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?

The woman who came to look around, showed very little interest but then burst into tears and said she couldn’t believe her husband was making here move to our town when she was quite happy where she was. He had got a job transfer apparently and his wife was none too pleased.
I said “oh dear” made her a cuppa and spent the next hour giving marriage guidance

Nothing like as bad as some of the stories above, but was living in New Zealand and sold our house, on moving out day to our surprise the buyers and estate agent turned up. I asked the EA wtf was going on, and he said it was the buyers' 'right' to be there on moving out day to 'protect their interests'. They stood there, getting in the way and adding a lot of stress to an already stressful time. I took the box file I had carefully prepared for them, giving all necessary information about the area, the house, appliance manuals, extra keys etc etc, and took it with me when we left, then chucked the lot in our (new home) bin.

I had someone mess me around for months on purchasing my apartment, it was only when the council removed my single occupancy and when I questioned the council as to why they said “buyers name” had registered at my property.
As soon as I raised this with the solictor he pulled out!! He never intended to purchase he wanted to use my address for The local school that was very difficult to get into.. spoke to the PTA about what he had done and they got removed from the waiting list.

When we sold our first house 20 years ago we invited 4 estate agents round to get an idea of prices. It was a one bed semi-detached with good links to London so was a popular area.

Three out of the four came in with prices very similar and the fourth came out with a price £20,000 less and she was very pushy and was telling DH that we would never get anything higher and she had a buyer ready - we knew she was dodgy and when we sent her on her way I kept finding her business cards around my house.

We also went away for the weekend so the Estate agents could get lots of viewings in - we were 400 miles away from home and we get a phone call from the EA to ask if we are home as they want us to show someone around, we explained that no we had told them we were away and they had told us they had lots of viewings.

We asked why they were ringing us and not showing themselves as they have a key - it turned out that one of the staff had taken the key home with them and they were not in that day - to say we were not happy is an understatement.

We also agreed to a viewing on a Sunday lunchtime and changed our plans, the couple turned up and the man was only interested in seeing the loft as he was a clockmaker and the EA had told them the loft was big enough, (they had not looked at the loft) you could hardly stand in the loft and it was not even boarded out.

I also showed a gentleman around and he was saying the EA had told him all my bedroom furniture was included - it wasn't but I was willing to sell it to him it cost nearly £3,000 a year earlier.

Our buyer we were told was a cash buyer - we found out they would only be a cash buyer once their house was sold.

We were buying a new build so it was time sensitive and luckily Parents from both side lent us money so we could pay the mortgage off on our old house and release the funds for the new one.

@Quail15

A relative is selling a property and has had to take out an indemnity insurance after the buyers solicitor ( based at the opposite end of the country to us) wanted proof of the costs of maintaining the private road.

There are no costs, it isn't and never has been a private road. The solicitor won't accept this. The property is in the middle of a council estate ...... I'm not sure how much more 'owned by the council' you can get 🤷

I wonder if the road hasn't been properly registered or something? When we were buying this house our solicitor found that the road 'didn't exist'. The seller was pissed off because it should have been registered when the houses were built (he'd owned it from new). It got sorted out pretty quickly.

@Smokeahontas

The first time buyer ones fill me with dread, most houses in my area are sold to FTB with some BTL.

The entitlement is astonishing!

We were FTB when we bought our house. It was a probate sale and the survey came back flagging various things like the electrics, the 30-year-old boiler and the roof. We didn’t ask for any money off and weren’t surprised by the survey. The house was almost 100 years old and we had made our offer based on the expectation we would likely need to rewire and replace the boiler etc within a few years. My point is not all first time buyers are clueless or entitled!

I was selling a tiny 2 up, 2 down terrace. A couple came to look and they were both ENORMOUS.. They went into the kitchen and couldn’t turn around so had to back out like a car reversing. I’ve no idea how they would have opened the oven door. There was a bedroom in the attic and both were sweating and had to sit on the bed when they got upstairs! I thought anyone in their right mind could see it was way too small.

Nope the next morning they and two others put in asking price offers, with them eventually pushing the price up by £12k over asking. Then they called an hour later to say actually they were pulling out as they couldn’t afford it.

The funniest thing was the sale took ages to go through and they ended up renting a flat over the road from me. I could see them and wave every morning from the house they could have had

@KillZill

Following....ours went up today.

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

We had a similar thing. Except they decided to shout through the open door where they could clearly see the plumber going in and out to his van (our boiler had gone so he was replacing with a new one) and that we obviously weren't going to be letting anyone in that day (not exactly viewing ready with dust sheets and boiler parts everywhere). Got quite grumpy with me too when I said no. Told him the ring the EA but he never viewed...

When I was a FTB the person I was buying from was the PITA. Told me he had somewhere to move to (lie) so it was 6 months til he found somewhere, then came back and asked if I could pay him an extra £1000 so he 'could have his dream house'. Didnt answer questions by solicitors or EAs, wouldnt commit to a move out date and when he did move we showed up to find he had not packed. As a final goodbye he left a bloody kayak in the shared alley by the side of the house, so I, and the 3 other residents of the row were tripping over it whenever we wanted to take the bins out. He left it for 6 months, repeatedly did not respond to requests to move it from the EA (who were so disgusted with his shitty attitude they were happy to keep calling him). I finally tracked him down at work and left a message saying I would donate the bloody thing if he didnt come by a certain day. Came home that day to find it had gone (and he left all the gates open). Total wanker.

@twoofusburningmatches I know - I just meant of the stories so far.

For every dick, theres bound to be a lovely FTB

Aw! The people who offered asking price and a stuffed toy ❤

Another FTB nightmare - they literally had not a clue about what they were doing which is fine as it it can get complicated but they refused to listen to anyone’s advice - even their own solicitor got fed up with them in the end. The icing on the cake was when two weeks before exchange they wanted to put in an extra requirement that we move out before completion, then we repaint the entire house (4 bed) with their choice of paint colour and then he would come and do a final inspection before completion. We obviously said no. They went quiet for a week and we were convinced the sale had fallen through but it suddenly all happened like clockwork. From what I understand both the EA and their solicitor had sat them down for a word.I made sure to leave the house immaculate just in case. Utterly bonkers

Another insisting on moving on a certain date due to new moon, after exchange and an earlier completion date had already been agreed. And to top it off their new date was the day I had an elective section booked for. Apparently the moon thing was more important than child birth

I've just had an email saying my sellers STILL haven't instructed a solicitor. It's been 3 weeks since they accepted my full asking price offer. Within 2 hours of acceptance I'd instructed solicitors, organised survey and sorted my mortgage (barring valuation, which has now been done). Can't move quickly, IF YOU DONT MOVE AT ALL! So much for us FTB causing all the trouble.

Thanks for all the funny stories on here so far. The exorcism request is my favourite 😄

We were selling a small, fairly quirky, very old, stone built house. A potential cash buyer asked the EA to check, before they viewed, whether it would be possible to paint the outside white (some other houses locally have this done). EA and I assumed they meant before they made a journey to view they wanted to check whether there were any covenants etc prohibiting this. But no, they wanted us to paint the whole of the outside of the house white and send them a photo before they decided whether they wanted to view.

We eventually sold to a FTB who was lovely and made no crazy requests etc

@LawnFever

We sold to a first time buyer, we didn’t need all the furniture in our new house so listed a few items on the fixtures & fittings - a couple of chests of drawers, a wardrobe and the kitchen table & chairs and said to our solicitor see if she wants them included in the sale.

We weren’t charging but figured it was easier to leave them than move them when we didn’t really need them in the new house.

Heard nothing back on the fixtures & fittings list whatsoever so figured as a FTB she was happy to use what was there, thought no more if it and left the furniture when we moved out.

Got a very snotty message via her solicitor the day after we moved out saying why had we left a load of furniture in the property and it needed moving asap/we needed to pay to have it all removed blah blah blah.

Got our solicitor to reply with a copy of the list she’d had months before and clearly hadn’t bothered reading, they still tried to say we needed to move it, we ignored them...

I think you were wrong.

Had I been the buyer, I would probably have politely stayed silent as I didn’t want someone else’s stuff leaving behind but wouldn’t want to offend, but would have been really pissed if I had then got to get rid of someone else’s discarded belongings.

No, they're not "discarded belongings" if they are included on the F+F list in England, unsure about elsewhere.

The F+F list confirms exactly what the vendors are leaving as part of the sale.

@BlankTimes

No, they're not "discarded belongings" if they are included on the F+F list in England, unsure about elsewhere.

The F+F list confirms exactly what the vendors are leaving as part of the sale.

It's interesting as we took it to mean what is being offered as part of the sale, not what's automatically being left (hence why you can list prices for items in case the buyer wants to also buy additional items). We didn't ask for any money but agreed with our buyers that we'd leave them the dishwasher, a sofa bed and a wardrobe. Had they not acknowledged that they wanted them I don't think we'd have left them anyway? But maybe I'm bitter as the sellers when we bought here left a crap tonne of furniture and a loft full of stuff that they later popped round asking for!! (None of which was offered as part of the sale and we didn't need it!)

Following!

@yomellamoHelly

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 .........

This exact thing happened to me! A couple looked round twice, said they loved it and proceeded to write us a long email explaining that they were newly married, wanted to start a family etc but the house was £100k over their budget so could we drop that off the price. Errr no! Why they came and looked round it in the first place is beyond me.

Currently going through a sale (massive chain, grrrr). Had people offer on our place on conditional of a few things, which included removing the cat flap from our back door panel and replacing the panel, tiling the front panel of the bath, which was white wood and not grey tiles like the rest of the bathroom, and replacing a light bulb in the bathroom ceiling that had expired. Politely advised EA that we would not accept their conditions, the price is as viewed. So they offered without conditions.

We were still not trusting of them though and expected shenanigans, especially around survey results. Well they went for the basic one and didn't hear anything else. But then they started hassling the EA to call us almost daily telling us we're taking too long to complete (we weren't) and this was due to us buying a place, and there was loads of places on the market with no chain they could buy tomorrow and move into instantly, and hurry up etc etc etc. Well after a couple of weeks of this hassle we called their bluff and told them the deal was off. You could hear the joy in the EA voice when we said this. He said afterwards they were one of the most difficult buyers he's ever encountered.

24 hours we had replacement buyers, and 5k more to boot

I think you were wrong.

Had I been the buyer, I would probably have politely stayed silent as I didn’t want someone else’s stuff leaving behind but wouldn’t want to offend, but would have been really pissed if I had then got to get rid of someone else’s discarded belongings

Well our solicitor agreed that was exactly how the fixtures & fittings form works legally, if you don’t want the stuff you just say so, it’s simple and then it needs to go.

It’s not discarded anything, it’s an offer of what can be left, often people put a price against things.

Buying houses isn’t a time for politely staying silent about anything, you have to speak up, via your solicitor - that’s what you’re paying them for.

Similarly our vendors said they would leave a fridge/freezer, we went back and said no thank you as we had one, had we not bothered to read the paperwork and respond they would’ve left it behind.

@BlankTimes

No, they're not "discarded belongings" if they are included on the F+F list in England, unsure about elsewhere.

The F+F list confirms exactly what the vendors are leaving as part of the sale.

Agreed, it’s no wonder so many people get themselves so stressed out about the whole process when this flags up that so many people don’t understand the basics - nobody is forced to accept anything but just read all the paperwork and if you’re not happy/interested in what’s offered go back via your solicitor, it’s really one of the simplest parts of the process as a whole

@StCharlotte

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).

the Plymouth Brethren are a special kind of loopy. Off the charts. I have a friend who grew up in them (has escaped/been 'shunned') and they buy new builds because they can't live in houses that have ever had TV, radio or internet in - that's how Satan moves. They don't speak to non-Brethrens and need to be near their church, so often whole communities will up and move at once, totally colonising a whole new build estate, leaving the one or two poor non-Brethren schmos who also bought on the estate surrounded by batshit neighbours who won't speak to them and regard them as Satan's footsoldiers.

So that's fun.