If you’ve sold recently...

[KPB45]

How quickly did you start getting viewings?

We’re almost ready to list. Will be 100% ready to go by the end of this week. DH works away from home and will be away for a couple of weeks as of next week.

How feasible is it to juggle a young toddler, part time work & viewings on my own?
I have childcare while I’m at work (but not at any other time) but the childcare is in our house so the house is never empty.

Did you do viewings yourself or have your estate agent do them? Is there a downside to doing them yourself other than not having experience? 🤔

Unless you have a very good agent, I would suggest doing them yourself as you can answer any questions quickly.

In regards to your husband being away, I would really struggle to have the house as immaculate as I would want for viewings if I was tidying and had dc around, however one of mine is a real mess maker and will empty a box of toys as soon as I fill it!! So depends on the temprement on your children!! Given that so many people have rightmove alerts set up, you'll be most likely to have most viewings after it initially goes on and then they dwindle down although sometimes the initial flood are those just looking at anything new to market

We listed on the Monday…had 15 viewings lined up the same day. Sold first thing Tuesday morning - only took one day of cleaning and getting out the way - Phewwww.

EA showed them round.

We let the estate agent do viewings, which we preferred when we were looking.

I think in this market that you will get viewings very quickly, so would factor that in.

Good luck.

Yeo we also let the EA do viewings. We sold within 3 days. We took the kids out when the viewings were happening.

We put our house on the market a few weeks ago. We had immediate interest with 15 viewings in the first week. 3rd viewing offered over the asking price and has now messed us about so we're getting more viewings in but it all happened really quickly.

We listed our a year or so ago. Our estate agent didn't start viewing straight away, he listed with an open day 2 weeks later, that way we have a a load of viewings all in one day which lead to one offer. A lot of people will want to view on Saturdays so be prepared to be out the house on Saturday mornings.

I've sold commercial property but still didn't do any viewing myself. It's what you are paying for but also keeps a bit of distance between you and the buyer.

Declutter like mad and make the house look amazing for the photos, chuck loads of stuff, get more stuff up into the loft and then when you have a viewing booked you just need a quick tidy up and go out for an hour.

Don’t do your own viewings, it is off putting to the buyer.
I didn’t buy my dream house because the vendor did the viewing and insisted on showing me everything down to his sock drawer.
Leave it to the professionals, and if you don’t think your agent is up to it, find one who is. It’s what they’re paid for.
My pet hate is agents who follow buyers around breathing down their neck and walking into the kitchen announcing “ this is the kitchen”.

I’d let the agent do viewings. I’ve always hated viewing with the vendor present. I feel like I can’t say anything remotely critical to the person I’m with!!
Re timescales mine went on on a Saturday and had 20 viewings the following Saturday.

We listed Tuesday, did open house on the Saturday and were sold by 5pm that day. Estate agents were very efficient and did the viewings. They usually do it that way to avoid multiple tidying up and making yourself scarce

Agree with estate agent doing viewings. If you can get them to do an open house day that can be easier for you as only have to get house ready to show for 1 day, and can get kids out of the house for the morning. We finally sold ours last Feb, and people were viewing mostly in the early eve as we were both wfh, and kids off school due to lockdown. No where open so couldn't go to a cafe, and loads of viewings were between 5 and 6.30 - so had picnic tea in the car one eve! Not fun. Think we took a reasonable offer partly due to the faff of getting house ready and vacating, at a highly stressful time otherwise!

We recently sold and it was hard. EA did the viewings and we had to leave the house each time. I have a 20 month old and 2 dogs- I'm also a perfectionist so keeping the house perfect looking with an entire family isn't easy! But you'll manage good luck

Our viewings started the very next day. We made ourselves scarce and let the agents take the reigns. I wasn't totally happy with them tbh but we had sold STC within 7 days so whatever. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Ha ha.

Good luck!

We put ours on on a Monday and I arranged all viewings for weds the following week. We had one day with 8 viewings. Got 3 offers from this.

I agree with the masses that you shouldn't do the viewings yourself. You shouldn't even be visible. I hate it when the vendors were around anywhere we viewed.

Mostly the kids were at school. When they weren't, we took them to the top of the road and sat in the car round the corner, while they played on their iPads.

I kept the house fairly spotless throughout the entire time, which was stressful. For those last few things that aren't easy to keep tidied away (school bags, piles of crap in the kitchen, potties, briefcases, blah blah) I kept 2 x washing baskets by the front door and chucked all that stuff in on the way out. Then we shoved them in the boot of the car and took them with us every time. 😅 I'm not saying it was a perfect system, but it did work!

I agree that it's awful viewing a house when the vendor and family are there. It's so awkward and you can't take a proper look or relax.

We sold a couple of months ago. The EA brought people already on his books round, before the photos were even taken. One day of viewing, several asking price offers (already higher than we had anticipated), job done.

I started getting viewings booked in within a couple of hours of going on Rightmove. EA organised and carried out all the viewings. We left the house with DC for a couple of hours while viewings took place. Threw any last minute signs of life in the car boot for each block and took them to grandparents. House sold in 3 days.

We went on the market officially this morning. By the end of office hours we have 18 viewings booked.
I spoke to my estate agent and they are doing viewings 14.30-17.00 each day. It means I can leave early for the school run and just take the kids to the park, or for coffee after without to much disruption. You could have viewings at a time your childcare leaves the house, if they go to baby groups? Potentially you could pay your childcare to go to soft play all day (age dependent of course) get them all done. Now our house is viewing ready it’s not difficult to keep it tidy each day.

I would let the estate agent do the viewings, I hated being shown around by the owners

Thanks for all the advice guys 😊 definitely sounds like the EA doing the viewings is the way to go 😊

We’re just trying to be strategic with when we go on the market. I don’t drive (I know, I know 🙄 half way through lessons, found out I was pregnant, 3 weeks later - first lockdown, lessons able to start again, I was 36 weeks pregnant 🙈🤣 instructor I was with retired! Waiting list for another currently 🙈🤣) and we live in a smallish village with not much to do locally 🙈 so I’m trying to avoid a situation where im having to make myself scarce all day and stroll around the village in the rotten weather trying to occupy a toddler 🤣

Might be easier waiting until DH is going to be home and we have the car so that we can at least hide in there if it comes to it 🙈

List it at the weekend with viewings able to start from midweek?

We agreed the sale on ours today after best and finals.
We had viewing requests immediately after listing, bulk of them were over weekend.

We did the viewings, though we left them look around by themselves and we waited in dining room for any questions at the end (I hate it when owners show you stuff you can see for yourself and no space to discuss what you see).

Most of time DS was out for the viewings but when we couldn’t take him out we just did some quiet games in dining room. If I had a little one that couldn’t play quietly I agree better to let agents do it.

We would have waited a few weeks, but figured we’d get it sold so we can pounce on places as they come on in spring.

Good luck

I put mine on Tuesday and did viewings Wednesday, had 4 offers Thursday morning. Tbh if you live in a popular area you won’t struggle and I would use this to my advantage by lining up multiple viewings on the same day.

Lots of houses here seem to go on right move early or mid week and block book viewings in for Saturday, then get offers Monday. Means you have several days for the house to get interest and only have to tidy up once.

Have you decided on an estate agent yet? They will give you advice based on what’s happening locally.

Some places like PP said are having an open day a few weeks after being advertised. Or It maybe your agent is happy/advises to do one or two viewings a day (much easier to go out for an hour than all day). The agent we are with is happy to take our lead. I am recovering from covid so can’t be out all day as I am just so fatigued.
Do you have relatives close by that can collect you? Or friends that can take you out for a day. I suppose it depends how quickly you want to sell, if you have seen anything you like.

I'd get the agent to do your viewings, as others have said it can be off putting to buyers to have the vendor do it. We recently went on the market for a few weeks, then off again due to life circumstances and relisted a few months later. We learnt from our experiences the first time, which was that our agent was good at booking viewings in but it was a nightmare having to essentially fully tidy and clean the house every 24-48 hours with a three year old who was fantastic at untidying as quickly as I could tidy. Second time around we did an open day, 10 viewings back to back (short viewing slots so didn't have to be out all day) and sold on the same day. Honestly, have an open day. Clean the house once and hopefully that's that!

@Chillyjam

Have you decided on an estate agent yet? They will give you advice based on what’s happening locally.

Some places like PP said are having an open day a few weeks after being advertised. Or It maybe your agent is happy/advises to do one or two viewings a day (much easier to go out for an hour than all day). The agent we are with is happy to take our lead. I am recovering from covid so can’t be out all day as I am just so fatigued.
Do you have relatives close by that can collect you? Or friends that can take you out for a day. I suppose it depends how quickly you want to sell, if you have seen anything you like.

@Chillyjam Yes, we have an agent 😊 photos are being done tomorrow morning so we’ll have a chat with them tomorrow and see what they think the best approach is 😊

We don’t really have much family, and certainly nobody anywhere near us and our friends are all a wee while away, hence the move 😊 we’re pretty isolated here when DH is away for weeks at a time. Haven’t seen anything at all that we’re interested in but our village is in huge demand currently and our house was valued for much more than we expected so we’re just going for it and selling up and moving closer to friends etc 😁
We’re hoping that having a good deposit and being chain free will put us in a better position as buyers as we’re hoping to move to another high demand area 🤞🏼