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Original poster

Vendors - why not be more accommodating for viewings?

36 replies

BuyerReadyToGo · 01/10/2020 12:07

DH and I have sold our property in Scotland. We've completed and have the funds from the sale in our account.

We're down in England, renting temporarily whilst we do our property search.

We're looking at the Gloucestershire/Wiltshire area, min. 2 bed, max ~£500k.

We're both working full-time, and the earliest we can finish work during the week is 5pm. So we can do viewings from 5.30pm (taking into account travel time) Monday - Friday, and of course any time over the weekend.

What I'm running into over and over when trying to book viewings is agents saying 5.30pm onwards in the evenings during the week is too late for them and their vendors - and they often won't do Sundays, either. This means we have to squish our viewings altogether on a Saturday, and if there are any clashes the viewing has to be delayed by a week.

I cannot get my head around it. I want to view your house so I can make an offer! Why not be more accommodating and enable viewings during evenings and/or Sundays? I assume you want your buyers to be in work so they have a hope in hell of getting a mortgage during these times ... 🤷‍♀️

We're eminently "proceedable", too, and I've made this as clear as I can: we've sold, so we're not in a chain and we have a significant deposit, our jobs are stable and well-paid, we've no debts and the banks are practically tripping over themselves to offer us a mortgage - and we're very keen to get going with a solid offer once we've found the right place.

I totally get it's a pain to have to keep the house in order for viewings, and you want to decompress/have DC to care for in the evenings. But I was a seller myself until very recently, and we did everything we could to accommodate viewings, even if they were a bit inconvenient - because we wanted to sell!

I'm getting to the point where some vendors are being so awkward about specific times they'll enable viewings that I'm just going to stop bothering with them and move on. It just seems like such a silly way to put off a buyer.

OP posts:

MrsJamin · 01/10/2020 12:13

You're right, it'd have to be absolutely impossible for me not to accept a viewing booking for any time - apart from 8pm onwards. The problem is that we're getting into darker evenings and for many people they can't just go anywhere to wait while a viewing is happening, covid rules of 6 and all that. Our viewing is at 5.30 today which is really inconvenient For us (teatime etc) but we're going to do it as we want to sell our house!

Saz12 · 01/10/2020 12:15

I agree with you!

Possibly vendors have huge numbers of viewings, of which 30% are time-wasters, so there attitude is “if you really wanted the house you’d make time to view it”.... even though you wouldn’t know if you wanted it until you’d seen it!

ramblingsonthego · 01/10/2020 12:16

I think you will find its most agents that won't do viewings later in the evenings as they work normal office hours so 8.30-6 at the very most.

We have only once turned down a viewing as that was because we had an important video conference that couldn't be changed. We said to the agent we would facilitate viewings any time or day but they only work their opening hours.

Pootles34 · 01/10/2020 12:19

Honestly places are going so quickly around us that we're missing out by being unable to view during the day - our last one that we wanted to view went on rightmove on Sunday, it was sold by 4pm Monday. It feels very frustrating!

I wonder if they're being fussy just because they can - they know they'll sell it anyway?

Missandra · 01/10/2020 12:19

it might actually be the agent setting the time limits rather than the vendor. Most estate agents wont work evenings and sundays.

Original poster

BuyerReadyToGo · 01/10/2020 12:23

@Missandra

it might actually be the agent setting the time limits rather than the vendor. Most estate agents wont work evenings and sundays.

I agree with you - it's a shame for the vendors, though, if they're happy to do viewings themselves but the agent is potentially putting good-to-go buyers off.

That's what we did - we did a mix of the agent hosting viewings, then any they couldn't do we did. We ended up selling to a woman who we did the viewings for, in the end.

OP posts:

BlackberrySky · 01/10/2020 12:24

Just to flip it over for a moment, if you're a serious buyer maybe you could take a day off work and arrange several viewings on that day? When we sold our house my kids were toddlers so no way did we want to have viewings at their bedtime every day, especially people who weren't even that interested in the property.

Original poster

BuyerReadyToGo · 01/10/2020 12:36

@BlackberrySky

I get what you're saying, but I have very few holiday days left (family illness) and I don't want to "spend" them on a property that I don't know I want to make an offer on yet until I've seen it. I'd take a day off for second viewings.

As @Saz12 said:
“if you really wanted the house you’d make time to view it”.... even though you wouldn’t know if you wanted it until you’d seen it!

OP posts:

niki26 · 01/10/2020 12:44

Our place is on the market - I have recently had a baby and am on maternity leave. Prior to having the baby I told the agent that I can he flexible re viewings as I'm in during the working week. Every single viewing has been booked for Saturdays. I'm assuming that's due to the viewers preference but I could be wrong!

MissPollyPops · 01/10/2020 13:20

Yeah. That's annoying. Most people work office hours so can't do viewings then. When I was asking estate agents to come and value my place, a few said they only did office hours. We'll, I'm working then, so I can't do then. I told them not to bother. I thought, if you cant do valuations in the evening, does that mean you also can't do viewings in the evening? I assume most people will want to view in the evenings. So you'd be missing out on a lot of viewings.

Bol87 · 01/10/2020 18:26

We sold our own house via an online agent. The buyers contacted us via a portal & we arranged a suitable time. We had viewers 7 days a week from 9am - 6pm. I’ll be honest, with two young children we couldn’t accommodate evenings as we’d be doing tea, bath, bed. So if you are looking at family houses this may be why. I also never booked 10-12am as my baby naps then & they wouldn’t be able to see one of the bedrooms properly! But otherwise, we were keen to get people through the door when they could come!

PointyMcguire · 01/10/2020 20:12

I do think if you’re seriously looking you need to be prepared to book a day or two off work to do so.

DH and I have just taken a week off work to view properties which has thankfully resulted in us having an offer accepted on a house that is perfect for us. Had we not had a week off, I’m almost certain that it would have sold before the weekend (it was niche and well priced) and it would have been our viewing being cancelled due to the sale, rather than our offer being the reason other viewings were cancelled as it ended up being.

Some estate agents won’t let vendors host viewings due to Covid (ours was one of them) so viewers were very much beholden to office opening hours.

RedToothBrush · 01/10/2020 20:28

The agencies around here won't let vendors show clients around themselves. And thats more so an issue with Covid. You cant exactly wander though a fully filled family home atm. That means people have to go out whilst someone comes around to view your property.

It could be compounded estate agents operating on fewer hours / less staff working more as theyve had to lay people offthis year to survive.

Or what if the seller is moving due to financial reasons and they have small children either of primary school age or younger. Im assuming that feeding your children is something that still needs to be done before the bed time routine. Eating out isnt an option for either practical or financial reasons.

Realistically speaking, if you are desperate to move fast the onus is on you too. Expecting everyone else to drop everything on the off chance they might be the lucky seller is unrealistic. You will find some people have upwards of 10 viewings to accommodate. Its not just you. Your finances might make you a good bet but you dont know if there arent another 6 people in the same position thinking they are the most important people ever. You are obviously seeing numerous properties too, so thats multiple people you are expecting to do this, when you can only buy one house.

MissPollyPops · 01/10/2020 20:48

Having to take a day off work everytime a property comes up that u want to view, sounds like a nightmare. "oh! New house on! I want to see it ASAP. Now I need to try and book time off work at the last minute"

SerialRelocator · 01/10/2020 20:49

I really feel the pain in trying to get viewings booked. We are 100% procedable, 100% cash buyers trying to relocate. We have a 4 hour journey each way so book a few days at the time to see houses. That means we are free to view any time during the day, and not just busy Saturdays). We've spent the last 3 days trying to cajole agents into setting up viewings. I've yet to get an enthusiastic response. Some are barely civil and certainly not selling. That's before we get to vendors who don't like back to back viewings (why?), or who doesn't want viewings because it's their birthday. Best is the one who'd like to know if you're going to put an offer in (before you've seen their £1m+ house because "they've had a lot of (unsuccessful) viewings already..." Sigh.
This should be an exciting time. It isn't.

KnobChops · 01/10/2020 20:51

It’s really weird. I was asked to wait to view a couple as they ‘couldn’t do weekends’ or ‘could only do 2-4pm on a weekday’. I ended up not bothering and couldn’t take them seriously as sellers.
I bent over backwards to accommodate viewings, even getting up crack of dawn to clean house before 12 hour working day for a second viewing. Who then cancelled!

PointyMcguire · 01/10/2020 20:55

@MissPollyPops I would imagine most people would book up their day with multiple property viewings, at least that’s what we did. I think in the current market you can’t have it both ways, you’re either proactively looking and prepared to go the extra mile if something that ticks the boxes crops up or you stay inflexible and appreciate it may take a while longer to find something that fits.

MissPollyPops · 01/10/2020 21:02

[quote PointyMcguire]@MissPollyPops I would imagine most people would book up their day with multiple property viewings, at least that’s what we did. I think in the current market you can’t have it both ways, you’re either proactively looking and prepared to go the extra mile if something that ticks the boxes crops up or you stay inflexible and appreciate it may take a while longer to find something that fits.[/quote]
Around me just now.. Places are selling within the day.. And there's maybe one in the area I want, every now and then. I don't want to view loads of houses in the one day. I want to view particular houses in a particular area, if and when they come up for sale..

greenlynx · 01/10/2020 21:05

EAs usually arrange block of viewings for popular houses and the most popular time for this is on Saturday hence all your viewings are on Saturdays. Of course, they are always ready to go out a bit and sacrifice their precious evening if the house is completely stuck in their books.
I think the problem is that you are doing right choice.

PointyMcguire · 01/10/2020 21:14

Oh I totally believe that. The house we had an offer accepted on hadn’t even been on the market 24hrs when we viewed and offered full asking price on it. We learnt from bitter experience that we needed to be quick if something that fit the bill came up.

Slightlybrwnbanana · 01/10/2020 21:28

With children it's not just the tidying up, it's clearing them out of the way (I did do one with them lying in their bunk beds as could not go out for a walk as was dark) and with many dc it is interrupting their tea/bath/bed schedule - you might say it's worth it to sell a house but it won't just happen one time. The amount of people who made appointments and were clearly in no position to proceed with a purchase, would drive you mad. Where I live there are open times, everyone views on a Sunday afternoon really, I did additional appointments but the person who bought had viewed on the first day.

Roowig2020 · 01/10/2020 21:58

We put our house on the market in August for the specific reason what myself, dc and ddog we're going to stay with family for 3 weeks. Dh working but agent did viewings. Sold in 6 days but buyers pulled out this week :-( .

Tbh it's now a bit of a nightmare doing viewings because dh works shifts so some days he's come off a 14 hour night shift (needs to sleep as he's delirious!) and others he's on 14 hour long days. I'm happy to do viewings in the evenings but with no local family I couldn't do it with dc and a very bouncy dog around and agent won't do evenings themselves to allow me to take kids out. We're trying to be we flexible as we can.

porridgeface · 01/10/2020 22:09

I recently (pre Covid) had a property on the market in the area you're looking in which was marketed with 2 estate agents. It was priced for a quick sale and had a fair bit of interest but it was the EA that couldn't accommodate the viewings. In the end one company was happy for me to show people round but the other said no so it may be the agent rather than the vendors

Doilooklikeatourist · 01/10/2020 22:36

We've done our own viewings ...
On Saturdays , Wednesday , even a second viewing on bank holiday Monday

We want to sell the place , so if we can show someone round , we will
( just give us 48 hrs notice please )

Africa2go · 01/10/2020 22:47

Do you have children OP? I get its annoying and there needs to be some flexibility but 5.30pm is possibly the worst time to try to book a viewing.

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