Ridiculous or amusing feedback

[Gyptian]

We lost our buyers recently so the house is back on the market and viewings have taken place since last Monday. We’ve not received any offers yet disappointingly, although most people have said they liked the house. Just looking at the feedback we’ve received, I think the most amusing so far is that they didn’t like it because it had steep stairs and so they don’t want a terraced house -newsflash-it’s a terraced house! The most frustrating feedback received is that they want to offer but wish to see what will happen to the property market first.

Anyone got any amusing/ridiculous feedback stories to cheer me up?

Most people can't afford their dream house so house viewing is about finding which compromises you cam live with. E.g. 'Only 3 bedrooms' means 'your house isn't nice enough to make up for the fact that it isn't a 4 bed'

Sometimes you can’t be sure as a buyer until you visit the house and get a feel?

We were looking for a house with a driveway but came across this lovely house on a quiet road which seemed suitable - we loved it and went for it as the house felt good!

Sometimes a buyer can put aside a criteria if everything is perfect and it gives you the right feel!

Totally agree oceany!

house viewing is about finding which compromises you can live with

Exactly. And agents tend to press for specific feedback forcing people to come up with something minor when really there are several things which added up to it being not the right house.

I’ve given verbal feedback about parking and size of garden which yes, I mostly knew before I got to the viewing, but was hoping that other factors of the house would make up for once I saw it - they didn’t. Would it have been better to say “the photos made your house look a lot nicer than it is in real life, I didn’t realise what a shocking job you’d done of redecorating/renovating and actually I’d have to redo the entire lot you’re charging a premium for!”. I say that stuff to an agent who can translate it nicely for a seller, but when speaking directly to the seller it’s a lot more awkward. Most photos in Rightmove are wide-angle lenses and photoshopped to improve the lighting/view etc, you can’t trust them at all.

(Agent tried to claim the shoddy plasterwork, poorly fitted skirting and wallpaper peeling from the top of the wall after 3 years was “just normal wear and tear cos they have a young kid”!)

Agree buyers get pressured for feedback as well. I had one agent still asking for feedback even though I knew the vendor had accepted an offer from someone else and we had said verbally we thought the asking price was way too high for the amount of work needed.

On the 3rd viewing we heard the family telling their builder on the driveway that they couldn't get past the lack of a cellar and garage.

How does it take 3 viewings to work that out?

ALSO... CAREFUL WITH RING DOORBELLS PEOPLE!!! WE HEAR EVERYTHING

I think too many viewers don't give honest feedback, just a bland "not for us" or something which can't be changed, which isn't particularly helpful as they are worried about offending. We viewed a house which was too small for us, but we didn't know until we saw it in person, plus it clearly needed all the windows replacing which you couldn't see on the photos. Anyway, the couple selling it had made a lot of improvements and updates, but in every single room there was a job that wasn't completed: a door off one of the kitchen units, coving only partially fitted in the dining room, bare wires and no switch on the landing, etc., etc. We were shown round by the woman who clearly wanted to sell and move to a specific, more expensive, area while her husband sat in the living room and barely spoke. We found out they'd inherited his parents' house and she didn't really want to live there, but we got the firm impression he didn't want to move so it was vastly overpriced for the size and all these jobs needed doing. He'd converted part of the garage to make a dining room and not finished the work.

Anyway we fed this back to the EA and were thanked for the honest feedback as so many people don't give feedback.

We once went to see a house where we know one of the bedroom was v small. It is on a street we thought was outside our budget. Eventually we decided it was not worth the compromise of the odd floorplan to live on that street.

The feedback we gave to EA was that the bedroom was too small. We also told the EA we decided to prefer a bigger house on a less expensive street.

Obviously the vendor could not magic up the room size. I suppose the only cause of action they could have taken is to lower the price so the compromise seemed more “worth it”? Btw this house was eventually taken off the market.

How does it take 3 viewings to work that out?

It doesn’t take 3 viewings to realise there isn’t a garage, clearly, but it may take 3 viewings to realise that they can’t get past there not being a garage - they were trying to like what else your house offers enough to justify the lack of garage. They couldn’t.

I really appreciate how frustrating the whole process is, but some of the posts from sellers on this thread are quite nasty in tone. You don’t have to have people to view your house, you know, you could always refuse viewings unless they meet certain criteria, or refuse third viewings if you think it’s not worth your time.

Sorry, I should say, some posts are coming across as quite nasty in tone, hopefully they aren’t intended that way :-)

When we were buying there were a few horribly pushy agents who we resorted to giving bland useless feedback too, such as "not big enough x" or "didn't meet our criteria" because they would try to have a comeback to every piece of specific feedback we had and tried to push us into offering.

Also, after a few viewings narrowing down exactly what we weren't able to compromise on, still most of the houses that "met our criteria" were just "fine". Fine doesn't make me want to buy your house. You can't avoid that.

I also think that all the tricks employed to make your house more photograph-able by the estate agent can also work against you in a viewing. A room with little furniture looks fine in a photo, so you view, thinking its a big enough room. Then you walk in and realise it's tiny. So you have the worst case of a viewer bring disappointed.

Sellers often mis-interpret feedback (encouraged by agents) to think the feedback is for them to do something about. Feedback is why I'm not buying your house, not what you need to change to convince me to buy. For example, if you're constantly being told the same room is too small, have a look at how it is being advertised. Have wide angle lenses or the word "generous" been used in the listing? Get the agent to act on the feedback you receive.

Selling houses is about managing expectations and creating disappointment is the worst thing you can do. If I know the room is small I go in with an eye for the opportunities and what I can do to make it work, but if I think it's big then I walk in and think "shit" and you're then not in the right frame of mind to deal with the room. Particularly when you have less than 30mins to see a whole house. It's easier to cross it off the list and move on.

When I was house hunting what I found time and again was that the EA photos made the rooms and garden look a lot more spacious/brighter than it actually was. I know you can see the measurements beforehand but it's difficult to imagine it for me until I actually get there.

It is frustrating when feedback is about things that people should have known, but I know we went to visit properties that didn't have everything we wanted because we hoped that other features might be good enough to compromise. If asked, we would then say 'well, we wanted 4 bedrooms really'. We also learned what we did and didn't want by doing viewings.

Last time we bought, we did want a 4 bed house but ended up buying a 3 bed because we loved it so much and other features of the house meant we could compromise. No regrets at all.

We had the no garage feedback - never was a garage mentioned, the houses on this street cannot have a garage as there is not enough room! I would much prefer ‘it’s just not for me’ or useful feedback

A man came to view my house years ago. I showed him the sitting room and after a pause he asked if I used low watt light bulbs. I said "no, but obviously they would work fine ". We moved onto the kitchen and he again asked if I used low watt light bulbs.

When he asked the same question in the dining room, I was getting distinctly nervous, and wondering if the neighbours would hear me scream.

It was a relief to get rid of him.

When we listed our 3 storey home some years ago a family turned up, viewed it then complained to the EA that there were too many steps to the front door. The steps that were really really obvious in the main photo.

Not a complaint, but when we viewed our current home it was tenanted. It's near a dual carriageway. From what I gathered from the owner the tenant wasn't happy about her selling as she wanted to stay. When we arrived to view on an average, not especially warm day, she'd opened every window and door in the house wide. I realised later she was hoping to put us off with the noise. She didn't.

Has anyone done a viewing with the agent and the vendors very present who think "viewer" equals "buyer"? I remember one very in your face guy, shook hands etc. and a rather sad elderly couple with a disabled son. They looked distinctly down in the mouth when we left without offering.

My only really daft one was a couple who said they weren’t interested because the house (kitchen only just big enough for a table) “didn’t have an aga”.
I imagine their comments got lost between EA and us, and what they meant was they wanted a big kitchen....

Couple said they were viewing our house because they had friends in the area.
Reason for not proceeding to offer? It was too far from their current home.

I never heard the feedback from my house, but it must have been along the lines of "the carpet is minging - and will have to go" as when I drove past (I only moved 1 street away) a couple of days after completing there was a skip outside, full of my old carpet!

To be fair I asked the estate agent if I should replace it before putting the house on the market, and they said not to bother as the house would be easy to sell and I wouldn't get my money back.

When we were selling our house years ago a lady turned up who from the off wasn’t very interested. She told us that she didn’t want to relocate from (very posh area) and hated our town and everything generally but her husband had changed jobs and the long commute was too much for him. To be fair she was actually quite distressed about the move and would miss her friends etc etc. She told us she had no intention of moving but was doing viewings to keep her husband quiet
The feedback from the EA was that she thought bedroom 3 (a double) was too small

If you are buyers and can't really think of feedback to soften the blow of "I just didn't like it" then offer a generic "very nice property but we're hoping to find one that ticks more of our boxes". That isn't offensive.

As PP said, people think they have to come up with a reason not to offer. Best not to take feedback too seriously.

The most annoying person we had said..... I’d have to learn to drive and buy a car, we don’t have a car in London....

Why are you looking at a house in a small village 50 miles outside London then🙄

I suggested that maybe they should stay in London....

I also think that all the tricks employed to make your house more photograph-able by the estate agent can also work against you in a viewing.

Yep - there's a very expensive new-build near us that was squeezed into a patch of garden and it's been photographed with the most ridiculous wide angle lens: Anyone who turned up expecting large front and back gardens would be very disappointed.

Conversely, we bought our current house after rejecting it from initial photos as some things just weren't pictured well, so a visit was needed to be sure.