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 🤣

@Tupster , I feel like "tired" is the kind of word I might use thinking it was fairly inoffensive. me too.

I am quite happy to give feedback as to why I don’t want to offer but was interested enough to view,

reasons Ive given:

its extremely over priced,
it needs too much work which wasn’t visible on the pics.
its just not for us, sorry,
its far too small and the pics were misleading.
I like it but preferred house number 2

I think if someone is trying to sell it’s really shit to view and not spend 30 seconds explaining why it’s a no, even if it’s just I didng like it enough,I can’t fathom why you’d happily walk round someone’s home with a view to buying and then feel too awkward to spend a few seconds explaining why it’s a no,

Get off your high horse. 'm trying to buy a house, not providing a service to people who are trying to sell their houses.

Ironic that you call me "shit" when one of your reasons ("just not for us") is equivalent to giving no feedback at all, just like I do.

I wouldn't say 'The decor looks tired' or something when giving feedback. I'd probably say something like 'It's really nice but we've seen somewhere that suits us better."

don't take it to heart. We had someone offer 75k below asking price and say they would pay asking price if it was a "full sized house" It was a totally normal 3 bed semi. Completely mystified as to what a full sized house is 😂

See, I find it quite rude. It would make me feel my house was uncared for and I was a bit lazy 😂

@CellophaneFlower , My house looks a bit tired because I've lived here a while and not changed the decor, fittings etc. It looks a bit 2010 not 2024.

Someone might have an immaculate kitchen but the style might be tired.
I think of it as the opposite of fresh.

yeah, agree. To me "tired" means nothing actually wrong with it, not in bad condition such that it needs repairs, just a bit "lived in".

Oh don't get me wrong, my house is so tired it's practically in a coma 😂 OP said that bar the floors though, that everything is pretty much new. So I can understand why that comment stung a bit.

Maybe the viewer just said the first thing that came into her head.

A friend described my house as liveable. What sort of comment is that?

I've been both the potential buyer with the awkward feedback and the seller who had what I thought were silly comments!

As other PPs have said, we were encouraged to go see a house that wasn't really what we were looking for but we told ourselves we would be open minded in our search. We were looking for 3 bed with driveway, EA showed us a house that I'd have called a 2 bed with a "study" if I was being generous - it was barely a room in a lean-to that had a corrugated roof?! It basically felt like you were outside... Also didn't have a drive, with very low likelihood of being able to convert the front garden as literally no one else on the entire street had (it was not a short little street). When asked for feedback we had to be creative because it is someone's well loved house after all. We just said we were looking for something with a bigger kitchen diner.

On the flip side, we were selling a 1 bed ground floor flat that's a converted Victorian terrace, and I thought the pictures were a fair estimation of the property, especially as there were only so many rooms (living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen). One downsizing viewer said if she was going to offer she'd offer £25k less because there was nowhere to host if her grandchildren visited so she'd have to extend the kitchen... Why did you look at a 1 bed flat that had no dining area then?! And why should we factor in your costs to extend?!!? We just said ok don't bother offering lol.

A friend described my house as liveable. What sort of comment is that?

😁

I still remember inviting a friend to my first flat, which I thought I'd made very nice, and all she could say was 'It has potential'!

I never invited her back.

Id assume it was related to the third bedroom. Could you fit a full size bed, wardrobes, desk in there comfortably?

Do people expect houses to be ready to move straight in without having to replace anything?
well, the system we have means you do have to leave your existing house and move straight in, unable to replace anything in the minutes between. So it has to be in a liveable state. Not many people have the luxury of selling their home, buying another and running a rental while they replace what needs replacing.

I should have worded that better. We are also in the same position where we would have to leave our house and go to another that may not be quite up to scratch - however I understand we can change bits over time.

I noticed someone further up mentioned that if people had to replace the flooring it's not "newly renovated" the flooring was new, the idiotic sofas we bought have damaged the wood flooring. It's not unusable or hazardous - it just doesn't look great.

So to clarify the house is actually ready to move in.

I remember viewing a house with a garden that was smaller than we wanted. However, we still viewed it in case it was a compromise we could make. On viewing, it still didn't quite click. Whilst in the garden I could then hear the nearby A-road, which at the time I didn't realise the traffic noise travelled this far up the estate.

You said the carpets also needed replacing? Hence the comment.

I wouldn't have said that in front of you. Not very tactful.

My friend has had her house on the market for a couple of months now. Competitively priced in a popular area. The photos show a family home, lovely living space etc. Terrace, no driveway. Clean, tidy, nicely decorated but a family home that is clearly lived in.

Feedback has shown that people want either the show home that needs absolutely nothing done and is decorated perfectly to taste. Or a house that has had no work for 40 plus years and is ripe for a full renovation so is priced well below market. My friend’s house is neither of these. The photos and details make that very clear.

The amount of time wasters out there is baffling.

There is no need to be snarky. That is also subjective. I clean the carpets regularly. Would I want new carpets if I was going into a home, yes. I would factor this in for me to replace.

As I said, I should have worded this better, they are not in a state of disrepair and people could definitely live with them, they are just neutral carpets. They just may not want to live with them🤷🏻

I think estate agents push for feedback now and perhaps people just say any old thing that comes into their heads, plus often they are viewing multiple properties to see what they can get for their money, so they might view three, one with a smaller garden and when pushed, say 'it's the small garden' when really if they had liked it overall, that would have been fine.

Often viewing firms up what you don't want and that's ok!

Don't take it personally.

I once viewed a house which had a (used) condom hanging up in the bedroom (for reuse?) I've never got over it.

I genuinely wasn’t being snarky. You are clearly very sensitive about your home.

I'm in process of selling my house (terrace 3 bedroom house) located in commutable distance to Brighton.

One of the feedback we received was that the viewer didn't realise there would be stairs.

I don't know many terrace properties that don't have stairs but that comment just blew my mind tbh. It's just one set of stairs not narrow or steep. I spent ages trying to get my head around it.

Op there no rhyme nor reason to it sometimes it's horses for courses if you like your house undoubtedly at some point someone will come along and like it too.

I posted on here asking for feedback on my house with link and I found out a lot of people don't like the colour blue and magnolia is the preference. Maybe post on here ? I got some really insightful feedback I was able to action with my EA.

No problem, thank you for all your super helpful comments 👍🏻

I blame some agents though- my FIL has just put his 3 proper double bed chalet house ( 2 full bathrooms) plus really huge garden on market - Rochester area - he's 85 , so whilst immaculate condition, all new windows and decent neutral decor it isa bit dated, personally I would want 2 new bathrooms and new carpet/flooring throughout and maybe change kitchen fronts - so possibly about £40k spend max -

Agents photos though have used some kind of wide angle and it makes it look way bigger than it really is .

Personally I always look at layout floor maps and room sizes and square footage ,but there are people who do go solely off pictures and then rock up and realise it's not big enough or 3rd bedroom too small etc, etc

Thing of the person who sold the 5 million pound 'estate' that's over the road from us ( our rental house by the way isa nice Edwardian semi) this 'grand' house was simply gorgeous , was owned by a well known rock star at one point and on the pics was ( in my opinion ) the bees knees) and in good taste

I've seen a beautiful kitchen come out, lovely fireplaces, and whoever has bought it, they've been at it 18 months. And no extensions etc -