Your WTF Moments As Sellers

Smokeahontas · 2021-04-16T20:11:39+00:00

First time seller here, it’s about to go on the market. To prepare myself a little, what’s the most WTF question / demand you’ve had as a seller?

KillZill · 16/04/2021 21:16

Following....ours went up today.

Not even on right move and someone knocked on asking to look round

Bythemillpond · 16/04/2021 21:26

I had a buyer ring the estate agent to say he couldn’t proceed with the purchase as he was dead

Original poster

Smokeahontas · 16/04/2021 21:32

@Bythemillpond

I had a buyer ring the estate agent to say he couldn’t proceed with the purchase as he was dead

Ummmmmm

OP posts:

BuiltForComfortNotForSpeed · 16/04/2021 21:35

Not really a question, but definitely a wtf. The husband kept me talking in the sitting room and when I noticed the wife had disappeared I tracked her down in my bedroom going through my wardrobe as though it was a rail in Topshop. She didn't look embarrassed either and kept sorting through my clothes. I told them someone else was due for a viewing and they needed to leave.

readytosell · 16/04/2021 21:37

@KillZill

Following....ours went up today.

Not even on right move and someone knocked on asking to look round

I fear this is actually pretty common with the market being so hot, people won't want to wait to be booked in for viewings...

BuiltForComfortNotForSpeed · 16/04/2021 21:39

I should have proofread. That couple were in my house for a viewing not long after I'd put it on the market.

Bargebill19 · 16/04/2021 21:50

house priced for a quick sale, had several offers. One, got her mum to knock and tell us we had to sell for £10k less than priced, as we had obviously benefited from an increase in house prices and should pass our good fortune on to her, as she was a first time buyer and couldn’t afford to buy a house and all brand new furniture and have a honeymoon, in the same year without us doing so. Apparently we should have taken out a larger mortgage on our new place, as being older we could afford it.
Had we even been inclined to drop the price, we couldn’t have afforded to move. So they still wouldn’t have got the property. We didn’t sell to them either.

DrMadelineMaxwell · 16/04/2021 21:52

A friend's neighbour is selling up.after accepting an offer. The buyer has since requested a new boiler, new windows and it to be completely rewired.
Obviously they were told no.

NewHouseNewMe · 16/04/2021 22:19

@DrMadelineMaxwell

A friend's neighbour is selling up.after accepting an offer. The buyer has since requested a new boiler, new windows and it to be completely rewired. Obviously they were told no.

In fairness there is a recent phenomenon on MN whereby the buyer fails to notice rotten windows/dodgy roof/ancient boiler and is then encouraged to negotiate the price despite the fact all of the above were blatantly obvious!

FeelinSpendy · 16/04/2021 22:29

3 weeks after exchange, 1 week before completion/move date. Everything arranged, movers booked etc. Buyer rung the agent and was adamant that we had to change the move date to 3 days earlier as her astrologist had advised her that was a lucky day - the only lucky day in that whole month.

earsup · 16/04/2021 22:34

My elderly wealthy neighbours sold eventually but were knocked down by different buyers who all turned out to be the same family..!..one woman dressed up in a burqa and pleaded with my neighbour to include all the furniture and appliances for free...grabbed her ankles and cried and claimed her husband locked her in a cupboard etc....neighbours relented and moved to new house as paid cash....new buyers then let the house out before even exchanging contracts..!!..we saw the new owners all happy holding hands etc and dressed in western clothes around the area for ages...they eventually moved in themselves.

TheFnozwhowasmirage · 16/04/2021 22:59

I had a family arrive,look around,all completely normal. Until the husband asked about the loft conversion.
Me:'There isn't a loft conversion'.
Him: 'I saw the window from the drive. There is one.'
Me: Thinking that if I had a loft conversion,don't you think that it'd mention it on the property details and there's be photographs and room plans? And the house would be priced higher?
Me: 'There is no window or loft conversion'.
Him: 'I'm sure that there is'.
Me: 'Would you like to go up in the loft and check?'
Yes reader,he did. He climbed into my loft,looking for the non existent window and conversion that he'd insisted was there. Meanwhile,his wife,two kids and myself stood around on the landing like lemons,waiting for him to clamber back down.
As if that wasn't enough,he then went into the garage/ carport/ workshop and asked about 'the plans to convert it'. He wanted to see the drawings and planning paperwork. There was none,because that was all in his head.
I did wonder if he'd got us mixed up with another house in the village,but ours was the only one on the market then. Bizarre!

lastqueenofscotland · 16/04/2021 23:47

I used to work in conveyancing...

FTBs were the absolute worst.
I’d rather be in a 83950205 house chain.

Getting a home buyers and panicking and wanting tens of thousands of pounds off because it said the surveyor couldn’t check the electrics (well fucking obviously... they’ve done their RICS APC not an electricians course).
The “my 5th uncles 7th cousins dogs best mate is a builder” brigade.
Had someone who had an offer accepted and asked to bring her family round for a viewing vendor was happy... brought her 3 children who were fucking feral, climbing all over cream furniture, jumping on beds etc. Asked them to leave and then said they wouldn’t sell the house to them as they didn’t want to “inflict those brats on the neighbours”... that was a good conversation with the vendors solicitor the next morning...

One thing I cannot stress enough is do not give out personal numbers. It seems easy and common sense, but if things go sour it’s so much better knowing that phone calls about the property have all be recorded, and takes some of the emotion about that situation out of it.

aweirdtopic · 16/04/2021 23:55

Following!

Chihuahuacat · 16/04/2021 23:58

Ours was built in the 80s and the window sills were tiled for some reason. One of the ones in the corner had a chip in it.

The buyer asked for £5k off! We did not accept the reduction funnily enough

thereinmadnesslies · 17/04/2021 00:13

We were selling my mum’s house as a probate sale. The house had a ground floor extension, built in the 1970s by the previous owner. The buyer wanted us to provide structural drawings/calculations and a guarantee that the 1970s foundations would be strong enough to build an upper storey extension on top. Not a chance!

De88 · 17/04/2021 00:17

Happened with us- someone knocked on the day before the sign went up and asked if they could look around. We said yes as it would save us tidying again!

She had heard we were selling via a neighbour. Accepted her offer the day after, and now the wait begins! Estate agent still came and put the sign up though.

De88 · 17/04/2021 00:21

@De88

Happened with us- someone knocked on the day before the sign went up and asked if they could look around. We said yes as it would save us tidying again!

She had heard we were selling via a neighbour. Accepted her offer the day after, and now the wait begins! Estate agent still came and put the sign up though.

Doh that was supposed to be a reply to @KillZill

muckypaws · 17/04/2021 07:30

Our buyers seemed very relaxed about the moving date, didn't argue with what we proposed so we were full steam ahead with everything packed away ready to exchange. Then heard that the buyers had gone on holiday for a month, a holiday they had had booked all along and not mentioned. Obviously they couldn't pack before they went they said, and obviously couldn't pack up quickly when they got back, so this delayed us for weeks and weeks, basically the summer, as we sat surrounded by cardboard boxes.

MotherofHeathens · 17/04/2021 08:02

They buyer who kept insisting I provide the specific install date for the boiler, as in to the day...it’s 25+ years old!!! Pre dates us moving in and we’ve had it regularly serviced, but this info wasn’t good enough. I trawled the manufacturers archive and managed to narrow the install to a window of a couple of years but she still wasn’t happy. That was only one of her ‘issues’ with the house.

She was bloody awkward and I was quite relieved when she pulled out!

RhubarbFairy · 17/04/2021 08:48

@muckypaws

Our buyers seemed very relaxed about the moving date, didn't argue with what we proposed so we were full steam ahead with everything packed away ready to exchange. Then heard that the buyers had gone on holiday for a month, a holiday they had had booked all along and not mentioned. Obviously they couldn't pack before they went they said, and obviously couldn't pack up quickly when they got back, so this delayed us for weeks and weeks, basically the summer, as we sat surrounded by cardboard boxes.

Bloody ridiculous, they could if they'd tried. We had similar but communicated it to the sellers (we were FTB so the end of the chain). We had a weeks holiday booked in France, booked before we viewed the house. We had hoped to be in before the holiday but as time dragged on (mostly due to the vendors solicitor who was useless) it became clear that completion was going to clash with our holiday.

We managed to exchange two weeks before and were clear that we couldn't complete between x and y dates due to being away. We negotiated to complete the day before we went away. They moved out, we picked up the keys and went for a look around now it was empty and 12 hours later left for our holiday.

We packed up most of the house before the holiday and moved the day after we got back. That was a busy weekend.

ToryStelling · 17/04/2021 11:04

We had a man and his brother view our house one day, all seemed to go well. The next night we were sat watching TV around 8pm, knock on the front door.

It was the man who’d viewed the day before, with his wife in tow. “Hi, I just wanted to show my wife the house”

So we showed them around, obviously we weren’t prepared for the viewing at all, we had tea on and everything!

To be fair they were very polite and thanked us for showing them around with no notice(!) and proceeded to offer £50k below asking the following day. We were on at a very reasonable £220k

I was fuming and let the EA know what they’d done - the EA was also fuming on our behalf and said they’d be cautious about offering them other viewings in future.

Figmentofimagination · 17/04/2021 11:28

We had one couple ask for a 2nd viewing for his dad to view, asked loads and loads of questions that had to be answered urgently, wanted us to agree to move into rented accommodation to rush through the sale before even giving us an offer, and when they finally did offer it was exactly what we paid for our house 8 years earlier.

Erm, no. If we had accepted that offer we wouldn't have been able to afford to move, and that low price is hardly an incentive to fork out more money to move into rented with a 3 year old.

The offer we have accepted is £20k more than their offer.

DrMadelineMaxwell · 17/04/2021 12:48

@Newhousenewme I forgot to put in my post that it's a 15 year old relatively new build that is immaculate!

yomellamoHelly · 17/04/2021 13:01

Intense conversation between a couple viewing and the estate agent who sheepishly asked to talk to us. Couple eagerly followed him and stood 1m behind and then talked over EA.
They wanted us to know how much they loved our house - absolutely perfect for them, nothing they would change, but we needed to understand they were first time buyers and the house was far too expensive for them Would I consider [some ridiculously discounted price].
I flat out said no. We'd already had ?5 offers that day (Saturday, first day on market, loads of people through door) all for asking price.
They tried to argue the point.
They tried to persuade us. Had been looking for ages .........