Is it normal to view the house you’re buying more than once?

[whatsthatnow74]

We are at the point of exchange (next week fingers crossed) and our buyer wants to come over to measure up for blinds or some such.

They have been three times already, twice before putting in their offer and then again mid way through the conveyancing process.

We’ve only viewed the house we’re buying once and I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking for repeated visits in the current situation or in any situation really.

I think our buyer’s a bit cheeky! I’ve agreed to all visits as I don’t want to discourage them.

Visited ours three times. Once on my own, then again with my husband, then we offered and had it accepted, then we visited again just before exchange so we could measure up for curtains and furniture which I ordered on exchange to avoid delay, as our new sofa had a 10 week lead time.

I was viewing the house 3 times. It might be that this is their first house and are very excited about it. More fortunate for you as they are less likely to pull out.

I viewed twice. I had to move for work and was moving 5 hours away. So viewed 21 properties in 3 days, then a couple of weeks later came back to look again, and measured whilst there.

Another vote for twice before offering and once after to measure up etc. We loved it on first viewing but it's easy to get over excited in the moment first time around so is very sensible to have a breath and go back specifically to look for pitfalls you might have missed in the earlier excitement.

Measuring before completion also sensible if you need to order curtains/carpets etc ready for when you move in.

Even if you aren't getting carpets curtains etc you still need to
Make sure furniture def etc fits where you plan to put it etc.

Maybe given the rise in covid cases they want to get the blinds measured and ordered in case things shut down again.

I would go out and leave them and the estate agent to it if you are worried.

More than once is normal. I would say two or three would probably be standard - four wouldn't worry me.

Before making an offer - you should feel able to as many times as you need to be sure. Better to be sure when you offer than to just view once for 10 mins and offer and then decide a week later it isn't for you. If I was going for a 2nd viewing with a serious view to offering, I would make copious notes about things like where plug sockets were, and look very carefully at kitchen and bathrooms to see where work might be needed.n so in my view, 1st viewing is to see if you like the house in general terms - rooms size, layout, location etc and then the 2nd is confirming that info in your own mind plus a much more thorough assessment of the state of the property, so you know what you'll be getting.

After offering, I think really just once is normal. The process should be fairly far along before anyone thinks about buying stuff. Before you go, you should think carefully about all t he things you want to look at and measure, knowing that will be the only visit .

If someone asked to visit post-offer, I would say yes, but make it clear that I'd expect just 1 viewing like that - whe organising, ask them or ask EA to ask them to make sure they know everything they want to look for beforehand and perhaps leave a tape measure and paper out for them on arrival so everything can be noted down. If someone asked for a second such viewing post-offer and close to exchange, I wouldn't say no, because who wants to piss off the buyer over a 30 minute visit, but I wouldn't be thrilled and I probably wouldn't feel the need to have it pristine and viewing ready at that point.

As someone else says, viewing to do measurements close to exchange, if it's once is a good sign actually.

If someone had only viewed once, I'd worry a little that they had offered without being serious and might be more likely to pull out. Bad signs arising from later viewings are things like not being interested in doing measurements but going round and making negative comments about the fundamentals of the house such as room size or layout, whi hands the kind of things that might suggest they are u decided about the whole thing and might pull out.

Thanks all. I sort of expected to be told that just one viewing was weird 😄! Interesting to see that many of you think two or three is about right and I can see that. I think I’m just fed up because the whole thing has taken forever, it’s a long chain, our buyers are the cause of the delays and now I’m thinking I need to get the place viewer ready for them to come again. I think my perspective is maybe a little skewed 😆

You don’t need to get it viewer ready, I mean if it’s a mess or dirty then yes tidy/clean, but you certainly don’t need to get it to the level where you’re trying to sell it.

After an offer is accepted, if they wanted to come again, I would do a quick Hoover and tidy round but not the crazy de-clutter (moving stuff I to the car in our last move) you do when you're looking to get a buyer.

Assuming you are close to exchange, then seeing a few family possessions isn't going to put them off or stop them measuring-up. If they pull out now, they would have done so, regardless of seeing a few toys or not seeing fresh flowers and smelling baking bread! Just grit your teeth and put an hour into it and think of it as meaning you're closer to the finish line.

I viewed our place 4 times but it was empty at the time. Perhaps wouldn't have done it that much had people lived in it but would definitely need to see a place twice to be sure.

I always view twice with vendor/estate agent inside, (once before offering and then 2 weeks later to measure) but will visit about 4 or 5 times at different days/times to drive by or walk around to get a really good idea of parking situation and the general feel etc.

Do you really not want to view the house you’re buying again? Measure up, understand what mentally will go where? You’ve just seen it once for fifteen twenty mins and you’re good to go?

Our buyers have viewed our house twice. The one we’re buying we’ve seen twice and will go once more as vendor has offered to show us how various systems work. Thrice is fine, but I suspect once or twice is more usual.

I think 3 times is completely normal and acceptable - twice before offer and then once near to exchange or completion to check specific things/measure up etc.

I would never spend hundreds of thousands on a house I’d seen once for 15 min. You just can’t take everything in. We have just had our offer accepted on a place, we saw it twice. We want to measure up and take our builder with us for third viewing but will wait until exchange is imminent before I ask.

Having said that, our buyers offered after their first viewing and are coming back for a second look tomorrow. I don’t mind them coming back again later to measure up. I think 5 times+ would annoy me though!

Viewed third time to ok exchange. Money with the solicitor so vendors reassured not looking to pull out. I needed to be reassured that the house I’d put the offer on and had been surveyed was in the same state to proceed to exchange. That would have been the only opportunity to insist vendor makes right if something needed doing, ie, rubbish cleared from garden, dodgy crack that appeared between offer and exchange and may not have come up in the survey. As PPs say ‘buyer beware’. A huge amount of money is exchanging hands.

I have to say that I am amazed anyone proceeds with such a huge and expensive investment having only viewed it once.

We have always asked for second viewings on properties we have been considering buying. Why wouldn't you? It is such an enormous amount of money, plus the mortgage interest you will pay over the years. It absolutely has to be 100% right.

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I agree with @Topseyt and others - I would never buy a house with one viewing - it is ( well for me and I suspect most others ) a huge investment - equally when selling ( and I have - I am happy for buyers to come and look more than once and definitely if they are measuring up for blinds / curtains / furniture etc. It says to me they are committed and looking forward to it. ) One buyer ( actually they bought it - looked round my house with a designer to see how she could make it to her taste . I thought the house was fine - but it won't be mine when she has bought it so was v happy for her to look round. I do think once someone ( not all ) has their heart in the sale - it will probably work ( obviously nasty surveyor things aside )

We only viewed once. A few reasons:

We got a really good survey done so were confident all issues were either picked up or invisible to an untrained eye!

We have two small children and no family help so viewings were a bit tricky as I was still on mat leave so couldn't even book on a nursery day

We had looked at quite a few houses and had a really good sense of what we wanted

Coronavirus- didn't want to expose the owners (over 70) to any unnecessary risk. We texted with a few measurement questions which they kindly answered for us

We considered a second viewing but there wasn't really anything we wanted to see so what was the point?

No regrets but it's only been a couple of months!

We visited each house twice, I still wonder how we all can commit to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on something we have not even seen in detail.

Funny that the most costly decisions in life be it finding a partner or buying a house are based on whether it “clicked”.

We've viewed ours once and are going back next week with an architect 😂

I have viewed three times. Once on my own, once with the kids and once to measure on my own. (Obviously with the EA).

People buying mine also viewed three times.

I had some people view mine twice and still not offer on it.

I would say 2-3 times is normal. I wouldn't advise anyone to buy after just one viewing. You need to go back without your rose tinteds on, ideally at a different time of day and make sure it's what you want and need.

A visit for measurements once it's all going ahead seems reasonable, but four or more seems excessive.

Yes, viewed ours twice. And made few other scouting visits around the neighbourhood at different times of the day.