Viewing a property when yours isn't on the market

[mixedupmartha]

We have our house on the market. We've had five viewing requests in four weeks, everyone who comes loves the house, we have two couples who almost certainly want to put an offer in once they've sold theirs.

Today I refused a viewing from somebody who doesn't have their house on the market. Cleaning and arranging the house for a late morning viewing takes me three hours from start to finish and DH takes the children to soft play.

I can't see why you'd go viewing houses when yours isn't on the market...we won't view until we've sold - partly because I don't want to set my heart on anything.

What does everyone else think? My estate agent mate says I should only take viewings from people who have actually sold but I think that's a step too far...

nope, still don't get it - don't get why viewing the house with dirty floors and toddler safety equipment around the house is any worse than not being allowed to view the house at all.

why would you not push the boat out and do the full 3 hour prep for the people you think are most likely to be serious buyers and let the unproceedable ones view the house as is?

if people comment on the wow factor of your house may I politely suggest that there is probably something wow-ish about the house itself which will be detectable even with the dirty bathrooms and stairgates (or whatever the adaptations are)?

I mean, when you view a house you think analytically and separate the stuff you can change from the stuff you can't - 'those tartan carpets are vile but I could change those easily enough, don't like the way they've knocked through from the living room to the kitchen though, would be a big job to put that wall back....' etc.

oh but imagine going to see a house with a toddler's toothpaste spat into the sink and such like!

Perhaps I'm just too houseproud!

You may "politely suggest" anything you like!

are you serious?!
nope, sorry, still don't get it!

Now you're confusing me!

You "don't get" why you'd want to make sure your sinks were clean before a viewer came?

Have you ever read any of that stuff about presenting your house for a viewing (you know, written by experts like Sarah Beeny or Phil Spencer)? They actually recommend buffing your taps with a fluffy towel, never mind cleaning the sink.

I'm amazed people wouldn't properly clean their house!

Last time we sold a house, we had a family around, they spent ages looking around the house, gave them coffee. They sat in my living-room for over an hour asking lots of interested questions. Then the woman commented that she just wanted to come and see what it was like because there was no way they could afford it!!!

I mean why bother coming? Why waste my time? Is this some sort of hobby? Can't they get their fix of looking at other people's houses online?

no no, of course I get it and of course I clean my house before a viewing, but why would not letting them see the house at all be better than not cleaning properly?

even if not cleaning properly reduced the chance of their buying the house by 50% (and I'm not convinced it's that high tbh) not letting them in at all means there is a zero chance of them buying it.

If cleaning was the be all and end all, empty houses, houses belonging to old people who can't see properly to clean, houses belonging to young studenty types who don't do cleaning, rented houses where the tenant had no interest in selling, etc, would never ever get sold, and people do buy those houses, though I'm quite prepared to believe they languish on the market longer.

Do you really need to make it look like a show home?

We have viewed lots of houses locally
Ours won't go on the market until we find something to buy

anyway good luck with the sale Martha - hope you find a lovely cash buyer with minimal viewings!

"Ours won't go on the market until we find something to buy"

That would not work round here!

Why make your house look like a showhome?

I dunno, but the property experts strongly recommend it. Perhaps they know something we don't - being experts in it.

I know the viewer in question is NOT a cash buyer and that they must sell before they can buy. If they want to see our house, they are welcome to do so once they are seriously in the market to buy. People with house on the market are also more likely to have spoken to the bank about a mortgage.

You're right - there might be a cash buyer with no house to sell. If so, they can declare this to the estate agent and of course we'll be open for inspection!

i'd definitely look before ours was on the market. But i live in quite a sellable house and i am confident that it would sell quickly if it were priced right, and i would reduce the price for a quick sale to facilitate a move to another house if it was the perfect house for us. so i think you are possibly being a little unflexible as you dont know what situation the buyers are in.

also, fwiw, if you dont have an offer you dont have an offer, so talk of "wow factor" is pretty useless.

Good luck Martha. When we were selling we showed the house to anyone and everyone! got it lovely when we could but with two toddlers we couldn't always. We sold quite quickly in a very moribund market. But, ours was a 3-bed small terrace, first-time-buyer type place - sounds like yours is a lot further up the ladder and maybe those sorts of buyers are going to expect something better presented? Anyway, must say I agree broadly - if I were you I'd show to anyone but not make the full-on presenting-the-house effort if you don't think they're serious. You never know and it only takes one buyer.

We started to look before we put ours on the market. We didn't want to put ours up for sale until we returned from our holiday as we didn't want people to know it was unoccupied for 10 days. When I rang a building society to ask about a mortgage, they said I needed to have a house in mind before I would get an appointment. Not sure whether that is a common approach though. So, personally, I would let people look - although I would expect the estate agent to ask some questions in order to establish whether they were serious or not. I understand what you are saying though. Our house is on the large size and I have three kids and a dog who like to mess it up. I am spending much more of my time tidying and cleaning than I usually do

We sold our flat recently. We had about 20 viewings in a month, 4 offers (within a month) and completed 4 weeks later for full asking price.

I don't really care that the EA showed people round who weren't necessarily interested when they sold iot quickly and for the right price.

We just changed the cleaner's day to Friday. I certainly didn't buff any taps...

Also, we viewed our last flat before we'd put the previous one on the market. We sold very quickly and ended up having to camp with friends for a couple of weeks. Slightly ironic when the seller wasn't sure he wanted to go with us because it might take too long. It was a shame he hadn't sorted out the legal stuff to actually progress the sale quickly.

Martha on average at the moment it is taking 27 viewings to get one offer - I don't think spending 3 hours cleaning up the house is a good idea each time for that many viewings. I stuck our large house on the market and disappeared on holiday on the same day as I thought there would be no way I could keep it clean with 2 small kids. It did sell to the first person who saw it though so I needn't have bothered but I'm glad I did it this way.

Martha, which online site are you using? just out of interest as we are looking to buy and I'm overwhelmed with searching so many different sites..... or wondering if local RE are best??

We have been looking for our perfect house in a whole new area for the past year and two months (not viewed or found anything we both like yet). Just recently had a baby too. We have literally just come across the most perfect house I've ever seen (could have cried with excitement). Just called the estate agent for a viewing who told us we can't view it because our house isn't on the market. Absolutely devastated because financially we are in more than a position to buy, if we fell in love with it, the property would be on the market the next day and things would be rolling. However, we have a new baby and haven't put our house on the market yet because we haven't found anything we like yet. A real predicament and with a baby we need some stability and we cant be selling our house with no house to move into. So, I say have all the viewings you can and take a chance because you could be giving someone their forever home 🏡

Zombie thread from 11 years ago. Op has probably sold by now..

Do they actually need to sell? DP and I both had properties we didn’t need to sell to buy, so it we’d been refused viewings on that basis we’d never have found anything.

Oh dear, I didn’t realise it was a zombie-thread!

@mixedupmartha I’m with you. When we have sold properties we have also spent about 3 hours cleaning and preparing for every viewing and even going to the lengths of decluttering (putting children’s stuff in the car boot) to make the place look more nicer. We have always got top prices for our sales even in a depressed sellers market, so it is worth the effort in our opinion.
Having said that, not every buyer is serious so sometimes it’s wasted effort. But you never know which viewing will provide the buyer so you need to take every one seriously. As a viewer, I have sometimes viewed properties I pretty much know I will not be buying so I understand that people sometimes need to do market research and it’s all part of the property game.

I would take a viewing from someone who wasn't on the market, I wouldn't accept an offer and take my house of the market for someone who wasn't peoceedable.

I see both sides.

It’s difficult; I bought my house this summer. The day it went on the market, it had 5 offers at asking price. It’s a lovely house; beautifully decorated and in a good location.

Personally I’ve come to realise I hate the area (I’m very antisocial, bought it because it’s a short commute to work and commutable for the odd day my other half goes into London for work), I’ve since realised I NEED something more rural so I’m waiting with baited breath for DP to agree to move again.

When we do move, I will be very very fussy. Going into rented would be difficult as we have a dog and a cat. So I will be in a position essentially stringing our buyers on potentially for months if we can’t find a rental and/or waiting for the right house to come along, whereas if I viewed before marketing my house, I’m confident I would have an offer within days of it going on the market. But I appreciate sellers don’t want to take that risk either.

Your choice but u could be losing out. My last two properties I have viewed without mine being on the market and when I was happy to proceed called an estate agent and put mine on at a price to sell and had offers within days. So then put offers and secured on the two houses. That is the way I like to do it. I never sell unless I have something to buy