is this normal for house buyers?

[juice]

hi all, hope someone can help me. my hubby has been selling his house and an offer has been accepted. the full transaction and money exchange doesnt get finalised til start of september.
the buyers have been to the house just looking round outside twice and we have also let them in the property to measure up for carpets and curtains too.
they have been on the phone directly to us wanting in again.i was wondering if this is normal practice for the buyer wanting in the property before the money has transferred.
i have actually started ignoring their calls when they call. why should i go out of my way to let them in when it is still legally my hubbys house. can they not wait til the transfer is complete and the house is theirs.
thanks very much

when you say wanting in do you mean just to measure up and look round because if so this is perfectly normal behaviour.

they have already measured up. i dont know why they want in again really
its just that we dont live in the house and have to drive to it, and have my 11.5 month dd to look after.
i thought buyers usually just wait to getthe keys, but i not done this before so dont know

They are just enthiusiastic and excited about what will be their new home.

Can't you leave a set of keys with the Estate Agent to spare you the inconvenience?

I don't think it is particularly unusual. Have you exchanged contracts? Could the Estate Agents let them in?

If they are anything like me, they are excited about their new house, and want to remind themselves of how the house faces, and maybe try to decide where their bits of furniture will go.

They are bound to have forgotten to measure something when they came last time.

If I was your buyer, I would regard you as a bit of a crotchety old crone for not letting me have another look round

I can understand it being a bit of a nusiance as you have to travel to let them in, couldnt you give the estate agents a set of keys and ask them to show the buyers round. When we were buying this house we saw the inside of the property about 3-4 times in total as did the people who were buying our house. Its probably the biggest purchase anyone will ever make so you need to look at it carefully and measure up in order to know what furniture, curtains etc you need when you actually do move in. If the people who we were buying our house off were reluctant to show us inside the house when we requested and within reason it would have seriously put us off completing the purchase.

the estate agent is an hour and half away. i am in scotland so th ehouse buying selling process is different than england. i am sure here it is not theirs til the money has been transferred

No it isnt theirs here till the money has changed hands either but they are not asking to move in before you get the money they just want to look round.

Well alternatively, can you get them to drive over to you to pick up the keys so that you aren't put to any great inconvenience?

That's a good idea hmc. I think they're probably just very excited too, juice. I guess it's annoying for you though.

i could, but just dont really like them being in the house on their own. if this is normal practice suppose just have to put up with it for couple of weeks

wouldn't say it was normal to come more than once to measure up but once certainly is and twice (for the things you've forgoten) not that unusual. I would politely explain that it was inconvenient as they probably don't realise where you are and say you only feel you can do this once more.

I think this is perfectly normal. It's very difficult to remember details of a new house on the first couple of visits and they're probably very excited about it all. They're parting with a huge amount of money and it's understandable that they want to check the property before signing on the dotted line. Having just gone through the whole selling/buying process myself, this seems reasonable to me.

I'd also be worried that if you don't show willing to let them in that they might get cold feet and push off somewhere else. As you said the house isn't theirs until the money goes through and that works 2 ways - they can pull out of the sale until that moment too.
Keep them sweet and let them in!!

when we bought a new house we used to visit it every 2 weeks - admittedly this is not quite the same as it was under construction - we did however, usually go round the show house as well as it was the same design

Maybe they don't realise the inconvenience they are causing as you don't actually live there.

I agree, keep them sweet, and let them in again but explain that it's going to be awkward in future as you have the baby etc etc.

I think visiting it more than three times is unusual. I wouldn't keep pestering if someone lived in the house I was buying in case they got sick of me.

When I bought my last house it was empty after being rented out and we asked the vendor if we could have the keys to access the property prior to exchange so that we could start getting it ready! He was great and we had access to the house for a month and spent that time decorating - basically if the sale had fallen through we would have done all that work for nothing so it was very risky but it paid off in the end!

jalopy, in scotland , once your offer for the buying of a proprety has been accepted, you cant cancel it. it is completely different to seeling houses here than england, where you can pull out even after you put in an offer. these people that are buying the house can not gey out of it now as their offer was the highest and accepted.
so much difference up here

Sorry, Juice. Didn't realise it was in Scotland.

juice, we are in Scotland and when we have been selling I wouldn't let a buyer back in until the missives are concluded, I am too frightened that they will pull out.

We are in the process of selling a house,and the keys are with the estate agent. I believe that they have been in and out like yo-yos over the last week or so (according to my ex neighbours.)

I'm glad they're excited about living somewhere where we were very happy.

Demented,I was in a situation like the one you describe. The people wouldn't let us back in with an architect friend to have a look at the kitchen with a view to getting some ideas on extending it.

This alone was enough to make me pull out hours before we were due to exchange.. As it happened there was something very wrong with it that they obviously thought he would see. A year on,it is still for sale and i am in a beautiful new house.

They did me a big favour.

I see where you are coming from Moondog and they were obviously hiding something but we have always been very welcoming and willing to offer another viewing after missives are concluded (in Scotland this normally happens a good few weeks before the entry date), although I realise that some may feel that we are covering something up and will bear this in mind if we ever sell again.

If missives are like contracts being exchanged (ie legally binding) then I would give and expect unlimited viewing,however tedious. If you are spending that much money it is only fair.

(Having said that,knew within 10 minutes of first visit that present home was right and didn't return,principally because I was about to give birth!)