Your WTF Moments As Sellers

[Smokeahontas]

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?

How can these people really think you’ll just be like ‘oh, ok, we’ll drop £X then’ on the basis of, well, nothing?!

@KillZill

Following....ours went up today.

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

This is one of the reasons we requested not to have the estate agents board outside the house.

Just remembered as well when I sold my first house the buyer had already said he'd be re-doing the bathroom and kitchen and the asking price was low because of the need for renovations. He did ask if I'd drop 12-15k off the price though due to him wanting a bigger island in the kitchen and he only wanted to use farrow and ball paint...

Years ago we sold our flat above a Dentist's office, and below another flat, which meant people were around 24 hours a day. Couldn't have been safer. We accepted an offer only for the buyer to pull out after a full survey because "there's a risk someone could kick the front door in".

The estate agency pointed out there's a risk someone could kick in the front door of just about any property in the country, and they'd be far less likely to get overheard and caught than at our place. They promptly barred her from their books group-wide.

Back in the early 90s when mortgage rates went up to 19% we were trying to sell our house. We were trying to move because Dh had got a job back in London and it was a 3 hour + commute each way to get him to and from work. We were getting up at 4.30 each morning and then I had to drive him 17 miles on country lanes to the nearest station in order for him to get to work for 8.30am.
It was exhausting.

We had a couple come and view our house which was up for around £90,000.
They offered us £25,000 and told us that we should be grateful as we were obviously facing bankruptcy and were about to have our house repossessed.
This was news to us.
I complained to the estate agent who after a bit of digging apologised as he found out they had been banned from every estate agent in a local City as they were going around massive Manor houses that were up for hundreds of thousands and offering £25000.
They had read in a newspaper that anyone who had their house up for sale it was because they were desperate to sell as they were facing repossession. They were then banned from all the estate agents in our local town as well and the word had gone out to any other estate agents that people knew not to waste their time with them.

@romatheroamer

1st time buyers in rental....accepted low offer because two had fallen through and we just wanted to get on. Prize PITA. Wanted to exchange early but were cool about completion as long as it was by end of March to meet stamp duty deadline, they were really down to their last penny with offer. Heard that one before anyone? Turns out they were planning all sorts of work. The early exchange bit was to do with not wanting to tell their landlord they were moving...tried to turn their issue into our issue as well.

My husband is a real estate agent. One of their catchphrases is: "Buyers are liars" - because they always cry poor!

Not my story, but someone I used to work with had moved out of her property and moved in with her (now) DH. She went round to check the empty place after exchange but before completion to find that the buyers had already moved in and were sat in the kitchen having their dinner - on her furniture! EA had given them the spare keys "so they could do some measuring up"

My dream house is out of my budget too. I imagine most peoples are. I wouldn't dream of going to look at them and insist that the seller drop the price to my budget.

My dream house is a mansion with an indoor swimming pool and a helicopter pad. I have 20p saved for it so far. Fingers crossed ;)

Selling last house, buyer had survey back and it was valued 5k lower, we thought fair enough and offered the discount but instead of them just straight up asking for 5k off and accepting it they kept asking for all these weird little jobs being done. It was a list of about 6 jobs and they even made the solicitors put them onto the contract. They included filling some holes in the under stairs cupboard, adding some extra insulation in the loft (which was a patch of about a metre), etc. Was close to putting it back on market, we just couldn’t get our head round these specific requests.
We did the work which cost a grand total of about £50 and even they came to inspect the work!!!! What pissed me off was they didn’t even look under the stairs, I had squeezed under there while pregnant getting that done.

When I say holes I mean screw holes left from a few shelves being removed. Nothing structural!

On the price thing, I think some people are just odd. We're house hunting at the moment and my mum sent me a house that was WAY out of our price range (offers in excess of £395k, our top end is £325k). It was immaculate in an area where that is a very reasonable price.

I explained it was too expensive for us and she was adamant that we view and offer £325k "there and then" and maybe mention that I'm pregnant as they might give a discount!! Obviously we didn't as we didn't want to get laughed out of the room...

She hasn't bought a house in 35years and it was the only house she's ever bought and has no idea about equity, deposits LTV etc.

We've had no weird buyers yet, just one family who couldn't tell from the picture/description that our terraced house does indeed have houses on either side of it...

People are nuts.

Oh people are nuts.
After our first experience, I am very specific with estate agents that I require no feedback from anyone viewing. I only want a phone call from them if there is an offer and they can proceed.
First house we sold:
People didn't like it cos
It was terraced
It didn't have double glazing (it had original restored sashs)
It had carpet !
It had a downstairs bathroom
It didn't have a drive

My view is estate agents are paid handsomely to deal with time wasters. I dont need to know.

We sold recently. Our house was on a new build estate though we had lived in it from new for 7+ years.
One of the feedback we had after the viewing was "we don't really want a house on a new build estate" ... so why view?!

Eventually we did sell to a FTB and her solicitors were a nightmare. Our solicitors said they were a complete pita to deal with, never responding to anything. They then decided the day before exchange that they wanted all of the bushes we had planted in the front garden to be removed. Goodness knows why because we did it as the house was on a school route and it stopped children walking across the front garden! We did it, as we were so keen to move and the garden looked like an eyesore after.

Then a week or so before moving it transpired that the buyer thought she was buying all of our furniture. We had offered a lot on the fixtures and fittings list but given that 4 months had passed we had assumed they didn't want to buy anything! Turns out she had actually wanted to buy everything, but it would have left us with nothing in our new home so we had to refuse.

As she was a FTB she ended up with no furniture apart from a small chair I left behind out of sympathy... a week before Christmas.

To be fair to buyers , many can't afford what they would like so will look at houses with known problems for them to see if it s good enough to overcome the obvious issues

We didn't want a new build but it was the best available for us, but we viewed and turned down others where the issue for us was equally obvious . we needed a home , this got most ticks.

@LawnFever

Someone came to view our two bed terrace, then gave feedback to the estate agent it was too small because they needed a three bed

We've been house hunting lately, and you wouldn't believe a couple of properties that the EA is trying to get us to view - totally unsuitable for our requirements, but they are insistent that if we saw them we might 'fall in love' with them and compromise. So I can kind of see how some potential viewers are pressured into viewing properties that are too small etc. Or maybe those viewers you had hated the house and were just being polite with their feedback!

We've recently sold. Only WTF moments was one viewer who loved the house but the yard was too overlooked. Were in a terrace. Amongst 4 streets of terraces that back onto each other. So not quite sure what they expected there.

Then a FTB who offered 20k under our asking price of £140k. This was because she wanted to update the kitchen and put in a bath in our shower room. I say she offered. Her mum did "on her behalf". If your going to take the mick with a cheeky offer have the gall to do it yourself rather than hide behind your folks. They were swiftly told the house was priced based on its current condition/location etc and and we could do the above jobs and the price would then be more than what we listed it as. We had an asking price offer on the day of viewings anyway but it still annoyed me. In the few weeks after similar neighbouring houses have come on the market for me than we listed, so hopefully that's given them a clue to what the market is like.

Nothing as bad as some of these but also sold recently (2 bed terraced) and similar unhelpful feedback....they want something bigger / more of a project, they're not sure its the location they want, blah blah. All information that can be obtained from Rightmove! Our EA wasn't very good at weeding out time wasters.

My favourite from when we sold four years ago was an older man who was down sizing. Although our house was a 4 bed detached we had attracted quite a lot of down sizers so I thought nothing of it.

After the EA showed the chap the house he called me to say that the man had said it wouldn't be suitable because he couldn't fit his grand piano in the hall

I've recently sold a relatives house under probate and, although quite out of date, was perfectly solid and functional and priced as "requiring modernisation". There were several full price offers and it went to sealed bids. All was going along fine until a week before exchange when the EA called me to say that the purchasers wanted to reduce their offer by £8k because the house needed rewiring. They sent the electricians quote and it was all stuff like - garden lighting; more sockets in all the rooms, security lighting, lighting in the loft. I told them, via the EA, that none of this was my problem and they could do one. We exchanged and completed for the full price they had offered a week later. They were FTB. Pretty baffling that they expected the vendor to pay for this type of work.

Lots of interest, so went to sealed bids. One person offered the asking price, plus a stuffed toy! Quite sweet really.

Had nightmare buyers for my flat. originally bought for myself but rented out after i moved in with my DH. was a 15 year old flat that hadn't been refurbished. Were selling as a buy to let with tenants in situ. Got a buyer in the first week. 8 weeks later with mortgage and survey in hand they finally appointed a lawyer. Who asked us to confirm it was vacant. erm....no. turned out they had a residential mortgage and wanted us to lie and say it was vacant when it wasn't. We adamantly refused.
A couple of weeks later after some begging we agreed to sell to them vacant possession. Apparently they wanted it to live in but thought they'd take it rented for a little bit first and then move in themselves to make the sale easier. they were FTB and didn't realise the issues this would cause yadda yadda yadda. I agreed and even agreed to throw in all the furniture as it would cost us move to move it as we didn't need it (was about £5k+ if bought new furniture)

We finally agreed. They then took a further 5 weeks to appoint another solicitor who was the worst solicitor ever. took her another 6 weeks to apply for searches, she refused to do any enqueries when the searches were pending (she was appointed in September and our first enquiry was in January). Finally Feb we were ready to exchange and they then sent a message saying they wanted £1k off as the taps were stiff in the bathroom and kitchen extractor fan didn't work.

I point blank refused and the agent agreed to cover the costs (about £200 in total) just to get it moving. And after that it turned out they hadn't even got the funds to the lawyer or the paper version of the contracts signed.

A week later we finally exchanged. two days after completion it was on the rental market.

I want to get the land registry and report them to their mortgage company. My DH says i'm being petty and just to leave it.

One set of viewers requested a viewing at 3pm for early the next morning.... We were desperate to sell so said yes. Cue me frantically trying to tidy and clean a 3 storey town house whilst 6 months pregnant (and still vomiting) with a dog and a toddler. They were in the house less than 10 minutes. Their feedback: They had 6 kids so felt the house would be too small for them. No shit, our 100sqm 3 bed house was a bit small for 8 people (!)

This second viewer I forgave as she did send a polite message but she viewed and decided our house was actually too big as it was just her and viewing our place made her realise she only wanted a 2 bed property.

A note around all the people whose buyers cheekily try to reduce the price close to exchange... we viewed a house with a certain EA (who are of the fixed price type) who advised us to bid over the asking price, seal the deal, then use the survey to offer less...

Foxtons in my area kept encouraging me to view a house that was £500,000 more than we wanted to spend. Told us they'd definitely take an offer. So we syd, knowing it was pointless. And, we didn't like it anyway... told them that. They tried to get us to view again just to check. I can see how some buyers feel coerced and then give real feedback. Ours was 'it's too expensive for us' because it was!

Ugh.

We're in Scotland so houses are priced at offers over and usually go to sealed bids. At that point in time buyers did the survey and when the market was really hot it wasn't unusual for buyers to have to pay for multiple surveys if they kept missing out on the sealed bids.

One viewer turned up to talk to us after our closing date and ranted at us about the Scottish system and how she kept missing out. How it was ridiculous that properties went for over an asking price and she'd had to pay for over 10 surveys.

I agreed with her, but what did she want me to do?! We'd accepted the highest offer as anyone would. She seemed to want us to accept her lower offer. Why would we essentially give her our money?!?!

When I checked what she'd offered in the bid she'd just offered asking price.

She clearly hadn't learned from the 10 previous bids and was just throwing her money away on surveys on houses she refused to bid high enough to win.