People being rude and hostile when viewing our house.

[hiddenhome]

Our house flooded in 2012. It's been renovated and is in good condition, redecorated throughout and is vacant possession. It's totally clean and a gardener has been tidying the garden every two weeks.

We're asking around £20,000 below the asking price of other post flood properties in the area.

The last two people that came round to see it have been horrible. Quite rude and hostile. Obviously, I know people might be put off by the fact that it flooded, but why be like this? It's as if they resent us for putting it on the market

Is this normal behaviour for people who come to view houses? My last house went quickly, so only two people viewed it.

The bloke who saw it yesterday more or less called us liars when we said we had a burglar alarm but had never been burgled. He said that everyone who has an alarm has been burgled and said he'd take a chainsaw to the specimen tree in the front garden.

Is there really any need for such an attitude?

For first viewing I don't mind who is there but if I serious I would (now) want to have a viewing with the householder and one without...
The first house I bought we had two viewings both with the owner and they were very much directing us to what we saw...we didn't feel like we could take our time etc - or look in a cupboard for what the storage was like.
Therefore there were a few shocks - lack of any central heating upstairs was a big one! (missed the word 'partial' on the survey - schedule just said gas central heating!) or that the kitchen wall cupboards (homemade) had no internal shelves (halved the amount of storage we though we were getting!) or that there was a mat in front of the kitchen sink and she always stood on when in there because the floor tiles weren't suitable for a kitchen and had lifted there ...or even the fixed storage cupboards were so stuffed with junk that my (more expensive survey) kept saying unable to inspect.

Not surprisingly they also failed to mention (which they knew) a lot of DIY had been done by previous owner - who I now call Mr. Bodge it...
Or what I would think an advantage of a viewing conducted by an owner would be - our immediate next door was a nightmare - well know for being one in the area - she did however make a point of telling us about all the nice neighbours....
Second house - even though intending to gut - we did both kinds of viewings - and also met the (lovely) neighbours on both sides ...

I done lots of viewings and think you've been unlucky too.

Agree with others that people are either:

• Trying to talk the price down. The flood gives them an angle. Lots of people will do this and try to persuade you the house will be hard to sell.

• voicing all their negative 'what ifs' as part of their internal discussion.

• just rude, horrible people.

If it's vacant possession they won't see it as your home, so exercise the tact of a guest. They just see a house.

We sold recently and most people were lovely but one couple were just rude. I nearly threw them out but they slightly redeemed themselves anyway they put in an offer and I took great delight in telling the agent that I wouldn't sell to them. I know it could be cutting off your nose and all that but who wants to rely on a pair of twats. The next week we got a better offer from a great couple and everything went well.

Estate agent viewings all the way. Vendors generally don't know when to shut up and it is impossible to have a proper conversation when they are lurking.

Some people are very rude. I would just put yesterday's viewing down to experience. He obviously doesn't deserve your lovely house anyway!