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?

Having added our seller experience, can I add my two recent bizarre ones as a buyer?

First one about 3 months ago (I did feel a bit sorry for her). Booked a viewing and the agent said the vendor had asked that she show us around... Not ideal but ok. Turned up and literally the first thing that came out of her mouth before we'd even stepped through the front door was "my sale just fell through as I didn't realise I had to declare parts of the property as buy for let and so the people couldn't get a mortgage on it, I need to complete within the next 2 weeks and I'm so stressed. Please, please, buy my house". Firstly this was really unsettling for us but also even if we'd loved the house we'd have been in exactly the same position as her first buyers with the mortgage as she still hadn't updated the agent or listing about the rental situation. We were then trapped there for an hour while she talked at us non-stop about her entire life history and led us round everywhere literally begging us to make her an offer there and then "however low". We couldn't even see the master bedroom as she said her current four tenants were still in bed in there. When the agent called me for feedback later I very gently suggested it might be best for them to do future viewings and he said she was insisting on doing them all. It's still on the market now 🤦🏻‍♀️

We tried to view another house that had been sat on the market for 6 months about an hour away from where we live, booked a viewing a week in advance and took the time off work, only for the agent to call us on the morning to "just let us know" that we'd only be able to view the lower floor of the house as the vendor's father was living upstairs and didn't want to be disturbed. The agent then got arsey with me for saying that meant we weren't happy to go and view as it would be a 2 hour round trip and we knew we'd never offer on a property that we'd only been able to see half of- agent still tried to talk us into going!? 🤣

Our buyer knocked a couple of grand off because there were a couple of small things that needed sorting - a leak in the garage was one. He dragged and dragged his feet. Everyone was ready for exchange but it just wasn't happening. Eventually the EA told us it was because the repairs hadn't been done. We reminded them he'd reduced the price - he couldn't have it both ways. The buyer and the EA couldn't see it. I genuinely thought I was going mad. Eventually the EA ended up paying to get the works done which serves them right for being so stupid.

I used to do conveyancing for housebuilders and there was that time they accepted an offer from members of the Plymouth Brethren. Even their solicitor was embarrassed by their demands (separate drainage just for starters).

Our buyer did a second viewing on our flat and turned up with a pen and paper ... opened every cupboard door in the kitchen and made a note of what was where. Eg, pasta/rice top shelf, far left cupboard.

I did mention he was free to do whatever he liked with his stuff once he moved in!

Oh and our last buyers who were borrowing against their other house to buy our property (non mortgagable) but failed to tell their lenders when they sold that other house halfway through. It only came to light when their solicitors tried to draw down the funds the day before completion. That was fun..

I'm on a roll now... our property was on for say £250k. We told our buyer we would accept £200k as after a year we just wanted rid. They offered £225k.

Not happened to us, but when we lived in a flat and the one below us went on sale, the shockingly entitled buyers insisted they had a right to inspect our property because it was in the same building. Our poor neighbours were besides themselves because the buyer said the sale was dependent on them being able to come in and check. We said no, obviously, and said if they harassed us about it we'd get our solicitor involved.

@StCharlotte separate drainage...for what and why?!

[quote GingerBeverage]@StCharlotte separate drainage...for what and why?![/quote]
Apparently they couldn't have their "soil and water" (if you get my meaning) mixing with anyone ele's. IKR

We’ve just accepted an offer from FTB’s on our property and I’m now very scared

Can I just say that some of us FTBs are extremely sensible and go to huge efforts to do lots of research beforehand, are very keen to be seen as reliable, organised and not piss-takers...and that without us the market would grind to a halt?

I know this is a lighthearted thread and I've loved reading some of the bonkers examples here, but cut the FTBs a bit of slack. You were all FTBs once and it's not their fault that the system is labyrinthine and anxiety-inducing!

Nobody knock first time buyers.
Sold 2 houses to them, bless them and their rose tinted specs

I don’t think the housing market would grind to a halt if you took out FTBs

I had a flat I was selling. 1 bed garden flat in a very nice area of north London. Within 2 minutes walk of every type of shop you could want. Priced to sell we got a FTB who must have spent a fortune on mortgage application fees, surveys and solicitors fees etc 3 months later about 1 week before exchange they pulled out.
Again put it back on the market and found another potential buyer, another ftb within the day. Again 3 months later, the day before exchange they pulled out. Same thing again 3 months later on the day of exchange they pulled out.

By which time 9 months had passed. Really pissed off so I upped the price by £20,000 and again got a buyer. A btl landlord who paid cash within the week.

I have had so many problems with ftb’s that I don’t ever want to deal with them again.

It was a ftb who came to view my current house and wanted the equivalent of the £30million Manor House at the top of our road for a little over £700,000.

The EA said they were very unimpressed at what their money could buy them.

I hope I wasn't an annoying FTB when I came to purchase, at least I don't think I was. I had the strange predicament of purchasing from a landlord who had never stepped foot inside the flat and therefore was unable to answer any of the queries put to him!

I guess FTBs are attractive to sellers since they come chain free

@StCharlotte

I'm on a roll now... our property was on for say £250k. We told our buyer we would accept £200k as after a year we just wanted rid. They offered £225k.

Isn’t that a good thing? I would have thought that they were trying to meet halfway between the asking price and what you had offered after a year on the market. Unless I’m missing something?

@TinyGlassOwl

Can I just say that some of us FTBs are extremely sensible and go to huge efforts to do lots of research beforehand, are very keen to be seen as reliable, organised and not piss-takers...and that without us the market would grind to a halt?

I know this is a lighthearted thread and I've loved reading some of the bonkers examples here, but cut the FTBs a bit of slack. You were all FTBs once and it's not their fault that the system is labyrinthine and anxiety-inducing!

Anxiety is understandable during the house buying process but entitlement isn't and a lot of these examples, light-hearted as they are, involve FTBs demanding and expecting the earth!

I thought that the fixtures and fitting list was for things that are, well, fixed or fitted rather than for freestanding furniture.

@Level75

I thought that the fixtures and fitting list was for things that are, well, fixed or fitted rather than for freestanding furniture.

it is a list of what is staying.

That is normally things which are fixed, but can include other things.

It is unusual to include free standing furniture, but in the case of eg a probate sale, it may be that a condition of sale is that it comes with everything and it is up to you to get rid.
There can also be some dispute over what counts as fixed, eg light fittings/lampshades, curtains

ExitChasedByAnImposter

StCharlotte

I'm on a roll now... our property was on for say £250k. We told our buyer we would accept £200k as after a year we just wanted rid. They offered £225k.

Isn’t that a good thing? I would have thought that they were trying to meet halfway between the asking price and what you had offered after a year on the market. Unless I’m missing something?

No you're not missing anything. It was definitely a good thing but it was also a "WTF" thing - but in a good way

I don’t think the housing market would grind to a halt if you took out FTBs

Of course it would eventually if no one ever bought a property for the first time! What a bizarre thing to say. Why do you think the govt spends so much time and money with ridiculous schemes to try and get FTBs onto the dreaded 'housing ladder'? It's not out of the kindness of their hearts, I can assure you. The bottom would, literally, drop out of the market without FTBs.

We moved a fair distance and house was left empty. Buyer took ages and a few false starts on exchange date which were her fault, annoying but these things happen.

What I didn’t expect to happen was that she got her post sent there before exchange, somehow got hold of key from agent and copied it then left herself in when she felt like it to pick up her post. Luckily a neighbour spotted her and let me know what was happening.

I have 2, one was where I had a small flat in central London that was sloooow to sell, agent called up and said he had a client interested, she was actually in the area right now would I mind letting her view in 15 mins, I said yes of course, cue frantic dash around to tidy the place up, make it presentable etc. Lady turns up, immediately asks if she can use the loo then when she's finished walks straight out of the door and never comes back . I never knew if she'd decided on first sight she didn't like the place so couldn't be bothered with the viewing after all (but it was a tiny flat so she could at least have done a polite glance into each room in under 5 mins) or if she'd just been caught short while out and about and found an ingenious way to get access to a clean loo (although as I say being central London there were cafes etc available)

The other one was some years later, trying to sell a small terraced house in an 'up and coming' aka well known shithole area of suburban London. Young woman and her Mum come to view, both vair vair posh, pull up in big shiny 4 x 4 immediately attracting the attention of the local scallys etc. As they look around they seem to immediately fall head over heels in love with my very average house, gushing on and on to me and each other about every aspect of it ('what wonderful cupboards!' 'that wallpaper is sooo cute!' etc), duo-loging for about 10 mins straight on the wonderful uniqueness of my house (it was a fairly utilitarian 1930s build on a street full of similar types )and how much they 'simply a-dore' the area, how it's perfect for a young person, what wonderful culture (were they meaning the graffiti maybe? or the constant sweet sound of traffic hammering along the North Circular?). I nodded along politely wondering whether they were simply insane or making an odd protracted joke / doing it for a bet (was a TV presenter about to pop out yelling 'joke's on you!'?), or whether they'd maybe got lost on the way to a viewing in Chelsea . After they'd finally left (car thankfully unharmed!), I did wonder if maybe it was a weird negotiation tactic to bamboozle me into accepting a really low offer and they actually wanted it as a BTL or something but they never came back or made an offer either so they can't have liked it that much!

When. sold my last house I had intended to take the small garden shed with me. On the day before completion my removal company out to the blue cancelled my job and this left me scrabbling around to find someone, anyone who was available. Finally did, the only problem being that it was a smaller van and would take two runs. Luckily I was only moving a short distance. I contacted the estate agent and explained that I could go ahead but it would take a little longer to empty the house than previously thought. He spoke to my FTB and said that wasn't a problem, they were not planning to move in for several weeks as they wanted to paint and decorate throughout.
They had been difficult from the get-go, repeated visits with various family members, measuring, re-measuring, criticising my belongings (that I was taking with me) and generally being huge PITAs.
Moving day arrived, they turned up bang on completion time, demanding I get out, even though only half my stuff was gone, as they had known. They stood over me, as I tried to carry my furniture out onto the road so they could have 'vacant possession'. Single parent so it wasn't easy for me.
Eventually they insisted I stop taking things out even though the shed was still in the garden. So I did
Two days later I had an email from my solicitor saying they were demanding I pay a bill for professional removal and disposal of the shed. Several £££ of bill.
I asked my old neighbour to pop out and see if the shed was gone and she sent me a photo showing it still in situ; which I took great delight in sending to my buyer's solicitor. Got a lovely apology from her.
About two months later I was again contacted as they wanted to know whet the alarm code was. Unfortunately by that point I couldn't remember it so they had to contact the alarm company and pay for someone to reset the system

Mines quite a nice one :).

Bought my first house when I moved to a new city for my first job.

Walked in on exchange day to find everything still there. Sofa, bed, sheets and blankets in the cupboards, gardening tools, pots and pans in the kitchen. Clearly no removal booked, nothing had gone.

Phoned my EA. Phoned back a while later to say the family of the lady who had died had been too upset to clear out the house.

Nice part? I was down to my last penny after buying the house. Had planned to sleep on the floor until I could afford furniture. So I told the EA I was more than happy to deal with all the left property.

Lady had very good taste and I lived with her stuff for quite a while :). Neighbours told me some lovely stories. I still have some bits 20 years later that I kept when I moved on.

Last year we had 3 failed offers. The first 2 were money related. First lost his job two weeks after offering. Second pulled out the day after she made her offer as she decided she couldn't afford it! The third were FTB recently qualified doctors. They came and fell in love. The house is 350 years old and listed! Offered the asking price the next day, and the girl asked if she could come back with her parents. She rang me a few times before hand to ask me questions about the property. I gave them our survey we had done 2.5 years prior which we paid 1k for and was a full structural survey. Again they could of had their own. Asked questions about warranties on windows and doors which we didn't have. Fine. On the day her and her parents came they were here for 2.5 hours and nitpicked the house apart. Her dad was apparently a builder specialising in old houses. Now my partner is a building surveyor and knows his stuff. The guy was telling him all sorts about our house which my partner had to correct him about. He wanted to look in drains, lift carpets and they were very difficult and intense. We had a boundary changed as my neighbour was my mum and the fencing was incorrect so we had it corrected on the land registry. They demanded to only buy the house if the boundary was changed back (land my mum now owned). We said no and if that was a condition of the sale then good luck with the search. We reduced the house a few weeks later and they came back again. Offering us the same money but on the condition we changed the land registry back... no. Luckily at this point we had sold to a lovely couple who absolutely love the house. And it progressed with no more problems.

bluebluezoo

Oh that is lovely.
When I lived overseas, I arrived and was looking for somewhere to live at the same time that a much older lady was retiring back to UK. I spent some time visiting her, and helping her sort some things.

When I foudn a place, she suddenly said to me - did I want her stuff ? Furniture, plates, cutlery. It was wonderful, I was going to have to buy it all and I was only planning on living there for a couple of years.
When I used it I had fond memories of her.

Similarly in UK, my granny died when I was 21, and just leaving uni and setting up home. Most of what I had in my kitchen, plus towels and sheets all came from her house. It was a nice link with her. I still have lots of her kitchen utensils actually.