Why am I so annoyed about one persons feedback

[Blossom88uk]

I feel so ridiculous and I wish I wasn't annoyed about this. So our house is on the market for a fair price (lower than evaluations). I obviously know that it's only worth what people are willing to pay in today's market.

We have had some viewings and had positive feedback about the house, but the garden is an issue that we are unable to fix. It's varying heights of concrete so quite unsuitable for anyone with children. A lot of people that have come to view have had children.
There are obviously pictures of the home on the listing and a "no frills" video that the estate agent made to make it clear exactly what you can expect.

I fully understand that the house may not be for every, but one woman that came to view said the house was very "tired" compared to what she had seen online and she doesn't want it (the pictures were taken literally a week before she came around) we cleaned the house within an inch of it's life before her arrival.

I'm annoyed as the home has gone under a full renovation with modern kitchen and bathrooms. Given that the some of the carpets could do with replacing along with the living room flooring but we allowed for this within the price.

Do people expect houses to be ready to move straight in without having to replace anything?

I need to get used to the fact that people will come around and judge your house, it's not a personal attack, but I certainly have taken it as one 🤣

I suppose you could have different meanings of tired? Yes it was clean but maybe the driveway, windows, flooring, lighting, paint job, plastering, skirting, banisters are not newly updated? Not a criticism on you as you’re not going to re-do everything or you wouldn’t want to move out!

Sounds like she’s looking for something turn key and doesn’t want to do any work. Someone else will come along who will see it as the perfect canvas for them.

Thank you, it's baffling as all the skirtings, covings, doors etc have been done to a high standard but I guess everything is subjective.
Just being a little petty McBetty and having a tantrum. I'll get over it 🤣

Some people expect to be sold a 'lifestyle' not a home, and can't see beyond what is in front of them.

Hope you get viewers with a bit more tact and vision.

Your house just wasn’t right for her but the right person will be along soon.

I do understand your irritation though - it’s annoying as hell when strangers judge your home & make daft comments about things that are obvious from the photos & floor plan.

It's so frustrating. When we sold our modern four bed house with tiny garden we regularly got feedback that prospective buyers were looking for a bigger garden or 'original features'. Quite clear from the photos etc that we had neither, and not much we could do about it!

Poor mil was so cross that an estate agent described their house as “dated”. However to be fair they are stuck in 1975 complete with serving hatch / slatted stairs / orangey dyed pine. Personally think it’s so dated it will soon come back round into fashion again!

She might be thick.

There are sone right dingbats out there OP. She might be one of them.

Put it down to thickness and forget it.

Maybe the fact everything else is so new is making the flooring/carpets look even more tired?

No need for feedback like that though, if the house is in the condition you say and priced correctly. I actually got put off a house once as it had new carpets throughout. They weren't to my taste and I knew I'd be paying for them and would be reluctant to rip them out.

I agree with other postage who said idea of “tired” would mean different things to different people.

My in laws recently spent a lot of money redoing their house, everything freshened up, new kitchen, etc. They have chosen a lot of grey decor and kitchen, the ceilings - although painted and in perfect condition - are still artex, they have old fashioned internal doors (agin in perfect condition), and so on. It feels fresh and modern to them but to me it’s tired and dated. Try not to take things like that personally.

Just ignore her. The house isn't what she's looking for.

Everyone has an opinion on everything. You only need to spend a short time on MN to realise that!

I was selling my house which had a year old kitchen and brand new carpets throughout. I heard a prospective buyer tell the estate agent that they would rip out the kitchen and put in new carpets. Really irritating.
Still, he bought the house!

I wouldn't be too worried about this feedback. I think people will know whether or not the property is for them the minute they walk through the door. Viewers will often feedback anything that comes to mind, it doesn't need to be accurate, just to convey a yes or no. There will be someone else who really loves it.

We sold our ground floor flat...one of viewers said it was very nice but they wanted a first floor flat and wouldn't be making an offer.

Professional viewers.
🙄

Thing is, as a prospective buyer sometimes you can’t even remember the house a few days later ( if you saw several in one day and mentally deleted the ones you weren’t interested in) - the EA asks for feedback so you just say something bland and inoffensive. Also something like “I preferred the one with period features” can get translated to the vendor as “ she wants period features”.

we had several comments of “I don’t want a semi detached” which is obvious from the description so I could be pissed off but I also know for a fact that our EA will persuade buyers to see pretty much everything he has on his books knowing that a lot of buyers do cross their own red lines so honestly, unless something v specific is coming up over and over again, I don’t even ask for the feedback.

@Blossom88uk , it does feel personal when potential buyers criticise your home. You have to try and move out in your head, become almost like the agent who is trying to sell it who views those comments very differently to you. If it helps we sold our house 3 years ago, we’d lived there 27 years had our family there, saw them grow up, go to uni, leave home. We were very attached but it was too big for us and we needed to move somewhere more suitable for our retirement. There was a couple who came to see it who were incredibly picky nit picking over everything, most unreasonably we thought at the time. They were the ones who bought it…
Try to stop thinking of it as your home but as a commodity you need to sell so that you can have your new home, keep your eye on the future. Obviously if anyone mentions anything which relatively easy to mend or improve sort it out but don’t dwell on the negatives. Good luck.

About 15 years ago we sold our beautiful 5 bedroom Victorian villa it was very large with a massive established garden in a stunning location and decorated to a very high standard. We had a Juliette balcony in our bedroom which had panoramic views over open countryside and you would often spot deer while having your morning coffee. We had a viewer who lived on a very crammed new estate and was looking to upsize for her growing family. As she stood at the balcony looking out she looked down her nose and remarked that what ‘let the house down was that it only had one en-suite”
I’ve never forgotten that…..it really made me laugh.

When we bought our houses each time we got one which others thought were dated or problematic in some way; not only did we get good value but we also had a lot of joy in seeing the potential that others didn't and making the houses our own. Our current house is incredible but had loads of viewings before we snapped it up because some people really find it hard to imagine a house that isn't theirs becoming theirs! In our last house one of my friends visited and said she'd viewed it but had been really put off because of an untidy bedroom. She bought something half the size and was regretting she hadn't got ours. Well if you can't see past the surface even to that extent you're not going to do well as a buyer. Don't worry, I bet your house is lovely and you will find the right buyer who will see it as their potential own dream house!

Yeah I can kind of see why that pissed you off. It’s similar to ‘dated’ when it’s just been returbed. She sounds like she’s looking for a certain asthethic (probably for a knock down price) and I would give it no further thought.

It is so discouraging having strangers judging your home, not just a house to you, that you feel is well taken care of and at the right price but that is the nature of house selling. It can be bruising and I understand your reaction.

Did she mean reality compared to your photos online or compared to similar properties online ? You might feel you have allowed enough of a difference between pricing for perfect and pricing for realistic but she may be looking at another point of view - you are allowing for a difficult garden set up but she might be feel that once that is taken into account, the house should be perfect according to her standards. . Not saying she is right, people’s expectations can be very unrealistic, but it might explain her thinking. She’s a bit disappointed overall and has focussed in on the flooring, maybe, which might stand out more against the refurbished kitchen and bathroom than if they were older, ironically.

Or just that the vibe isn’t right for her and she hasn’t got a specific gripe and has reached for what she thinks is an anodyne reason when asked.

Can we not see the listing? I’m really intrigued to see your garden.
I am purchasing a house now and I wouldn’t say “tired” I try to say quite neutral things eg the outside space isn’t suitable. But I dunno maybe it’s more useful if people are brutal? Doesn’t sounds that necessary in this case though.

I had one woman tell me the internal door handles were like council house ones. She spent about three minutes looking round and it was obvious she had only come to view because she lived nearby. Her feedback to the estate agent was that she could get a place with one more bedroom three streets away. Yeah, she could. Three streets away was in the middle of a run down estate and in a different local authority.

I had tyre kickers come view my house when I sold it last year; their feedback was that the garden wasn't facing the right direction. Nosy parkers lived round the corner and just wanted to come and have a snoop. They knew which direction it faced before they made the appointment. 🙄

Wouldn't give it a second thought personally

I'd just try to forget her comments. The last two properties we've sold have sold quickly despite having received similar comments l from a couple of viewers. I've come to the conclusion that some people have been heavily influenced by property porn type programmes and online content and have champagne tastes with beer budgets. They expect to see property untouched by the wear and tear of people living normal lives in them and often end up in new builds which have show homes carefully staged to appeal to them.

People can be so mad. When we bought our first place we looked round all these small but immaculately done flats. The one we bought was untidy and needed redecorating but was way bigger and nicer on two floors with a beautiful aspect on a quiet road with a gorgeous private garden. Same price as the small done up flats! Snapped it up painted it and put in new bathroom. Sold 4 years later for £200k profit.