Viewings - people not on the market

[Delatron]

Do you accept viewings from people who are not even on the market yet? We have had so many viewings on our house and I’m completely exhausted by the whole thing. At least 75% don’t even have their house on the market. It just seems pointless.

Is it ok to say viewings only from people who at least have their house on the market or don’t need to sell.

This

It is tricky. Some people don't simply want/need to move, they need something quite specific. If their house is likely to be relatively easy to sell but their requirements are very niche, I can absolutely see why they would want to view first.

We are currently buying but not selling yet as our new place requires a lot of work. The house we are buying came on the market in late October. But absolutely nothing else suitable had come up since, so if we hadn't got it and we'd sold, we'd have a disgruntled buyer right now as we couldn't proceed and there certainly aren't any suitable options for rental. How long do you ask your seller to wait.

To some extent it works both ways.

In your shoes I'd give one set day a week for viewings and then only accomodate around that for proceedable buyers. If I was a keen non-proceedable buyer I'd make it work, but anyone whose just nosing will probably not bother.

I think a lot is area dependent, and even house dependent.

In our old house we used to get notes through the door saying "If you are ever looking to sell please contact me" 5/6 times a year. When we decided to move our house didn't even make it to having photos taken, as soon as we started looking the EA had four people lined up that he knew would be interested in ours. So they were happy for us to look at other houses. The one we bought was online two days when we saw it. We viewed it Thursday and offered, the EA had three viewings on ours Saturday, two second viewings Monday and we accepted an offer Tuesday. That's not remotely uncommon here.

BIL & SIL are about 150 miles away and are looking to move atm, but they've been told they can't view until they are under offer as selling is very slow in their area.

That was September sorry, I meant to add.

I was that poster, and yes my friend sold two days after hers went to market, this was a week or so ago. Frustrating as it took us 3 months to sell (just sold) 🤣 and we put an offer on a house, below asking, the day it came to market, also last week. It was surprisingly accepted.

It’s a very strange market we’re in.

Yeah it does all depend. To be fair the house we bought didn’t even go on the market. We moved fast. But we were in the position to do so.

I agree if someone is keen and not on the market then they should be happy to make the time work to coincide with a more serious buyer in a better position.

I do just want to get of the people coming round for a nosy/day out!

It is a strange market. I think some areas and some price points are moving fast but very slow elsewhere and different price brackets.

Overall though I think buyers know it’s not a hot market and they they can be demanding and take their time.

Agreed. We took 3 months to sell (south east) and our agent said they said 90% of their recent sales were sub £500k (basically starter homes in our area!)
friend managed to sell same day at much higher than that though, as was the house we offered on on (and the house we sold, though that took a while!). It is moving, but houses that need modernising aren’t selling as well in SE. Not sure about other areas.

I think it depends on the type of market you are in.
A few yrs ago it was a sellers market in my area , the Estate agent advised only taking viewings from on the market buyers. i couldnt get to viwe a property without proving my house was on the market.
I think that changes when its a buyers market and its worth allowing any viewing.
Its up to you, but if you are inundated with viewings, it seems reasonable to say on the market or preceedable viewings take precedence.

Yeah it seems anything around £600k is going quickly round here. Anything much above that is taking a long time!

All the houses that are on in our area in the same price range as us have been on the market for 6 plus months and not selling. New ones come on and sit there too. Strange!

@Delatron 3 weeks ago

Ok I guess the market is very different in different areas. But none of the people we’ve shown around who liked it have gone on to sell their house quickly (or currently at all!).

They do also need to be in a certain price bracket.

I’d just like to get rid of time wasters. I had 6 viewings last week. If I had zero viewings I may be more relaxed about who came round.

People who are like, I only listed once I saw the exact house I wanted.

Erm ok... you don't have to physically go to the house before you list though.

You see the house you like on rightmove, list yours and then view once you are in a position to possibly be a buyer. If your house will definitely sell in '1 week' and thats definitely the dream house then why do you have to view BEFORE listing?

What yous are claiming is that it was a straight forward I want this one and yous didn't go wandering round loads of houses that you saw umming and arring and wasting the sellers time but the very act of saying you had to view these houses first to decide says you are doing exactly that.

Can't you do exactly what you want?

Instruct the agent that proceedable buyers can get individual viewings as they have now, while not-yet-on-the-market viewers will get a limited choice of options (generally an hour after a proceedable buyer, or half a day slot of your choice once in two weeks)

@housethatbuiltme how on earth would you know that for sure until you stepped inside it?!

It does seem very straightforward for some people. Saw house. Liked house. Put theirs on the market. Sold in 2 days. Got new house!

I mean fair play. But I’m not sure it’s usual for it to be that’s straightforward and quick!

I do think I’d they’re serious then the house needs to be at least listed on the market.

Yeah I have done that but I’m doubting myself a little and not sure it’s the right thing to do. I’ve said no viewings unless people are on the market. But if they want to piggy back another viewing that’s fine. So we’ve turned down 2 viewings this week. One got a bit cross and claimed their house would sell quickly.

I’m not sure it’s a bad thing also to be a bit unavailable and choosy.

I'm afraid I'm one of those annoying people who got a Rightmove alert for our perfect house, viewed it to confirm this, made an offer which was accepted, then put our house on the market and sold within a week. But the estate agent did ask me questions about our house and was well aware it was extremely sellable due to proximity to station and primary school. So I suppose my advice is to get an agent who really knows the market and to trust their judgment.

We viewed a house when we weren’t on the market , loved it and our house was in Rightmove within 2 weeks.

While for sale we said we didn’t really want people to view who weren’t in a position to proceed due to us having already found somewhere. So we did exactly as you suggested accepted viewings from anyone as long as they were at the same time as more favourable buyers, it really helped cut down on the amount of tidying etc

Just had viewers to ours....didn't realise the age of the property....its in the description for goodness sake!
They not even on the ruddy market. Utter waste of time

Another annoying waste of time is when you have tidied up and gone out to leave the house empty for viewing and then the estate agent rings to say they have cancelled at the last minute!😡

I think it's fine to request a viewing at any stage as long as you are honest about things- people can always say no.

Hate time wasters! Think someone complained the hallway was too narrow once. I mean the photos and dimensions are online, it’s a Victorian house…so annoying.

Our house is no show home but equally it’s not a wreck. New kitchen and bathrooms were ten years ago to be fair but we’re not going to replace them as we’re selling. All the feedback we are getting is ‘it’s too much work’. I do think people seem to want pristine show homes these days. I blame instagram!

I know its ridiculous....I'm sure people don't know how to read floorplans either. We've got 2 staircases and a few steps in ours....oh 2 many steps one viewer said!!!

It’s infuriating. Especially when you spend so long tidying. I never want to sell another house again 😭.

We had someone complain that the paint on my dressing table was chipped. I’m not leaving the dressing table!!