Why would a vendor insist on being at viewings?

[anyname123]

Just that really, seen a house that looks great, with an EA. Called to book a viewing, was told that viewing's are between 5-6pm only as vendor wants to be there, consequently I can't view the house. Good luck to her, she may well sell the house to someone more flexible, but why would you insist on being there? I'm looking to buy a house, not make a bloody friend!

I've looked at loads of (south east) houses over the years, always had vendor show us round, very rarely did we have an agent there at all. It was a while ago though, maybe things have changed!

I'd rather be at viewings too - can give useful info that the estate agents don't know/ can't be bothered to find out, eg about local schools, the neighbours, any little idiosyncrasies of the house. Also, you can get a gut feeling about buyers/ whether they're likely to drop out or drag the whole process out.
But with those restrictive times, it sounds like she doesn't really want to sell.

Also in Scotland and the vendor being there is so normal I don't feel obliged to make positive noises, I'm more inclined to stay as neutral as possible as I don't want to give over keen signals which might make the vendor over optimistic, given the bidding system we have. I tend to just ask when they are planning on moving (they usually say they are flexible to make sure you don't think they are desperate for a quick sale) and chat about how long they'd lived there.

Where I am the "offers over" price isn't usually the valuation, it's pitched a bit lower to get people through the door.

I like the contractual element of the Scottish system but I'm not a huge fan of sealed bidding. I know of sellers who only got a couple of bids at the closing date and one was far higher than the other so the winners paid much more than they needed to. That price then becomes the basic valuation for the next house for sale in the street, the buyer looks up the house prices and thinks "yes, I need to pay that much" and the "normal" for the street rebasis that much higher. I don't think any system is perfect - gazumping is much harder but I've certainly bid more than I would otherwise have if I'd been able to make a starting bid and negotiate (which you can do sometimes but as it's not the norm, it's really only if the market is very quiet or if you are going to bid well above the home report valuation).

You can ask the vendor about the neighbours, the parking, the local school, when they replaced the bathroom - loads more info than an estate agent. I return, don't open their drawers and don't slag off their decor until you leave the house!

Because they think the estate agents are muppets and don't trust them to do a decent job!

I'll check back in, even though the conversation carried on very well without me
I went to see the house last night, it was hell! A stressed out woman furiously cooking tea whilst repeatedly telling me the cooker works well and it'll be staying, 2 toddlers near killing each other at the kitchen table, a huge smelly dog at the foot of the stairs, a husband lolling on the sofa, and the estate agent trying to control the circus. It was so stressful and I felt like I'd been placed it someone's life without invite. I'm even more confused now as to why she wanted to be there! Objectively the house may have been decent, but I really couldn't get a feel for it.
I'll just keep looking!
I'm absolutely amazed at some of your horror stories about nightmare vendors though, some people are shocking!
Oh and not in Scotland by the way, so that probaby accounts for my lack of experience with vendors being at home.

I'm guessing that because of the dog and working they have said they need to be there. When we were selling (Autumn/Winter), the majority of viewings were at the weekend. There was one during the day in the week and one on a weekday evening. Everyone else viewed during daylight hours at the weekend. And we went out - we chose an agent that did all the viewings. Some of those we spoke with didn't.

Be honest in your feedback to the EA OP. Then they can help the vendor address the issues. I feel for the vendors really - it would make more sense for them to say viewings at the weekend only.

I was really honest with him, by the look on his face he was pretty suprised at what we encountered too!
I felt sorry for her as she was clearly flustered and her husband appeared to be a useless lump, but still, if you want someone to buy smething costing 150k+ from you then I don't think it's unreasonable to present it in a better light (although I'd no doubt be loving her exact life in the house anyway!)

Wow. Sounds like they don't really want to sell if that's how they have it set up for a viewing. Agree the dog is probably the reason.

They should go away for a long weekend, with the dog, have professional cleaners in on the Friday and open house all day sat and sun.

She was cooking? Goodness!

I wonder why they hadn't just all gone out for dinner during the viewing?

No wonder you aren't interested.