Tell me stories of your worst viewings?

[NinNinJin]

We viewed a house this morning. A beautiful Victorian 3-story building that ticks most of our boxes. But gosh inside. It is a witch's house. I met 6 black cats inside (yes imagine the smell), pentagrams everywhere, devil figures and hmmm ... some explicit BDSM posters let's put it that way. The property has been in their possession for 8 years and judging by previous pictures they have made a real effort to ruin it. Signs of neglect, mould and it is quite filthy throughout.

Do you think the ambiance will put people off? I'd be willing to wait for them to drop the price by circa 150K 😅

Viewed a rental and there was a naked teen still in bed. Butt cheek peeping out from the duvet.. It was a 5 bed house but the owner said no to us renting with 4 dc... Odd...

😂👀 Please say you commented about it…

The house with all the curtains closed and a full stinking litter tray in every room and a creepy owner showing me round. Estate agent didn’t care when I told them!

@themez probably shouldn’t be laughing as much as I am at this

we viewed a bungalow that had a notice on the door to remove your shoes, before viewing, thought that sounded promising, taking pride in their clean home, it was the dirtiest place you could have ever imagined 😂

My first property was an apartment in a converted school house in Peckham. my opposite neighbour was a huge ex Israeli special forces guy - full of excellent stories about close protection work and absolutely RIPPED. His landlord was trying to sell the property and my neighbour was annoyed because he needed 6 more months before his next overseas job. So he took matters in to his own hands.

after the third viewing which ended in screams and slammed doors - because the EA opened the door to find him sitting in the dark, just wearing pants, and spreading peanut butter on to his chest with a large knife - the landlord relented and took it off the market until he left for work a few months later.

I’d forgotten entirely until this thread OP. Thanks! 😆😆

Mine was bad because I felt so sorry for the owner. She was selling because her marriage had broken down and she was having to sell and move her and the children elsewhere. She cried all the way round and I felt awful for her. We didn't even like it enough to buy it but it did sell to someone else. Poor woman.

Some of these are terrifying. Mine are all from renting:

• We went to view an empty house that smelt very strongly of cat wee (and worse). The agent slipped her shoes off at the door so, not wanting to be rude, I did the same. DP wisely did not. The carpet felt damp. Almost immediately we encountered the furious, very hungry cat who had been trapped their since her owners left several days ago! There were piles of cat poo everywhere, needless to say.
• Again, renting - the agent opened the door to an utterly filthly, stinky house, just as a totally naked man who obviously didn't wash much came towards us. I remember he had a lit joint in one hand. Very calmly (!) he pointed out he'd never given consent for the viewing and still had two months' left on his tenancy. I left.
• I went to view a room in a shared house that was advertised at the upper end of market rate. There was literally no roof.

The one I feel guilty about was when our rental property was selling (we were amongst the potential buyers). The agents had massively lied on the description, including saying there was a 'paddock' at the back (it's a smallish bit of waste ground). A young couple turned up with a newborn baby, super excited to find something in their budget - they had a horse. They looked at the garden and immediately concluded the field behind - which wasn't part of the property - must be the 'paddock' in question. They were delighted. They obviously had no idea of the scale of work needed (masses!) and didn't understand that most of the fixtures (eg., lights and shelves) belonged to us, as well as the furniture. They were so very sweet and innocent, and the agent got them to put down a holding deposit because they were so excited. I'd been told I absolutely couldn't speak to viewers unless they asked me an explicit question, but I did try to talk to them as they went to their car, but they'd already decided it was their perfect forever home. They didn't get it, but they wouldn't even have been approved for a mortgage. It really made me wise to how unethical agents can be.

There was the one that was a house share of young men, with porn over most of the walls (this was almost 20 years ago when it was more paper based). I didn’t stay long in that house.

More recently there was a house with a dog. They were obviously worried about dog smells, as they had used so much air freshener you could taste it. The smell stuck to my hair afterwards. We actually wanted a house with enough space to get a dog, so we probably wouldn’t have minded the natural dog smell. I did wonder if they might be swingers as every room in the house was very strongly themed (the animal print lounge, the red heart bedroom, etc) complete with appropriate statues in every room and underwater speakers in the bath. Although the worst part of the viewing was when we stepped outside to look at the garden and my husband fell straight through the decking. The vendors then admitted that the decking MIGHT be “slightly” rotten.

@themez just read this out to my DH we're in stitches

Viewed a house that was grade 2* listed (I had HIGH** hopes as I love historic buildings) Below the list of disgusting/major issues;

• A literal turd in the toilet.
• Hair all over the bath/shower
• Mould on the walls in bathroom/kitchen/bedroom.
• Exposed beams rotting and bowing
• Radiators on the walls (like at eye level, and white sheets? Apparently they were good for energy use). One fell down whilst we were looking at the first room.
• Tiles on the roof literally falling off as we viewed the property

I could forgive the rotting beams/mould as sometimes people just can’t afford to get issues fixed (it was a small cottage on a ‘historic’ high street, so not Downton Abbey). BUT, the turd and other issues just gave the property this awful air of neglect…

I was actually horrified. A building that dated back to the 13th century being reduced to that…I know 2* listed buildings are a faff to look after but the air of this house was just so depressingly unloved.

When I left the estate agent asked if I would be putting in an offer and I said no…they seemed really surprised?!

As a seller. Guy came to view and instantly told me his life story, how he'd just spilt up with his partner. He knew she'd been cheating because "when you women have had some fun you get a glow". He was a cash buyer, didn't want to a survey (Victorian terraced that would have flagged multiple issues on a survey) so I sold to him. 7 week transaction from start to finish.

Was he called Winslow??!! 😂

We viewed a beautiful victorian 3-bed end of terrace. We knew it would be a project and that was what we were looking for but my goodness. The exterior wall (end of the terrace) was literally coming away - like peeling off the building.
And inside it was very evident that the poor old man had passed away in one of the bedrooms and had perhaps not been found for some time as the floorboards were left with his outline. Very sad.
We did not put an offer in!

We looked at a house where the current tenant had left a used condom on the floor in one of the bedrooms. The estate agent tried to discreetly nudge it under the bed with his foot without us noticing. Unfortunately the floor was laminate so it just sort of stuck to the floor and needed a bit more of a booting to get it to move. The poor estate agent was clearly mortified.

Docile compared to these, but my teenage self still cringes at the memory of my mum telling people looking round our old house how great it was to have a bidet.

Following up to my flying dog post. We did buy the house

Before we got married, DH viewed a house where the vendor said he had built the beautiful fireplace and was taking it with him.

Sounds like the sort of thing my late fil would have done!

Ours was as buyers. One house we thought was a private viewing but turned up to an open day with loads of people milling around so we couldn't really chat to the estate agent or really see as much as we wanted.

Same estate agent, second viewing with my parents as I wanted my dads opinion on extension possibilities. The estate agent had a smelly poo in the downstairs loo, the only loo in the house which was off the kitchen and stunk out the whole place. Thankfully we did that viewing with my parents as they then told us about seeing our current house just on the market.

Current house. The owners were splitting up. He was in the house for the viewing. We had to take off our shoes when we went in, but the carpet was clean. He had four cats I think, and we had to shut the door of each room as we went in and out. It felt awkward, but we saw something with this house and are slowly getting there.

A few.

One that was brown everywhere. I mean everywhere. Paintwork , walls , wallpaper, furniture, curtains, bedding. And above the bed a giant tapestry of Elvis. They hastily shouted at me 'we are taking the tapestry with us. You can't have it!!!)

A house full of squatters and drenched in cat piss. People asleep everywhere, the stench.

And the one where we were looking to relocate and needed a house we could move straight into. There had been a huge water leak and you could stand in the hallway and see right up to the rafters. All 3 bedrooms with no floors or ceilings. Mould everywhere.

They were my favourites 😬

Worst was viewing a room in a large country house when looking for lodgings for a summer job. Can't explain it but was utterly creeped out by the house, the room, the landlord and everything. Axe murderer type vibes.

Also once viewed a rental with DH (when he was still DBF) where we spent 5-10 minutes looking around, a couple of minutes asking the owner a few questions to be polite, then over an hour (no exaggeration) trying to leave while the owner told us his life story as we edged closer to the door.

He was a perfectly lovely older man who we suspect might have been a bit lonely, we still reminisce whenever we happen to be driving past.

Had some pretty crap times as a tenant when the house we were renting was being sold and the EA didn't communicate when they were coming around. Heard them entering the house while ill in bed since they clearly thought I was at work, then the EA got shirty when I refused entry saying the LL had said they could come in. I sent an email outlining the law about giving notice for viewings and quiet enjoyment etc which they responded to saying they would. DH also set up a motion camera (pre ring doorbell days) and we caught them on camera again a few days later having entered the house without permission again, they walked off with our only set of backdoor and garage keys that time too. After getting the keys back I changed the house door locks and said we'd only have viewings while we were in so they'd have to give notice.

As a buyer-

House was filthy and stank of smoke. Every wall had massive claw marks where the dogs had been scratching. When we went to look at the garden the estate agent told us just to look from the door because there was so much dog shit all over the garden. Asked to see inside the garage but was told there was no key. Sullen teenagers came home from school whilst we were viewing and looked utterly miserable. The estate agent layer told me that the woman was being forced to sell as part of a separation agreement and was deliberately sabotaging a sale. It was all really sad.

As a seller -

Eight months pregnant with a toddler spending all my time keeping the house clean and tidy for viewers. Asked to accommodate a viewer on a Saturday morning. Got up early to prepare the house. Woman in her 30s and her mum show up. I asked how long her property had been on the market for. She laughed and said that she wasn't selling her flat, she loved it. But that her and her mum just enjoyed looking at houses at the weekend as a hobby. Fucking raging!!!

We viewed a potentially lovely house but the owner showed us round, very proud of what they had done. I hated all the decor which was not at all to my taste(think black everything). The huge oversized tv blared away throughout. It was completely obvious that the couple were swingers . Very uncomfortable.

We viewed a flat that still had tenants. They were obviously not happy at having people traipsing round their home as they sat watching telly and ignored us. The place was filthy, beds not made, and there was a motorbike in the front room. But worse, the bath was full to the brim of some black liquid. Engine oil? No idea. But who lives like that?!

The worst we saw was a house where all you could hear were squeaks and ‘eek’ sounds from their rat infestation! They were literally running everywhere. The place was filthy too, a shit filled toilet and clothes strewn everywhere. It still makes me itch thinking about it.