To expect people to do a bit of research before viewing a house?

[iswhois]

Had three people turn up so far and have turned the house down due to a "showstopper" which they could have easily for seen had they done some research on the location or looking at the floor plans.

I know they are entitled to not buy the house for whatever reason they wish but it just feels like a massive waste of everyone's time.

Maybe I'm just bitter and desperate to move haha

@Timekeeper2

It never would have ever, ever ever occurred to me to look at floor plans (besides the point that I am a visual person and am as hopeless at 'reading' floor plans as I am at reading graphs, maps etc). Unless it is a massive, massive house or mansion, I didn't think floor plans was even a 'thing' that you had access to. Last time I was looking at homes, floor plans weren't even a thing mentioned until during the contracts were drawn up. Why would you think any normal layperson would even think about floor plans, let alone even look at them, 0R could even understand/grasp them as a reference?

Surely a visual person is more comfortable with the examples of graphical representation of information mentioned than text/numbers?

I much prefer those ways of presenting information, and I can't stand it when there is no floorplan of a house I am interested in (though not for buying; I am looking for a mutual exchange in social housing, so I have to check Rightmove for floorplans of houses on the same road).

I think people try to be kind when rejecting your house. We had too close to the railway, no off street parking and no cloakroom on feedback. All these things were known before viewing, but they didn’t want to offend us by saying the kitchen was s##t.

@BeijingBikini Feedback like “it’s only a 2-bed” the seller can’t do anything about. If enough viewers give feedback about the decor over a period of time (ok, a bit more tactfully worded than “decor is shite ) something like “the decor was dated and we felt it would be too much of a task to bring it to our tastes”, then that is something the vendors can choose to act on if they are struggling to sell- could strip busy wallpaper, declutter ornaments, replace hideous curtains with plain blinds etc. So that type of feedback might actually be more helpful.

Yes, though sometimes a certain floor plan (a flat with 1 corridor and all rooms coming off it) looks OK in theory on the floorplan, and decent in the photos, but you visit in person and it just looks like a mental hospital. Obviously I wouldn't say it in the feedback so I'd say "didn't like floorplan".

Or when viewing a place by a train station, you view hoping that it's well soundproofed and trains aren't that much of a problem, but then they're actually really bad. I'd leave feedback saying "trains too loud", and the sellers would probably come on MN moaning "we had some fuckwit moaning that our flat was too noisy, well if they looked on a map they could SEE it was right by the trainline, fucking timewasters". Sorry but sometimes you need to view somewhere to judge how much of an issue something actually is!

@LittleRa yes, if it was dated/smelt of dog I would probably say it, but a lot of the decor I don't like is usually quite modern, but not to my taste. So I'd be paying a premium for the house, and it wouldn't be worth redoing the kitchen/bathroom, but it's not how I'd have it. I can't really say "didn't like the kitchen/bathroom" because they can't really tear it out if it's new and appeals to most.

I guess my point was, sometimes you view places with features you don't like HOPING that the rest of the property wows you and makes up for it, but it doesn't, and then all you can leave as feedback was the features you didn't like (that were clear on the listing).

Most agents don’t let you view a house now unless you can prove you’re in a position to buy Ie yours on the market or finances available. No one visits as a hobby any more unless they are seriously minted.

Or constantly putting their house up for sale. You can’t just walk into an agents and ask to view a house any more and they just go sure, no worries how does Saturday sound?

On floor plans though. When we bought this place six years ago to be honest, I didn’t look either, but after the first couple of viewings realised very quickly it was critical to look at the floor plans, because so many photos make rooms look bigger than they are, and also it’s important to look at street view to see where it is.

All listings now should come with floor plans, and it’s important to look at them to understand scale as pictures can be very misleading.

Yes the pictures nowadays are SO misleading! They use fish-eye lenses and filters to make the colours seem brighter and lighter. We once viewed a house that looked white/beige on the listing but was actually completely grey everywhere, it was like a sea of grey. And the rooms are tiny IRL but looked huge on the listing.

I’ve looked at tons of house that when I got there it wasn’t as suggested

Estate agents are well known for this

People don’t research. Why on earth would someone check where the local pubs are?!?

It’s annoying. But houses and people aren’t perfect.

@LouLou789

I sympathise with you, OP. We are (trying to be) in the process of moving at the moment and do loads of research before viewing, especially in these times.

Mind you, I do think viewers invent reasons why they don’t like houses, whereas it maybe just doesn’t feel right for them. We had one woman say she didn’t want to buy our house because we hadn’t got a dishwasher 🤣

I kind of get that. Dishwasher is a dealbreaker for me and if there was no obvious room for one I wouldn't buy the house

I recently went to view what looked like a stunning new build. Met the builder. Everything

Went to view the house. None of the doors were flush. Some wouldn’t even shut. The kitchen cupboards went flush. Doors into the garden wouldn’t open. The garage had no doors on it!!

It was horrific. He wanted 1.2!!!!

@IncludeWomenInTheSequel

I had a single women turn down our four-bed house as the staircase wasn't wide enough It was a regular staircase.

People are fucking mad.

If you have a disability and know you’re likely to end up needing a stairlift (for example) things like width of stairs will be a factor for you.

Yes Pictures can be very misleading. They can make rather run down grubby small rooms look large and freshly decorated, and to be fair also do the opposite, make light fresh rooms look dark and dingy if taken badly.

When we bought this house I recall saying well at least there is a video, they can’t manipulate that. And as said, you learn to look at the floor plans pretty bloody quickly and compare it to the rooms of the property you’re currently in to get an idea of scale.

So if thr room you’re in is fifteen foot by fifteen foot, and the one you want to see is twelve foot by thirteen foot you know it’s quite a bit smaller and vice versa.

The fact the only door to the bathroom was through the master could be missed when viewing a floor plan if you didn’t look carefully enough, but the feedback of its too close to the pub is really I don’t love it enough to be that close to the pub.

@googybob

Showstopper can be a positive thing or a obstacle (check the dictionary if you're unsure) however I agree that it's more commonly used for a something positive.

Not in my OED - only the positive definition is given.

We had one woman say she didn’t want to buy our house because we hadn’t got a dishwasher

No dishwasher or space for one would be a deal breaker for many folks if they didn’t love the house. That’s a case of I don’t love it enough to start washing my dishes by hand. I get that, I’d not be happy with somewhere with no dishwasher or room to put one in without compromise.

I viewed about 10 properties before buying my house and I was asked for feedback on all of them. I'll admit that I made polite excuses, some of them were probate sales and you could see that the house obviously belonged to a much loved recently deceased relative once you got in there and I didn't want to cause any offence. When you see things up close, rather than the fish eye lens estate agent picture you realise it's just too much work on a tight budget, especially removing stairlifts and sit in showers that had been installed in the bedroom - all things not mentioned on the listing.

Another house I loved and went back for a second viewing, but on the second day it was a weekend and the place was rammed with cars, we couldn't park anywhere near and then one of the families next door decided to start a fight on the shared green area at the front. Another house was perfect on the listing but went into the garden and the neighbour was smoking weed - not something that bothers me personally as an adult but not something I want to expose my kids to.

I would like estate agents to stop using wide angle lenses, making rooms etc unnaturally big, if you're keen on photography you can spot the discrepancy of scale, otherwise you'll be disappointed.

A show stopper in every day common language usage can be either a positive or a negatively, literally what it says on the tin. Something which stops the show.

I’d not be happy with somewhere with no dishwasher or room to put one in

There’s always room to put one in. You just lose a cupboard.

Sorry, but you are being ridiculous. Online viewing is very different to seeing it in person. Often buyers view a lot of properties and to do research on every one of them prior to viewing is an unreasonable expectation.

OP I sympathise, selling my last house in a well known and highly regarded area. Lots of people came to view because of its proximity to the train station and then preceded to tell me they didn’t like the area, so weren’t interested, I heard that so many times... Really pissed me off. I felt like saying I haven’t moved the house - it is where it is!

I agree about Estate Agents misleading. I once contacted an Estate Agent about a property they were marketing, which only had a few photos and no floor plan. I specifically asked if the main bathroom was off the bedroom, as I knew the style of property. I said that it wasn't necessarily a problem because if the bathroom was straight aheadyou could build a hallway to separate the bathroom and bedroom. Visited the property and the bathroom was diagonally opposite, so a hallway wouldn't have been possible.

Moaned to the EA and he said that he's not a builder so he couldn't advise. I called him out on it and said that he knew full well that it wouldn't be possible and that he wasted my time.

Yep! We had at least half of our viewers say the road was too busy. It's the main road into our town so anyone local would know the road. EAs were even telling people before they booked the viewing.
Same for parking - we have one parking space, got quite a few rejections based on parking. It's on the advert!

@BeijingBikini

Yes the pictures nowadays are SO misleading! They use fish-eye lenses and filters to make the colours seem brighter and lighter. We once viewed a house that looked white/beige on the listing but was actually completely grey everywhere, it was like a sea of grey. And the rooms are tiny IRL but looked huge on the listing.

Yes!!!! We went to see a house once and the size and shape of the house, garden and rooms was so distorted in the images that I thought we must be in a different house. The only way I knew was the wallpaper in the living room and the summer house in the garden. I was flabbergasted.

I sold recently. One of the feedbacks was it's too far from the train station....well viewing it won't make it any closer! Do your homework before you waste my time especially viewing houses during a pandemic 😫

You mean deal breaker, not showstopper 😂