What makes buyers book a house viewing?

[sbplanet]

We're looking to put our property on the market and had some estate agents round to do valuations (or appraisals apparently). (FWIW it's a 3 bed semi in a rural location in very good renovated order) There is a difference in fees charged and also in what is offered in their marketing package. Some do videos, some photos only, maybe premium listings, or social media postings.

So if you were looking for a new home what makes you go to view a place and how have you found out about it?

Is it on the market yet?

Nope, waiting on another agent to get an appraisal back to us. Photos/video/plans incuded in the fee. But not sure how much of a hurry we're in, but then on the other hand without being ready to sell no chance of making an offer...

I don't know what happens in your area, but when some of my family were looking to move, the EAs were not allowing viewings unless they had firm offers on their existing house. It was fairly brutal.

It was 'Is your house on the market? Do you have offers? No? Okay, the vendor isn't interested inletting you view.

It ended up with them having to rent for a few months, having sold but no house to move into.

Presumably you are selling in order to buy somewhere else OP?

What will make you book a house viewing when you are in a position to do so? There's your answer.

Making offers before you have actually sold is going to be very unpredictable.

Yes I know, I just meant be able to show 'proper' interest. We viewed a place on the weekend on the back of maybe going to market with the agency involved. The market is stuck in many areas and price brackets, so whether to go on now is a 'big' question.

i like a floor plan with dimensions

and basics - heating type, broadband speeds

and a map showing the location

I am at the lower end of the market

Floorplan
Location
General condition - not decor
Aspect

Whenever I've sold, I've looked at which agents are getting the sales. Easier now because you can check on the internet.

The market is stuck until asking prices come down ,the geo-political developments over the last few years and months make a return to super low interest rates not a realistic possibility IMO, best to cut your price to sell and bid low on the next property, many sellers are getting basically zero interest at the moment.

How many decades have you been able to check on the internet though, not really new?

My house had no internal photos on the website. When I viewed it I realised why (orange bedroom...) But it had what I wanted, an acre of ground in my preferred location. I bought it. Got a lot of the asking price, though, as it was a probate sale and had been on the market a long time.

For me buying it was type of home, area, some photos and a floor plan with measurements. I didn't really need anymore information but I wasn't buying thinking of school catchment areas etc.

When I was selling I had good clear photos, a floor plan with measurements, a 360 walk through, information about the catchment area (it was in the area of a really good school) and local shops. But what sold it was price as it wasn't to a family.

People are looking at monthly mortgage payments now, previously they were less than rent, negligible, can your target buyer afford the monthlies?

People are also using the price tracking apps like PropertyLog etc. to scan the whole area on RM, if another seller of a similar house is dropping price you will have no chance of getting viewings.

Since about 2000ish but I was buyikg and selling in the 80s and 90s.

Oh right. But what you are missing, firstly there are no 'next properties' on the market. And secondly, no I'm not going to sell cheaply, and I don't have to either, I'll wait. Plus thirdly, I'm not worried about our ability to sell, I'm worried about having nowhere to go.

If no next properties what are you going to buy? What would you be waiting for if you couldn"t sell? If you are not worried about ability to sell why a thread on how to get viewings? Very confusing.

That's the whole point isn't it. I'm looking at getting ready to sell, getting appraisals and finding out what buyers are looking at. But there's nowhere for us to go.
You know agents aren't keen on letting potential buyers see stuff if they've not sold? No wonder the market is a mess at the minute!

Obviously you are not looking at ordinary houses because there are loads of them sitting around looking for buyers.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/08/housebuilder-vistry-warns-losses-heavy-discounting-unsold-homes

Lol. No, the house down the road is on for over £3m.

How long have they been trying to sell?

Hilarious to see EA"s finally catching on, just as thousands of them go bust!

www.zoopla.co.uk/press/releases/half-of-uk-homes-listed-never-sell-but-sellers-can-change-the-odds/

I take it you're not a property owner then?

From May 26:

"Why so many homes don't sell
Zoopla research, conducted among more than 2,000 UK adults who listed their home in the past three years, finds the biggest factor isn't the market, it's the seller's approach to pricing. Among those who didn't sell, over a third (34%) admit the price their home was listed at was, in hindsight, ‘too high’ having thought it was a ‘fair price’ at the outset

Among those who did sell, 53% of respondents had to cut their asking price to attract a buyer. "

That means 47% didn't have to. So flip a coin, not with my money! ROFL.

I take it you don"t really want to know what sells a property?

Thanks but there have been lots of really useful posts on this thread, already, but you know these things tend to go a bit OTT and tail off.

I have always found the estate agent advertising doesn’t really matter - they all go o. Right move and people have a fair idea what they want.

what matters is the quality of service - are you expecting g lots of viewing and can the estate agent manage that. Will they keep on top of things once you are sale agreed. Will they check prospective buyers are serious - will they manage chains so they don’t fall apart.

advertising your house is the easy part.