Only people who have sold can view ours

[Justpassingtime1]

House on market a month now.
The Agents say only people who have sold can view
Obviously no one wants loads of people traipsing in so are people viewing via zoom etc or what?
Bizarre

You employ the agents, so it's up to you if you want those who haven't yet agreed a sale to be able to view.

I've not heard of zoom/online viewings, they're all going ahead as normal. You can have the agents make a virtual tour of your house to go on the online listing but that might cost more.

We are on market but not under offer yet. I’ve found that most agents are happy to let us do viewings: all except one which says we have to be under offer. I did wonder if people listing with that agent would be at a disadvantage.

Aren’t there specific rules because of the pandemic?

Some agents have virtual tours uploaded onto Rightmove. I’m not sure that viewing via zoom would be helpful as I’d never buy a property I haven’t seen myself.

I am in the process of purchasing a property. When viewing properties I found that all Estate Agents (very reasonably) wanted to know my own situation before allowing viewings - only one agent did not allow viewings without a sale agreed on my property. I ended up not viewing a property as a direct consequence of this.

Masks were worn for all viewings that I did do. Estate Agents had various ways of minimising infection control - some wiped door handles etc.

I have gone for an agent that allows viewings from people who are on the market, as opposed to those who have already sold as I figured we have a better chance of selling that way.

The agent that was only allowing people who have already sold to view spent ages trying to convince me it was a good idea though!

If you are high risk I can see it would be a good idea.

Round here it’s “proceedable” only for viewings, and then view in masks without touching anything.

Pain in the arse and makes chains take forever but 🤷‍♀️

The agent doesn’t get to decide. You do. Get that changed. Because by the time someone’s sold most times they have already found their next house.

Several agents round here are doing online viewings on their websites, or doing them live by various means.

Government guidance appears to be, to do virtual viewings first, and then live viewings only to people who are serious buyers, so I guess that is why some agents are saying "only if you have sold".

My estate agent client is overwhelmed with viewings and house sales at the moment, so it's certainly not holding them back.

I'm assuming you're the seller here.

If you want nonproceedable people through in person then tell your agent that. They might be happy to set up the appointments but say you'll need to do those viewings yourself, at least at their peak times.

Did you get a good deal with the agent? If they aren't going to make much on the sale they will be less motivated to do the viewings that have less chance of "converting" to a sale. Or when they are super-busy or understaffed they may be needing to prioritise.

They are doing the right thing. If they have not sold would you expect them to be in the position to offer. You might wait years until they sell.

They are doing the right thing. If they have not sold would you expect them to be in the position to offer. You might wait years until they sell.

Not necessarily. We found our current house when we weren’t even on the market. Once we looked round and loved it, we got our act together and were under offer within about 10 days.

Had we not been allowed to view the house, we wouldn’t have gone through the effort of marketing our house just to view another property.

It depends on how desirable/popular the house is likely to be. If it is in a nice area, well priced etc then I would tell me agent only proceedable viewers too.

Most are online only where I live and certainly only proceedable only to view. Reduces time wasters and Covid spread. Why cast the net wide if the house is priced to sell?

We were totally put off my a house where vendors insisted we had to be sold first. It’s not common around here, and even though we’d had 15 viewings booked in for our first viewings day that weekend, and the fact that house had been on the market 9 months, wouldn’t sway them. We ended up buying a house opposite for less money (although more work) because we viewed it first while we were still on the market.

I do get the idea of proceedable only, but equally it adds time to chains and excludes people who may become proceedable really quickly after viewing.

We’ve sold recently & went with an online agent, did our own viewings. We accepted viewings from anyone with their house on the market & we also looked round several houses before we sold. All agents in our area were happy for us to do so as long as our house was on the market..

If you want to sell you need to make sure people can view
And if your agent wants your work, they will have to ensure the same
As per pp there is no way I would market my house without knowing there was property suitable to buy.

Have to say I wish video viewings were available for all properties. It would really help you to sort out the completely unsuitable ones. Photographs are very good at hiding things like steep gardens, dirty walls, and awkward access. Video, less so.

I would only want people who had their home on the market if I was a vendor. That illustrates they are serious about moving. That doesn't mean they have to be under offer/proceedable but it shows good intent.

This is good. It is pointless having viewings if people need to market or sell

In some ways, it’s a good thing.
At least you know that when people do view, they are serious and can proceed.
Cuts out the time wasters and people who are just ‘having a look at what’s out there’.
Mine is on the market atm, and it’s disheartening when people who have viewed it aren’t even on the market yet.