Viewing house with vendors all there

[Fupoffyagrasshole]

I viewed a house this morning and the woman’s kids were all still in bed - she showed me the garden and the living areas and kitchen and downstairs loo and then I couldn’t see the bathroom as someone was showering and then while I’m in the master bedroom (which she hadn’t even bothered to make the bed in)

her son came out topless with towel round his waist - we went in to view a steamy bathroom with dirty towels all over the floor

then she starts knocking on the daughters room and she wouldn’t open it told us to go away 😄

I’ve never experienced something like this before it was so strange - is this kind of thing normal!

oh and they want 750k for this house and she can’t even be bothered to try make it nice

Around here estate agents are rarely with you, you just rock up and the vendor shows you around.
My friend recently viewed a house £700k. In Midlands, so in the higher price bracket for the area. The vendor opened the door clearly drunk and took my friend around the house. Wine bottles everywhere (incl bedroom) and her DH sat on the sofa watching Tv in his vest and boxers. In the basement was a family/ games room with a pool table etc and her two teenage children were sitting around on beanbags smoking joints, the air was fuggly with the smell of cannabis. I know you have to be able to ‘ see past’ a vendors decor and taste but some people don’t seem to make an effort at all.

I mean the house has decent location and very spacious - she’s turned the living space into 2 bedrooms though which I wasn’t aware of and is not in the floor plan or noted in description

so there was all these extra walls up to make extra bedrooms downstairs which was also a bit misleading!

theres loads of others for sale in the area with less work involved so hopefully il nab one of those :)

I could actually live with this. The problem is that people have life commitments and sometimes some of them interfere with others. So a bloke who didn’t have time to put flowers on or scented candles or even make his bed would be fine. As long as dimensions, boiler age, windows and other important things were obvious and the price was reasonable.
I was a few times on similar viewings where you basically could look around and had the owner for answering questions, all good. However your viewing OP didn’t sound like you could have a good look around so worthless imo.
Was it arrange at the very last minute? Clutching at straws.
Or maybe it’s a divorce and they have problems with communication? in this case I wouldn’t come back if they paid me.

Just because the house is worth £700k, effort isn't obligatory any more than if it was worth £200k.

People can not make the effort, and vendors can make the offers they want.

I've viewed rentals with messy tenants, I've viewed derelict properties - don't get distracted by the people or items that are not part of the sale.

Don't let an uncomfortable viewing put you off a good house. Tidy or absent owners can be nightmare vendors too.

What matters is the house, the location and the price.

I nearly passed out from the smell in one house.

They had a dozen air fresheners in each room and I had to shower afterwards and douse my own house in air freshener because it followed me and I could still smell it for hours afters.

I'm no snob at all, I have lived in slums in my lifetime and Im not put off by damp, full renos, hoarder houses or anything but it was intense on a level I have never encountered before. I genuinely felt awful that they had to live in it like that, seemed like nice people too.

They did say (not until half way through though) they have on going problems with drainage but I honestly felt light headed and could only concentrate on not keeling over... explained why the house was dirt cheap though.

I’m definitely not a snob and can see past things to a point - first flat we bought we got cheap as the guy had died in it and wasn’t found for weeks and it was a bit of a shit hole - but we got it for super cheap for the area at the time!

I think I can see the potential of this house and the woman did laugh and say sorry you’ll need to use your imagination 🫠

but I think the extra “bedrooms” she created not shown on floor plan and the fact I couldn’t even see some of the rooms was a bit of a waste of my time

I’m not going to buy a house I’ve not seen everything

also her following me around made me feel awkward and I couldn’t have a proper look at things check how much storage there was etc

I'd rather view with the vendor present and be able to chat to them/ask questions.
Hate it when it's only an agent

I've bought one after a terrible viewing like that. Teenage children wouldn't unlock their bedrooms, huge aggressive sounding dogs wouldn't allow me into the garden. I know the house needed some work, knew the rooms were all the same size, and it was what we wanted and that there were few of that type of house in the location.

It worked out ok, and turns out under the hideous carpets there was a beautiful parquet hiding. Vendor later told me she knew, had covered them because of the dogs, but didn't think to tell me or her estate agent. The teenage rooms when I finally saw them were filthy and stank. But after ripping out the carpets, sanding & varnishing floors, repainting, and doing a relatively small amount of building work at first, it became a lovely home.

I viewed a house once like this. Turned out to be a divorce sale and the current residents did not want to move so were obstructing viewings.

Didn't buy.

I viewed a house where the vendors sat in the garden the whole time. When viewing the garden it was a little awkward but everyone was pleasant.

I can't believe what some people see as acceptable. If the estate agent asked me why I didn't want a Second viewing I'd say "come on. You know why!" And leave it there.

We viewed a house where the teenage children wouldn't let us view their rooms. And the double garage was actually a large shed, which had been dismantled since the photographs were taken. We didn't linger.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the disastrous house sale viewings are where they hadn't given the vendors sufficient notice.
Not quite the same but we were renting and had given notice. Owners had the agents showing prospective renters round at weekends supposedly with 24 hours notice so we could arrange to be out and have the place tidy etc.
Ended up with people turning up to view unannounced without the agents, agent arrived an hour later alone.
Agents 'forgetting' to give us notice and arriving with the renter's on the doorstep first thing when we were still in pyjamas. Complained to agents to be told we had let them down by giving notice and they had to rent it.
Now aware that you can refuse them holding viewings until you've moved out!

How were the extra bedrooms shown in the photos? Curious to know..

Sorry I mean they didn’t show the bedrooms on the floor plan

the listing online showed a massive living room so it must have been old photos

but when I viewed there was no living room it was divided in 2 and both rooms were being used as bedrooms / or I suppose if I bought it could be 2 living spaces

one room has no windows

Wow having looked at the listing again it’s totally old photos for the whole house it looked so different - even the garden is changed ! It’s very misleading.