Being shown round a house by the vendor

[Cherrytree22]

After months of getting nowhere with our house search, we've got a viewing for somewhere that 🤞 looks perfect tomorrow! It's on with Purple Bricks and it sounds like we're being shown around by the vendor.

I imagine it's going to be a popular house... how do we dazzle them so that they pick us?? 😂

I viewed a house with purple bricks, the vendor had something like nine viewings in one day. I took my mom with me who basically walked around every room and said ‘wow’ to everything; so he knew she liked it! He talked about his situation (couple had separated, she’d moved out but he had to find somewhere to rent -and they’d already sold it and had it fall through after three months) and so I knew what would be important to them!

when I made my offer, you do it on the app and can add a note. I explained my situation (i was selling to a family member who wasn’t in a chain) and made it clear I could go at their pace in order to give him time to find somewhere. They accepted my offer and now I live there :)

good luck!

I prefer vendor viewings by far having done loads of both. Don't be afraid to ask them questions about the house/local area (what's it like in snow, public transport, community feel etc) and ask them about reason for moving/their timescale so you are as informed as possible about whether or not you'd be a good buyer. State your position but don't sound desperate. Be smily and enthusiastic but keep thoughts to yourself about things you'd change/improve. I've often commented on things in the house/hobbies etc if we have them in common as feels like it makes a bit of a connection. If you really love the house and desperately want it, the trick is to balance being enthusiastic without being annoying and ott! Good luck.

We’ve made two offers on houses where the vendors showed us around. One was a probate sale and we had a natural conversation about how both sides were the this position due to losses in the family, eyes got wet and stuff. We offered £10k under asking (Nov 21) and didn’t get it, but the EA told us the vendors said if the buyers dropped out we were next. I’m sure that was because they accepted an offer over asking so couldn’t say no to it… but they liked us. Second place was ridiculously easy… kids went to same school, not friends but they went off to play while we talked about books on their shelves, plants in the garden, our plans, their plans, their cat!. Offered asking (Jan 22) and were accepted. The place was, I feel, over priced and I expect they got offers at or over, but chose us.

I wouldn’t want to bang on too much about making a connection mattering so much as it is a business transaction, but there’s no doubt that buyers and sellers get sentimental. Our vendors loved their house and replaced themselves in it with us! To make the house happy? 😬 Ridic, but quite sweet. But also unfair to people who are not the same as them, feel shy or awkward, need, want and ‘deserve’ a nice house but whose faces don’t fit. It is a weird system all over.

It wouldn't be the vender showing me around that would put me off, it would be dealing with Purple Bricks.
When we last moved I would scroll on past a house listing if it was on with Purple Bricks. We had an awful experience with them when we moved a couple of houses ago. Just awful. We got a written apology from them and didn't have to pay the fees but that didn't make up for the stress and chaos they caused.

Purple Bricks are great is you are in an area with a good agent for them. We brought, sold and brought again with PB and honestly i loved them. We had great relationships with our buyers and sellers and were able to text / call each other to check progress and ask random questions. Made life a lot easier.

Its like anything though, horses for courses. If you dont like that kind of thing then you wont like PB. Our agent was good and only got involved for the official bits but was on hand whenever needed.

I would disagree with the above comments about making a connection.

Be nice, DD got her house because the seller and her turned out worked at the same NHS trust so they hit it off at the viewing. DD ooooh and ahhhhd in all the right places as she went round. TBH she loved the house anyway and didn't notice the shitty kitchen cupboards or dirt that I did. The seller was a lovely woman despite the dirt.

When we sold our first house we had three offers the same, I deliberately rejected one couple as she was snotty and spoke to husband over me, every question she asked, he turned to me and asked what the answer was.

It's a business deal

Sellers want uncomplicated people who don't waffle on trying to make a "connection"

Length of chain, mortgage in place are factors, whether you're chatty... not so much

It's not about trying to be liked

For many people, it's really not - especially if it's a beloved family home. Obviously the money has to talk too, but most people would want to sell their home to someone they liked and who they felt would appreciate it.

We went to view one like that.
It was a family home so we chatted about their circumstances. Asked about the school the kids were in ( DS was a toddler so we were genuinely interested in their opinion of the school as we had already decided on that area even if we didnt get that house).
They said they wanted it to go to a family so we chatted about the kids.

In the end we didnt get it but I feel like it probably went way over

It wasn’t when I sold my parents’ house. I wanted a young family to have it. I was delighted when we got an acceptable offer from one.

I did most of the viewings when we sold last year, I think we had about 20 in 3 days so yes it was hard to remember everyone. We ended up with 2 offers, both FTB and similar position and we decided to go with one couple over another because the other couple kept pointing out little bits “wrong” with the house and things they would need to change. This made us worry that they might be difficult when the surveys were done and it was an old house, so we went with the super positive couple. I also liked the people who asked practical questions about the house such as how far is the walk to the closest bus/train station, and what were our neighbours like, those kind of questions made me think the buyers were seriously considering living here.

I think you need to be solid dependable buyers that like the house, and know the area. I wouldn't go overboard in complimenting the house. We knew our buyers utterly loved our old house (heard them exclaiming "what a beautiful house" when leaving!) so we knew in negotiation that they would up their offer when we turned down their initial cheeky one. Any they did! Dependability and reliability is absolutely key though, that you know what you want and won't be bowing out of the sale at the last minute. We were selling in a dodgy area so knowing that the buyers had friends in the area was a good sign as we knew they weren't just about to change their minds on living in that area. Of course they should like you but it's not about becoming best friends, it's more like a job interview.

We had the owner show us round for the place we eventually bought. Instead of the normal "critical" way of looking we were the opposite, saying how nice everything was and how we would keep the wild area at the back of the garden as it was (the guy was into nature as are we).

It came down to a competition between 3 of us buyers and he went with us in the end as we were more friendly and he felt we would be a safer bet for the nature. Nice family, and we still keep in touch.

Update, we love love loved the house! Went straight in with an asking price offer, although they have a lot more viewings lined up so we know that won't be good enough. Need to do some sums and see what our best and final would be - such a guessing game at the moment!

Tried to really stress our flexibility (sold, no chain) but who knows who we're competing against.

I much prefer being shown around by the vendor. It's so frustrating asking important questions and having an EA shrug "dunno" at you. The vendor can tell you so much more, and so give a better idea of what's possible, what needs doing, how things work, what the area is like, etc.

And I agree with others: where possible, vendors will often sell to the people they like most. The lady we bought our house from sold to us because we were a family with children who clearly loved the house; a developer offered more and was going to upgrade and extend the heck out of it to sell for a profit. This was not appreciated!

It's very much the norm here in Scotland for the vendor to show people around, but then our property system is a bit more streamlined and sensible than it is in England.

Yes in Scotland it’s just expected that vendors do the viewings.

It was good that vendor showed to us the house. She was nice and as we would be moving only half a mile she knew what size our previous house was and how it was too small for us. We chatted about many things. I knew straight away that this is house for us so I was very keen. It took ages for us to sell our house because buyers pulled off. Finally they gave us reduction because we sold our house under asking price.