then create HUGE sob story that they’re going to be chucked out of rented accommodation....blah..little kids...pets...etc. So gargantuan effort to do it in 5 days and move in with in-laws temporarily....they then move into empty property 2 weeks later.

We went to view one house. Was told by the EA that the home owner would show us around. Turned up and the woman was half way through cooking fish for their dinner And to show ourselves around. The whole house absolutely stank and it was really uncomfortable walking round someone else’ house by ourselves but the house was perfect so we could look passed it. Once we had finished up stairs she said she would show us outside. Lovely garden, really good size apart from a 8/10 foot deep sink hole at the very back. Needless to say, we didn’t put an offer in.

Viewing another house and the entire place, from the porch to every single room including the bathroom and kitchen was full of cages with hamsters, rats, chinchillas etc admittedly it didn’t smell one bit and if it wasn’t for the noise you wouldn’t have known they were there but it really put us off.

Not mine but PIL. Had one guy turn up to view. Walked in the living room, sat himself down on the sofa and said “right, so what does your son do?” DMIL says “umm he’s a mechanic....?” Man says “no, your SUN, in the garden?” Bizarre

Also PILs. Viewed one house and they weren’t allowed to look in two rooms as their teenage sons were sleeping.

The house we are living in now. They asked us to take off our shoes at the door. Floor was utterly filthy with dog shit all over the carpet in the living room. I politely declined. Then we were told we couldn’t look in the spare room as her son was sleeping and couldn’t go in the garden as they didn’t have a back door key! The house was perfect for what we wanted and now it’s home but it was utterly disgusting when we moved in. My PILs wondered why we bought it

We went to view a house several years ago. The owners just told us to look around at our leisure.

It was a lovely house and they had some nice things - particularly some big papier mache animal heads in one of the upstairs rooms. Idecided to pop one on my head - it looked amazing. Couldn't get it off though!

Obviously I did eventually but it was an anxious few minutes - not helped by being reduced to uncontrollable silent giggles wondering how I might explain myself.

Viewing a house with my then 2 year old DS. Seller had a candle burning (scented, I think to give a nice ambiance...it didn't) on a low table in the hall. My DC went 'ooh candle' and blew it out immediately Vendor was proper cats bum face about it. Horrible house so I didn't feel too bad!

Viewed some awful rental properties with my Ex, one where they'd done the worst job of decorating I'd ever seen. All freshly painted but they'd glossed windows and cupboards shut, as we discovered when trying to open a cupboard and pulling half the paint off in the process. We were one of about 20 people all viewing at the same time (tiny 2 bed house) which was a bit odd and uncomfortable too.

On here to add ALWAYS change your locks, rental or buying, you never know who has a copy and therefore access to your new home.

We viewed a beautiful house (it was in our top 2 but only parking for 1 car and it was 4 bed) Lovely Swedish couple showed us round and it was immaculate.

Before we went upstairs the lady of the house went to great pains to tell us that there was something highly unusual in the 4th bedroom and she hoped we wouldn’t be shocked and wouldn’t judge them.

Also it would all be removed and the room returned to normal before the house was sold.

Naturally me and DH were a bit wondering if we were about to be confronted by some kind of Swedish sex dungeon and proceeded cautiously.

We got to the (pitch black) bedroom and the door only half opened, the lady of the house implored us to bend down and shuffle through a sort of tunnel where we met DH of the household in a sort of central circle who was wearing a Station masters hat and blew a whistle to welcome us!

The whole room was a huge, magnificent miniature train track, with seaside scenes, grand central stations, an airport and more track than you can ever imagine. It was absolutely fantastic! He even let me have a go with the controller (was curiously attached to the hat)

Sadly we decided the 1 car parking space was going to be a huge problem and didn’t buy it. Wonder where they ended up and how big the train set is now!

Love this thread. We are looking at buying when we know what's happening with the virus. In no rush.

My friend was selling a lovely 3 bed (1 en suite) detached house in leafy Bramhall. A women came to view it, apparently she was downsizing from a large 6 bedder. Told the EA that my friends house was "far too small" wtf did she expect.

Can't resist mentioning the time we sold to a couple where the DH needed space for his 16-foot organ! (seriously, amateur musician).

Place marking so I can post mine when the twats finally pay us the money for the house they believe the have the right to walk into whenever they feel like it

If buying/selling has taught me anything, it’s that some people are absolutely fucking bizarre.

^^ This.

A viewing where we were stuck in traffic - we were travelling from a different county as we were relocating. Rang the agent to tell them we were running slightly late. Arrived at the (unoccupied) property 5 mins after the booked viewing time - no agent. Rang EA to be told he'd had to leave to go and do a different viewing. When I asked how long they'd intended to give us to walk round the house, we were told each viewing block was 30 mins. No answer when I queried why they'd left 5 mins into that 'block' despite knowing we were on our way. We walked round the outside and it was in a way worse state than the photos showed, so didn't offer.

Another where the couple were selling up to move abroad. Whilst they showed us round, they had a piece of paper with the price of every alteration listed, which they told us as we moved through the rooms - e.g this wood staircase cost £10k, that wardrobe which we are leaving cost £2k etc. This was to justify why their semi was £50k more than next door, which had sold 3 months prior.

One where the house was a BTL but the tenant was vacating. They were there when we viewed which was really useful for answering questions. About halfway through the agent must have realised that it was a no-go (again RM photos bore no resemblance to the actual house!) and just buggered off halfway through the viewing without saying a word. We went to look for him and he'd got in his car and gone.

One where the EA had booked the appointment with the vendor directly. We showed up - long delay in answering the door. Eventually owner stumbles through, having clearly only just got out of bed. Claimed the viewing was the following day - found the email which confirmed we were correct. Asked if we could wait 5 mins for him to get dressed. Then had the pleasure of walking through someone's airless and fusty bedroom.

I don't miss house hunting at all!

We liked the look of a flat in SE London which had been on the market for a while. Bit sceptical as it seemed great so why wasn’t it snapped up, but thought why not have a look. It was also on the higher end of flat prices for that area.

The EA was solely online (similar to purple bricks) - was you submitted a date/time you were free to view and then the seller could approve - so we submitted our preferred time and it was confirmed, no actual interaction with anyone.

Turned up at agreed time. No answer when we rang the bell. Check confirmation email and house number and all was correct. Couldn’t call anyone as there were no phone numbers on anything, didn’t even have the seller’s name.

We turned to leave when a man stuck his head out of the window and asked if we were there for the flat. He let us in and explained the seller had already moved to a rural village Wales so he was doing the viewing as a favour. Which would’ve been fine, but he knew nothing about the flat! Couldn’t tell us if it was double glazed, how old the boiler was, if it included a parking space or not. Couldn’t even find the light switch in some rooms so we had to use our phone lights to see as it was an evening viewing!

Also they’d left huge masses of stuff everywhere - mattresses up against the wall, piles of toys and half stuffed bags for life strewn about. Piles of clothes. It looked like it had been robbed. Funnily enough we didn’t put an offer in.

I think if you’ve fucked off to Wales you should at least spring for an agent to do viewings on your behalf - particularly for a flat in London where you’re probably making a profit on the sale if you’ve moved to rural wales. And at least have something of a tidy up!

We saw a house that had been let to the workers of a Chinese restaurant so we had been warned by the estate agent that they were packed in there. Knocked, welcomed in and offered tea. Lovely.

I don't know what I was thinking but I thought I'd look in the cupboard under the stairs.... wouldn't open. On of the tenants started to bang on the understairs door saying "wake up, wake up!" I've never mounted a set of stairs quicker! So embarrassed

Also we booked to see two houses 5 minutes apart with the same agency. When I booked the agent said to meet at the first house, then they’d drive us to the second one in the EA car, and back to our car after that.

So on the day of the viewing I punched the address of the first house in our sat nav and met the agent there. Did the first viewing which was nice, and as we walked out towards the EA’s car expecting a lift to the second house but she just said ‘ok see you there’ and jumped in and started reversing off the drive.

I thought maybe she’d got muddled up and we were meant to follow her, so we got in our car and started following her down the road when she literally FLOORED her car and disappeared. She must’ve been going 50/60mph on these residential roads!!

The problem was we didn’t have the second address handy as we didn’t think we’d need it with the lift, so had to pull over and search through our emails to find it before finally finding it and whacking it in the satnav. Eventually got there where the agent looked fed up with how long we took!

A viewer stole a bottle of my Gucci perfume. I didn’t notice for about a week as I wore it ‘for best’ so wasn’t ever able to prove it.

Mum was selling her house for £44K in the early 2000's. The price was in line with the other houses on the street. In fact, for a quick sale it was priced at £5K below value.
It was a lovely 3 bed new build with good drive, huge garden all in a nice quiet cul de sac. The house was empty and immaculate for the viewings.
The first viewer came with the Estate agent and on the way in said, "I'll give you £15K now. Cash. I'm having this house. And it's a cash offer."
The agent declined. He told her she HAD to take the offer to the owners and the owners would accept. Again, she said he was almost £30,000 short.
My mum and the agent had quite a laugh about how insistent this man was, pushing because it was a "cash sale". The agent had told him that cash was irrelevant. Mum would get the money straight into her bank. Whoever bought it wouldn't be paying it up to her bit by bit!

It sold within a couple of weeks. Asking price.

So we just changed the lock (turns out it’s a really quick and easy thing to do).

ALWAYS do this. My cousin was sexually assaulted when she lived alone and was renting by a contractor who'd been given the key by the letting agents. First thing you should do is change lock barrels and no, it's not illegal even in rentals.

@Wired4sound

We viewed a beautiful house (it was in our top 2 but only parking for 1 car and it was 4 bed) Lovely Swedish couple showed us round and it was immaculate.

Before we went upstairs the lady of the house went to great pains to tell us that there was something highly unusual in the 4th bedroom and she hoped we wouldn’t be shocked and wouldn’t judge them.

Also it would all be removed and the room returned to normal before the house was sold.

Naturally me and DH were a bit wondering if we were about to be confronted by some kind of Swedish sex dungeon and proceeded cautiously.

We got to the (pitch black) bedroom and the door only half opened, the lady of the house implored us to bend down and shuffle through a sort of tunnel where we met DH of the household in a sort of central circle who was wearing a Station masters hat and blew a whistle to welcome us!

The whole room was a huge, magnificent miniature train track, with seaside scenes, grand central stations, an airport and more track than you can ever imagine. It was absolutely fantastic! He even let me have a go with the controller (was curiously attached to the hat)

Sadly we decided the 1 car parking space was going to be a huge problem and didn’t buy it. Wonder where they ended up and how big the train set is now!

When we put our house on the market DH painstakingly disablement and stored his train layout, he was in tears. And that was in an outbuilding.

We actually bought a house specific mind to have the box room for DH to set up an elaborate layout, we added money to the mortgage to convert the loft. I am afraid for what may happen if we ever have to put our house on the market, 10 years and still not finished.

Selling our last place, some of the comments were bonkers. For context, we owned a 2 bed flat on the ground floor of a block. Half a mile from tube and main line stations, 10 minutes into central London. Huge square footage but an older ex LA building and not one of the fancy new builds.

Some of our feedback:

• X client wants a first floor flat with a balcony (why show them then?!)
• you have oak floors not pine
• Ideally the client wants a flat closer to the tube for less money (yep, good luck)

And the best one - I’d got in from the gym and showered, and the estate agent begged me to let him do a viewing despite me being in my PJs, as he had an “extremely promising” client who was very serious about making an offer...so I quickly dressed and popped out to the supermarket:

^^The bathroom was a bit damp.

I’d just had a fucking hot shower on a snowy Tuesday in January

when we sold our first house we had loads of viewings.
I started leaving the baby monitor on upstairs when I met people have a wander themselves
v interesting!

Loving all the miniature railways - 10 years and still not finished @reluctantbrit -I bet it’s a beauty!

We travelled over 150 miles to view a house when I was 29 weeks pregnant with twins. We had stopped and had a wetherspoons lunch enroute.

The lovely owner said we could go upstairs to view on our own. As we got to the top of the stairs one of the babies kicked me straight on in the bowel and I let out the foulest smelling wetherspoons fart imaginable.

We had to stay upstairs far longer than was socially acceptable, trying to waft the smell away.

I loved that house, but was far too embarrassed to make an offer on it after that incident

Years ago I was looking around a house with my BF which on entering stunk of cats, dogs and cigarettes. Neither of us wanted to go any further than the hall but the owner insisted on showing us the half finished “improvements” which he had done. We were never asked for feedback from the EA.

I shared a flat with a friend and when we gave notice we said we were ok with viewing. She had moved away by this point, and despite her asking the agents to call me, they kept calling her to arrange viewings. she kept saying she couldn’t ok them as not there and to call me. I had multiple of visits of the agents just turning up. Ended up keeping key in lock and refused a few few viewings when I was on nights.

I'll keep mine short and sweet (not my story but great).

A male friend at uni lived in a flat with about 5 other people, but they were all home for the holidays. He realised it was the perfect time for a wank, fired up his laptop and went at it. Heard voices coming up the stairs, his door opened and lo and behold, a gaggle of girls being shown around by a letting agent were left ogling at him at his computer chair, laptop slamming down and hastily covering his crotch. Not sure if the story had a happy ending...