Viewings - estate agent or owner?

[FourForYouGlenCoco]

Just as the title says really. If you were buying a house, would you rather be shown round by an estate agent or by the homeowner? Ours is on the market, DH says estate agent more professional and I agree. But I would LOVE to do viewings myself, plus it's a bit of a hassle for me and DD (3yo) to be out every time we have a viewing. Just wondering on other people's opinions!

[thecherryontop]

I think if you're in an area where property goes quickly (in a day) then the owner -as a buyer you can try to build a rapport with the owner so that hopefully they pick you! -you can always ask he estate agent any questions via the phone/in person that you didn't want to ask the buyer.

[thecherryontop]

Sorry -meant ask the seller!

[EarSlaps]

£17k fees . We sold a house for £421k and paid £5k fees inc VAT so your house must be worth a packet savage.

Anyway, I much prefer an EA doing viewings and I like the owner out of the way. I took our children out to hang out at the park/gym and out for dinner when we were having viewings. Luckily it sold in a week. Then once we'd accepted an offer the buyers came round with their parents to measure up etc and I could answer those little questions.

Our EAs were amazing though- they always accompanied any visits (eg tradesmen quoting for work) and kept me really well informed, checked the times were OK etc. I also wanted to be flexible so it all went smoothly.

I never met the vendors for this house as they moved out after the offer was accepted.

[99percentchocolate]

If I was buying - EA. Rented, I much prefer the tenant or landlord. The house I'm in now we got a shock on the day when curtains, lampshades, etc weren't included (we'd been told they were).
I once had to wait around for an EA to show my house round (he'd forgotten his key) and the viewers turned up very early and knocked. I let them in and ended up showing them round whilst we waited for the agent. They asked me lots of questions about the boiler, heating, catchment area, etc. EA then turned up and started volunteering the information, except every detail was wrong. It was so embarrassing. They ended up taking the house and came back to thank me for giving them the right facts so that they could make preparations in advance. I shudder to think what would have happened if they'd gone with his advice (he advised they were in catchment for a very bad school nearby. They weren't and wouldn't have taken the house if they had been. No idea how he managed to miss the good school at the end of the road. )

[BeaufortBelle]

EA always for first viewing. Buyers have usually wanted to meet us after offer and vice versa.

[kirinm]

As a buyer in a fast competitive market I would recommend going with a cheaper online agent. Places don't need an estate agent to sell and one of the owners we spoke to only paid £600 for a sale of £465k

[Savagebeauty]

It is earslaps. Sadly half belongs to ex.

[EarSlaps]

Oh well, at least half the fees will be his too .

[Moving15]

I do like to have the home owner around to answer questions and give some history.

Many, not all, estate agents are pretty hopeless. I discovered that our EA couldn't even open our garden door when hosting an open day so no one could go in the garden or view the off street parking, obviously a big selling point of the house! If I had been there that would never have happened!

However there is nothing worse than a homeowner who follows you around jabbering at length about pointless stuff. I remember a vendor who showed me at length the plans and details for several extensions he had secured planning permission for and also those that had failed. I wasn't interested and I bet it scared some buyers off. It was like he was saying you need to spend thousands on this house to make it work. It taught me to be careful about what I say to viewers even if I think I have a good point.

I have also viewed a house where the vendor stayed downstairs and that wasn't awkward at all and I could ask my questions at the end of the tour by the EA. In fact that was my preferred set up!

[specialsubject]

when we sold, the EA did the viewings, we didn't go out but went in the garden and were available for any questions. But not hanging around for exactly the reasons mentioned.

we bought in a different area where it seems that agents dissolve if they leave their office, so almost all of the viewings were done by the owner. I can see past clutter and it is handy to have the owner to ask questions, so either works for me.

Also did drive-bys first to check location, no point wasting time with a viewing if that's wrong for any reason.

[RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog]

Just remembered another house we were selling where we specifically informed our EAs that we had house cats that were not to be let out. They said they were perfectly ok with conducting the viewings whilst ensuring the cats did not escape. We work from home but went out during the viewings.

We returned home one afternoon after a viewing by a family only to find one of our Persian cats wandering round the garden. Someone had opened an upstairs window and she had got out then climbed down the (cat slide type - no pun intended!) roof onto the ground. Fortunately she stayed in the back part of the garden as it wrapped around the whole house and the drive was open to the road at the front. Suffice to say we did our own viewings on that house afterwards.

[yummychocolate]

I think owners. In my experience EA didn't know enough about the property and they tried too hard sell the property that it made me cringe. We actually put in an offer on the house shown by the owners as I could picture myself living there.

[Muskateersmummy]

For me owners. They know more about the house's history, give you more of a feel of their position and how the sale will go through. I have very rarely been taken of viewings by the agent unless the property is vacant. They always make the viewing process more formal and for me, the first viewing is for viewing with my heart not my head so much. Second viewing is all about head, logistics etc.

[Muskateersmummy]

My feeling is exactly the same as yummychocolate

[FourForYouGlenCoco]

Hmm ok some more mixed views today! I like to think I'd be ok at showing people round, I'm fairly realistic about the limitations of the house and not generally inclined to blather rubbish. Will give it a bit longer and see if we get any offers with EAs doing viewings first.
I do wish you could somehow filter out the idiots though. This is our first house sale and I've actually been shocked at the stupidity in some of the feedback. Most recent viewing loved the house, but wasn't happy that there was no off-road parking. We live in (and the house is clearly advertised as!) a mid terrace. Where the frig he thought we were hiding our secret parking spaces I've no idea

[TheFridgePickersKnickers]

Owner for me.

Only the owner can tell you what time if day the sun hits the patio, what the neighbours are like, if the neighbours own dogs/chickens/cockerell/homing pidgeons etc when the boiler/kitchen/carpets etc was/were put in, answer questions re water pressure, condensation, if the church/pub/school etc down the road/over the back cause issues with parking/noise, if the field that the property backs onto is used for Gymkhana on a regular Sunday morning etc etc.

Estate agents are notoriously shot for this. They tend to bluff their way through in a semi professional manner sugar coating their guesses and promise to call you back with the answers - after 30 other people have viewed the property.

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

I think that's sometimes because the viewer is giving feedback to the EA. EAs often talk you into viewing another property alongside the one you've phoned to view and thus may be completely inappropriate for you.

We were looking for 4 bed houses and the EA sent us to some 3 beds. So we explained to the EA that they weren't for us because they didn't have 4 bedrooms. The idea was to get them to understand what we were actually looking for.

So the idiocy may be the EA passing on comments made for them to sellers.

[Muskateersmummy]

for us we bought the house that was our back up view in a large part due to the difference in the way the two owners showed us round and presented their houses. One showed us around a home she clearly loved and was very proud of and sad to be leaving, the other showed us round made us feel like and inconvenience and had no idea of their future plans once the house sold. On paper the second would have been the one we bought..... We bought the first house.

[PresidentOliviaMumsnet]

Also if you're in a smaller house, let them go into rooms first - will make them seem bigger.
I don't mind between the two - rather a knowledgeable owner than a feckless EA but yes, don't be desperate
Can you be honest as to why you are moving?
That's my first question

[nikole1708]

Estate agents for sure

[Puppymouse]

We've just sold ours and are looking hard for one to buy. I'm sure you mean well but I hate sellers doing viewings

It's awkward if you don't like something (or in some cases walk in and instantly hate the house which has happened to me) or have difficult questions. And you don't want to look too keen if you do like it as that affects the negotiation. We went out with DD 2.5 every time we had a viewing on ours just to allow buyers peace and quiet to look for themselves.

Went to see a house at the weekend and the seller was so lovely but actually made things ten times worse not realising how honest he was being. We are viewing tomorrow and Friday and dreading owners/tenants being in. I cringe and put a rictus grin on my face usually. Sorry that sounds really harsh but just being honest

[CityDweller]

Viewings of our current house were done by the vendor. It has pluses and minuses. Pluses were we could ask lots of question about history, etc, also they had really nice children who kept our children entertained while we viewed. Minuses were it was harder to imagine it as 'our house' having seen them in it and we were perhaps less comfortable to really have a good look and poke around on the first viewing than we would have been had an agent been showing us around. Also, we never really believed their reason for moving, as they told it to us, and that held us back in making an offer and made us somewhat hesitant during the conveyancing process too. I'm sure if we'd never met them and the agent had told us the reason for moving we would have questioned it less. It also meant that we never met the estate agent - only dealt with him on phone/ email. I don't think that helped the conveyancing process either.

[Wiifitmama]

We are selling at the moment. I hadnt planned to do the viewings, but when the estate agent comes round with people and is so completely lacking in enthusiasm, I have taken over. (Yes, we are changing agents). The comments I have received have all been positive about how enthusiastic I am about the property, how much I know, etc. We have had a number of offers from viewings I have done and none from ones the agent has done.

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

We've just put our house up for sale and I'm due to do a viewing at the weekend. I hadn't realised doing the viewings myself would be so controversial til I saw this thread.

As a buyer, I find looking round other people's houses weird and uncomfortable whoever's doing the viewing. The ones with the agent have actually been weirder and more uncomfortable because they've always wanted to find out what we thought immediately afterwards. When it's been the owners, we've been able to discuss it before the agent calls for feedback and that's much better. It feels less pressured, especially when we haven't liked the house.

The agents also seem to monitor your reactions more as you go round, whereas the sellers don't really do this. It's an odd situation for them too.

The sellers we've met so far have been anything but pushy (and none of them have been noticeably odd). They've just showed us round, asked if we have any questions and then offered to let us look round ourselves. It's weird, because you're looking round someone else's house, but having someone in a suit show you round doesn't change that.

[wowfudge]

Our buyers asked for us to conduct their second viewing as they had questions they felt the EAs couldn't answer. We were happy to. I am glad we were able to go out for other viewings though.