Anyone else had viewings today?

[Chanel05]

I had 4 viewings today.

First time buyer, couple that have sold to a first time buyer, a first time buyer and a couple that aren't yet back on the market but they had sold and their sale had fallen through.

Anyone else had viewings today? How did they go?

@BarbaricPeach I hope the viewing goes well and you get to ask the vendors all the questions you want.

@MasterGland great news fingers crossed.

We had someone view today who was very positive so might turn into something. They apparently asked lots of questions. I'd love to be a fly on the wall and see what they said...or maybe not😂We have another viewing booked in for tomorrow and then no more on the horizon...

Our viewings are still trickling along - seems to be one a day for the last week. Problem with one a day is I have to tidy everyday. 😂

Friday’s viewers called back yesterday to request a second viewing. Hoping that’s a good sign 🤞

Gosh, I’m struggling with one or two a week let alone one a day!

Had a 2nd viewing and they offered 15k under asking price. We went back with a counter. They said they couldn't afford more etc etc. as they were cash buyers living with family and were happy to move in school summer holidays we accepted as a great position to be in and downsizing and getting a good deal on house we're buying.
They've come back today wanting a further a drop in price by 3k as we haven't got a combo boiler! Our boiler is 6 years old and serviced regularly. Plus they're now getting 'a small mortgage'
Our EA is seething as are we. Looks like we're walking away from this one.....

Yes they are just being cheeky now in pushing the boundaries. I would push back on this one and say no you will not be reducing any more. If they pull out and I doubt they will, they were never serious buyers in the first place.

We got an offer today - full asking price... but... they haven't sold theirs, so not proceedable! Grrr... apparently their house has been on for a while with little interest.

It's so frustrating isn't it! Feels like a pointless offer as you can't accept

How annoying @Maybenexttime08, we were told by an agent in the area we want to buy not to bother viewing places until our house is under offer which makes sense. Otherwise it’s just a waste of everyone’s time.
Thats very cheeky @lingmerth & not a good sign either. Sounds like they’re just looking for reasons to knock more money off.

@Bumblebee74 exciting news with the second viewing.

@lingmerth how frustrating. They sound terrible.

@Maybenexttime08 thatsbannoying but a positive sign that someone loves it enough to offer. Maybe it will give them new motivation and theirs will sell soon.

We've had someone view today and no more viewings booked in so are getting some washing done 😂we've got to try and keep on top of cleaning and tidying as otherwise we'll slip into our old habbits, the house will get trashed and then we will get a viewing booked and panic!

We've been on for a month now. 10 viewings (2 of those second viewings) and one offer (they need to sell theirs). Have another viewing this weekend. Feel very over it all. We've decided that if we don't sell within 3 months we will just take it off the market and go up again late summer after a break.

It's a very stressful process

it is stressful isn’t it? Our last move was during covid and we sold in 24 hours, how things can change in a few years. Keep going, best of luck!

It annoys me that people offer when they haven't sold. Total timewaster move. I don't mind people viewing when they haven't sold because they might sell imminently or decide to reduce price on theirs to try and force a sale or something like that if they really love it. I don't mind if people say "Love it, we will offer when we sell". But offering when you haven't sold is just fantasyland and as a vendor I don't want to be part of it.

@Twiglets1 very cheeky. Do many people try these things on? Only the 2nd house we're selling in 40 years so no experience!
I just feel now that I can't trust them even if they want to continue with the purchase.
What happens if the survey shows any problems? Is it usual to address them or reduce the price or is the massive price reduction we've agreed to sufficient to say no?
We've a 2nd viewing booked for next week but no other viewings now after a busy first 2 weeks.

Why do sellers always make this assumption that a buyer is being cheeky or unserious with asking for a price reduction?
I genuinely hate that logic

House prices are still high in many areas and interest rates climbing so it is only normal to want to keep your monthly payments and renovations costs low which you can only get buying at a reduced price or buying somewhere that doesn’t require work.

Yes the seller has a right to absolutely say no but it doesn’t mean the buyer is unserious.
Buying a property is a big financial commitment that should be properly thought out and not just rushed into because of expectations.

The same way a seller feels they can get better is the same way buyers feel they can do better. Arrogance gets you no where in property transactions as a buyer or seller except you are a seller selling in a sought after location or a buyer with infinite cash.

Good points, I feel sellers are starting to wake up to reality a bit more now though.

@Rookie23 No one is saying offering under is cheeky. But it is cheeky to offer under, have that offer accepted and then reduce it again further for something you should have factored in earlier and then start dithering about your mortgage size.

You ask your questions before you put in an offer, or you wait for the survey and then amend your offer. If you start trying to reduce things one by one as soon as your offer is accepted, that's cheeky and the seller is right to be wary of you.

This is exactly how the so-called buyer behaved who offered on my place and then last min wanted me to reduce further by £80k due to the house rotting, flooding (house is in W3 London and never at risk) and all the legal issues the survey presented.. (he was interpreting the survey for his solicitor and us.. and he wouldn’t share it..).

From my side if it’s reasonable I’d reduce - to me asking to reduce by £3k on a boiler that’s only 6 years old is not reasonable.

Id say no and have a word with EA to keep showing the house until they’ve signed so you don’t lose other viewings if they decide to pull out. It is starting to show a pattern of behaviour and would make me think that throughout this process you’re going to see this from them.

Exactly this.. for those defending this behaviour imagine if you were the seller.. somehow I don’t think you’d be defending this behaviour..

It wasn’t cheeky to request and get a 15k reduction when making their original offer. It wouldn’t be cheeky asking for a reduction after a particularly bad survey. What is ridiculous is asking for a 3k reduction because someone doesn’t have a combo boiler!

Just had the survey done on the house we are buying. The survyor phoned to explain his findings.

I id a lot of research in advance so I wouldn't FTB panic and expected most problems. Still in a panic that it came back worse than expected.

I didn't care about the silly little things (asbestos artex, blown windows, missing roof tiles, damaged gas meter, rotting external wood, condensation or even the damp) as we knew all these things and expected to fix them. We expected in the worst case to need 'full repointing' (to fix the damp as advised by EA) and 'a new roof' (rotting rafters).

Well one of those came true (needs a new roof, we had an inkling even though EA said roof is fine it looks like picasso did it lol) but surprisingly no real issue found with the pointing.

Instead they found damp is likely caused by severe full length cracking in the chimney and wall bowing. Meaning possibly major structural damage to the walls and chimney (and as a side effect possibly needs all new floors as the joist may no longer reach wall to wall and show signs of having rotted). Now the whole thing needs an engineer to clear its as safe. Best case senario its all just historic settlement but to be honest the surveyor seemed pretty concerned (and they have been paid now, theres nothing in it for them to lie past this point).

Nothings ever easy... theres not even any other suitable houses for sale (we have been looking over a year) so its not like we have options. I can see my 20k reno budget vanishing instantly and not being enough for this new issue.

Guess I just have to wait a week for the written report.

This sounds like a lot more than 20k of work on top of the things you were planning for that budget. That’s tough. Hopefully reading the report will help you decide what to do. Good luck!

gah! the house we wanted and put our house on the market has now sold :( do we keep going or quit now? Hmm…

@housethatbuiltme eurgh that sounds tough.
@Bumblebee74 we have also done this and I must check Rightmove about 25 times a day to see if it is still for sale!

First viewer is ignoring agent today, so probably not positive. He stayed quite a while in the house and was asking how much interest we had had and the possibility of extending etc., so I'm a bit confused by the mixed messaging.

Ha I was the same. Need to set up some alerts now to try and avoid the constant ‘has anything new come on, is it back on’ checks.

We had a viewer that spent 40 mins in the house, asking loads of questions, saying lots of positive things bla bla and nothing 🤣