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Original poster

Tell me stories of your worst viewings?

103 replies

NinNinJin · 27/09/2023 17:19

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 😅

OP posts:
AFieldGuideToTrees · 27/09/2023 20:26

I went to view a house with my then husband which had tenants. Apparently they were all set to leave when the house was sold.

They were two gay men and had very obviously just had a massive shagging session just before we arrived. The entire house stank of lube and cum, and the men were wearing dressing gowns and slippers, and seemingly nothing else.

We guessed they weren't overly keen to leave their home, so crossed that house off the list!

Whitewolf2 · 27/09/2023 20:33

Our worst was when the estate agent thought the owner was out, but no, we discovered he was having a lovely bath when we walked in on him! Poor man!

A less embarrassing one was the tiger house, the owner loved tigers so much there were tiger pictures everywhere, tiger print bedding, cushions, then loads of tiger statues in the garden. I’ve never seen someone embrace a theme so much.

spitefulandbadgrammar · 27/09/2023 20:34

The one where the owner was in the bath with a bottle of vodka.

The one where the owner showed us round, last room was upstairs, loft conversion… with someone living in it. Came with the house, apparently.

Not a purchase but a houseshare, mine, and we needed a new housemate. Oscar came round. Oscar didn’t like the room on offer. Oscar wondered if he ought to have my room, and I have Oscar’s room. Oscar talked in the third person the entire time.

One where a tree was growing from the front garden through the front wall into the sitting room. The estate agent had artfully shot around this for the photos.

StaunchMomma · 27/09/2023 20:45

I met 6 black cats inside (yes imagine the smell)

Cats don't smell, OP. Do you mean they had dirty litter trays lying around?

Mumaway · 27/09/2023 20:48

Our first home was a hoarder house. We are quite brave and made an offer, even increased it and then unfortunately the house was repossessed before we got too far down the line. 4 weeks later we bought it off the bank for 50k less than we first offered, and they even emptied it for us (except for one cupboard they missed in the kitchen that was full of individual folded sheets of newspaper forming a wall, behind which were loads of empty gin bottles.

Original poster
NinNinJin · 27/09/2023 20:50

@themez out of guilt? 😅😅😅

OP posts:
Original poster
NinNinJin · 27/09/2023 20:54

@StaunchMomma well the smell of cat food. The smell of dog food and dogs. Didn't see the dogs but there were two comfy dog beds, rather big and clearly not washed for decades. Agent mentioned the owners went out to walk them.
Stained carpets throughout.
Cats themselves don't smell. I love cats. But piss on the carpets not so much. Mix it with the smell of burning sticks to top it up😬

OP posts:
spookycats · 27/09/2023 20:59

I viewed a house once which was ok, but the EA left the door open while we looked round (it was a hot day). We had a 5 minute discussion with him and I saw a MASSIVE and I mean massive spider come in through the door and scurry into the room . I have a big phobia but I didn't want to seem insane, so I made a quick excuse to get out ASAP.

Framilode · 27/09/2023 21:03

I took some viewers round a house whilst the owners were at work. As we entered the main bedroom a large pig jumped out of the king sized bed and charged us. We escaped downstairs feeling rather scared.
Back at the office I rang the owner. She said the pig always slept in the bed with her and her husband and stayed in bed after they went to work. She had forgotten to tell me about him, and also to tell me he didn't like men- hence charging us.

Sierra26 · 27/09/2023 21:25

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 27/09/2023 17:39

We viewed a house that the agent expected to be empty........ it in actual fact had squatters in it, which we can only assume may have been illegal immigrants, that spoke no english and they had hooked up some very dodgy electrics (had all been shut off due to being an empty property) with extended leads drapped all over the floors and ceilings. Bizarrely the agent still wanted to show us around, we made our excuses and left very quickly. I often wondered what had happened afterwards.

I came here to share the exact same story! Must have been about 30 people asleep everywhere, like literally one was asleep on a shelf

Callipygion · 27/09/2023 21:47

Looking for our first house, many years ago now, we viewed a property where the owners had already moved out. The place was absolutely filthy and the EA said the carpets weren’t included and would be charged as extra. (No thank you! I’d pay you to take them away, our feet stuck to them walking round. Yuk!) Then there were big bunches of (what appeared to be) dried herbs tied up and hung at the top of the walls all around the rooms, like bunting. Very weird. The worst bit was the filthy bathroom, the bath had a big dark brown stain, like dried blood, running all along the bottom.

Another house we viewed the owners obviously weren’t voluntarily selling, they were quite verbally aggressive, all the works they’d pointed out was done “FOR YOU” “we’ve put in double glazing FOR YOU” was one thing I remember them saying. And most of the fittings weren’t included, like the fitted wardrobes, we reckoned they would be gutting the place. Said no thanks to that one, didn’t fancy dealing with them.

TravellingT · 27/09/2023 22:15

As viewers- when the woman showed us the built in wardrobes and had obviously forgotten she'd stashed some clutter in there. It all fell out- picture frames, coats, etc. We laughed it off, she was embarassed but giggled. Then showed us the built in storage around the bed- including her sex toy drawer complete with various masks. Less laughter at that!

As sellers- a woman who had been cheated on, her soon to be ex husband had offered to buy her a house so he could keep the one they lived in. Very messy, she was furious and very hurt. She offered us 50k over the asking price, said her ex deserved it and he cracked on and bought it. She was lovely, the situation was awful. We left her a massive gift hamper

good96 · 27/09/2023 22:21

Was looking at a potential BTL property a few years back…. 2018….
Bird seed and cat shit over the living room floor - really strong stale cat piss smell and the owner’s son was in BED upstairs under the duvet!
The property was on the market for £110k - it ended up selling in 2021 for £70k!

I saw the post about the vendor’s husband dying of cancer of being in the bed upstairs - like - what the actual fuck? I certainly wouldn’t have been having that…. And if I was desperate to sell then the DH would have gone into hospice care…..
Some people though!

caringcarer · 27/09/2023 22:27

I viewed a three bedroom house. On the pictures there were only images of 2 bedrooms. Once we got upstairs we opened a bedroom and it was full of snakes in glass cages. The EA had not told us and I stood there and screamed at the top of my lungs. I couldn't get out quick enough. I nearly fell down the stairs because my legs went wobbly and I couldn't stop shaking. The EA must have known and should have warned us. If I'd been told there were snakes there I'd never have set foot in the house.

stickybear · 27/09/2023 23:32

As a student I went with my prospective flat mates to see a flat that was rented out by a group of art students. It was a total mess but a lovely flat, apart from the plaster cast of an erect penis sitting on the kitchen table Blush

FractiousPangolin · 27/09/2023 23:41

Favourite from our most recent round of househunting has been the place where the agent tried to force our 5yo to stroke the cat, then told DH off for accidentally stepping in catshit in the back garden. We'd thought we could overlook the 'Nobody gets out of here sober' sign visible in the photos, but the viewing confirmed it wasn't the house for us.

Another one where the front door handle came off in the estate agent's hand as we were trying to leave, and we ended up having to exit through the back garden.

The worst I've ever been to, though, was when my mum was trying to move to a completely different part of the country after my dad had died. We went to one uninhabited house where every window had a metal shutter locked down over it. Lots of furniture was still in situ but most of it was broken and absolutely filthy. Disgusting bathrooms, garden overgrown and full of all kinds of rubbish. I think we were too shocked to even ask the agent wtf the story was! Terrifying to imagine my newly widowed mother alone in there.

Snugglemonkey · 27/09/2023 23:55

spitefulandbadgrammar · 27/09/2023 20:34

The one where the owner was in the bath with a bottle of vodka.

The one where the owner showed us round, last room was upstairs, loft conversion… with someone living in it. Came with the house, apparently.

Not a purchase but a houseshare, mine, and we needed a new housemate. Oscar came round. Oscar didn’t like the room on offer. Oscar wondered if he ought to have my room, and I have Oscar’s room. Oscar talked in the third person the entire time.

One where a tree was growing from the front garden through the front wall into the sitting room. The estate agent had artfully shot around this for the photos.

Lol, I had the tree experience. I knew there had to be a massive catch with a property more than £100k under the average for the area. But the tree grew right from the living room through the roof!! How is this not worth mentioning to buyers?!

We bought it though 🤣

It was a lot of work and involved a 6 month caravan stay on the grounds, but we sold 2 years later and made a really, really good profit.

Laughingravy · 28/09/2023 01:18

Just recently. Looked very unloved, the smell of dogs hit you as the door opened, an ancient fusebox open on a sill next to the door. Every carpet ancient and very worn. Piles of clutter and junk everywhere. The dog laid landmines all over the back garden. The garage full to the door with discarded junk. Toilet with signs of recent use.... The lady showing us around perpetually apologising for the state of the place.
Worst house on a good road So we're buying it 😆

SuddenlyOld · 28/09/2023 07:43

GetWhatYouWant · 27/09/2023 18:51

Decades ago went to view a house, it was the time when owners generally did the viewings. Turned up on a Saturday morning as arranged, owner opened the door in dressing gown and said they had forgotten they had a viewing, but we could still go in. Said they'd had a party the night before which was evident, cans and bottles everywhere, various hungover people around the place, stink of stale alcohol, she wouldn't let us see one bedroom because her son was in bed. Various holes in doors and walls where they'd obviously been kicked in. Front and back gardens absolutely full of dog shit. We obviously left as quickly as possible, agent phoned to see what we thought so we told him what had happened, he said he wasn't surprised as they were having a lot of negative feedback! I wonder who actually bought it in the end.

Was this me? Lol

We'd had a heavy night, empty cans and dirty dishes everywhere, and were woken at 9am by a lady and her mother who'd come to view - except the EA hadn't told us! I explained we hadn't been told so could they come back in half an hour. That was the quickest spring clean in history. They didn't buy it unsurprisingly.

SuddenlyOld · 28/09/2023 07:56

About the turd in the loo ones - a couple on our new build estate went for their final viewing a week before moving in and one of the builders had used their loo - except the water wasn't on, ugh. Developers had to fit a brand new loo and knock some money off the price

Squiblet · 28/09/2023 08:35

Lol, I had the tree experience. I knew there had to be a massive catch with a property more than £100k under the average for the area. But the tree grew right from the living room through the roof!! How is this not worth mentioning to buyers?!

We bought it though

That's pretty cool! Did you keep the tree? I would have been tempted to....

honeyandfizz · 28/09/2023 08:45

Actually a house I bought. The EA refused to enter and on an open day viewers only saw the front room and walked out. The stench of fags, urine and poo smeared up the walls was enough for most folk. It was however an untouched 1930s beauty beyond it all and had a huge SW facing garden. I gutted it and lived there for a few years until I relocated, made 120k on it in 2.5 years/

Twiglets1 · 28/09/2023 08:53

honeyandfizz · 28/09/2023 08:45

Actually a house I bought. The EA refused to enter and on an open day viewers only saw the front room and walked out. The stench of fags, urine and poo smeared up the walls was enough for most folk. It was however an untouched 1930s beauty beyond it all and had a huge SW facing garden. I gutted it and lived there for a few years until I relocated, made 120k on it in 2.5 years/

Wow! You deserved every penny of that 120k for putting up with that quite literal shit.

barbarahunter · 28/09/2023 09:07

Some of these stories are truly horrific! I can't compete with some of them, but the one that sticks in my mind was where the house owner had completely ruined the house with DIY. There were rickety makeshift cupboards, all differing sizes and looking like crap, in every room, and just things like fittings that weren't the correct size for what they were supposed to do. The whole impression was of a perfectly nice home completely ruined. And there stood the owner, as pleased as punch with his handiwork, a big grin on his face. Reader, I did not buy his house.

HerAvatar · 28/09/2023 09:20

barbarahunter · 28/09/2023 09:07

Some of these stories are truly horrific! I can't compete with some of them, but the one that sticks in my mind was where the house owner had completely ruined the house with DIY. There were rickety makeshift cupboards, all differing sizes and looking like crap, in every room, and just things like fittings that weren't the correct size for what they were supposed to do. The whole impression was of a perfectly nice home completely ruined. And there stood the owner, as pleased as punch with his handiwork, a big grin on his face. Reader, I did not buy his house.

I think you might have viewed the house my parents bought when I was about 18. They still live there now and I still have absolutely no idea what possessed them to buy it!

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