Worst feedback you've got from a viewing?

[ChickensLoveMarmite]

Our estate agent just called to let me know that our viewers on saturday won't be buying our house because a) there would be too much work to do in replacing our bathrooms (house is only ten years old, but they could do with being updated), b) the garden was untidy (this has INCENSED me!! I am a keen gardener, but it's JANUARY! BTW, no junk in the garden, it's just dormant) and c) we have housing association homes behind us. Apart from the garden issue (grrrrr), the other two points are fair enough reasons as to why someone might not buy a house. However, does the estate agent have to call me and just basically say 'Yeah, your house is a bit shit. Bye!'. Its so demoralising, and doesn't actually help (I can hardly move my house, or demolish my neighbours housing association places, can I?) So, cheer me up. Tell me your tales of feedback woe.

[fruitshootsandheaves]

We have ben so disheartened with trying to sell. Last week we had a couple who turned up to view just as we sat down to eat, we let them in amongst the lunch chaos in a very messy kitchen!

Quite a few people have commented on the fact that they don't want a semi-detached house......well don't waste our time coming to look round our semi-detached house then....

Its coming off the market next week will have to look into rather more upsetting options now...

[aJumpedUpPantryBoy]

tearinghairout - we did, they told us they were still going to sue because it wasn't at all clear. (The fact that we live 10 miles from the coast might have been another minor clue)

Funnily enough, we never did hear from their solicitors

[FimBOW]

When we were selling our house it was advertised as 2 double bedrooms and 1 single bedroom on the first floor.

One set of viewers rejected it because it didn't have a ground floor bedroom.

[newpup]

When selling our old house we attracted a few loons!

One couple did not want it because there were children in the house next door (a 6 month old baby and the house was detached!) There was a man who was put off by the lack of a 4th bedroom ummm it is a 3 bedroom house!

One man asked if we had air conditioning!

The best were a couple who loved the house but said the Feng Shui was wrong - it meant death!!! Nice!

[FimBOW]

Oh and lots of people were put off by our neighbours trampoline. Although the house was detached it was millimetres away from the house next door and their trampoline was right up against the fence.

[hester]

We live in a flat on one of London's premier (and most famous) shopping streets. It is there, in the address, and the only people who live here are people who appreciate the location and who, frankly, are prepared to pay over the odds for it.

Still didn't stop a steady tide of viewers giving feedback that the street is 'too busy'. That's like moving to Oxford Street and complaining about not enough green space.

[CMOTdibbler]

Our last house had a downstairs bathroom. Lots of people came and viewed then said they weren't interested because of the downstairs bathroom (we asked the estate agents to particularly point this out before booking after the first 4).

[frasersmummy]

we had a couple say the decor was too neutral...

and someone elsw who didnt realise that mid terrace meant neighbours either side

oh and the people who knocked the door and said we dont like the look of the house so we are not coming in

[wordsonascreen]

Before dc I did (for my sins) sell houses.

On selling a recently deceased Aged Aunts house one poor lady turned white and refused to go in the bedroom as it smelt of death.

Aged Aunt had actually died in there but it was all nice and peaceful she wasn't eaten by Alsatians or anything or left to [gulp] linger.

One rather irate gentleman was astounded a sixteenth floor flat didn't come with a garden.

No one seemed to read particulars or the very charming floorplans I used to hand draw (the days before computers)Mind you those were the days we used to mail out properties ...

[fruitshootsandheaves]

oh yeah...we have a downstairs bathroom too

here is the kitchen where I stabbed a burglar
Here is the lounge where the body of the burglar is buried under the floorboards.
here is the downstairs bathroom

"ooooooh a downstairs bathroom."

[BrigitBigKnickers]

When we were trying to sell our house five years ago we had a viewer who didn't want to buy because there weren't enough plug sockets!

The same twat said very loudly (and rudely I thought) of our third bedroom (a single room)"Yes well there's very little you can do with these tiny little box rooms."

I didn't like to point out that the actual box room was much smaller!

[Reallytired]

I sold my house in six weeks last summer. We had some very strange feedback. For example one couple complained that the house was not in St Albans.

I found it was best to be thick skinned and get in as many viewings as possible. Don't worry about the house being perfect. If someone doesn't want your house then don't fret. Try to be objective about the feedback. For example people complained our living room was too small so we re arranged the furniture.

We sold our house to a family that came unexpectedly. Our estate agent had a charming habit of not telling us about viewings. We were also mad enough to give the estate agent a copy of our front door key so that they could take people round if we were out.

My son had a friend round at the time and there were toys everywhere, we had just finished lunch so you can imagine what the kitchen was like. The family saw two children having FUN and the house was lived in rather than a show home off TV.

There was another family who was shown our house looking like a tip (by estate agents when we were out) and fell in love it. The two families ended up in a bidding war and we got a good price.

[howdidthishappenthen]

Just about every single viewer we've had in the past 2 years has thoughtfully fed back to us that they simply ADORE the house but unfortunately won't be bidding as it's on a main road. Exactly as shown on the map on the agency details. And in our address. Knobheads.

[CarmenSanDiego]

I went round a house in the US and it was hilarious - apparently there's quite a market in 'set dressing.'

This house had all the furniture at odd angles and everything was there as a demonstration - an ironed man's shirt hanging prominently in the bedroom, the piano open with sheet music and someone's glasses resting on them, letters and fountain pen on the desk and so on. We laughed all the way round and then picked the empty house with the identical layout over the road

[Sidge]

Some years ago we were selling our 1930s semi.

A couple appeared to love it, made an offer, then pulled out as they decided the house wasn't modern enough - why go looking round 30s semis then you muppets?

[ChickensLoveMarmite]

Oh, thank you. You have all made me feel so much better

[Ripeberry]

We had an offer on our house back in 1999 and started to pack things away and then the buyers pulled out.
Rather than unpack everything again, we left most of the stuff as boxes.
Some couples came to view and they complained that things were in boxes and that they were dusty!!
Some people have no imagination and can't see the wood for the trees
We bought the house we have now in 2000 and we were very lucky that the people before us had no imagination.
Lovely big rooms, in the countryside without it being a cottage. The previous owners had a massive dog run and 3 rottweilers in the garden, no lawn just mud, the carpet in the living room was tacked together (all odd pieces), the kitchen units were falling off and the floor had no lino, just concrete.
We managed to get £10,000 off the asking price and yes it took a couple of years to get it straight and now the garden is beautiful!

[brettgirl2]

To be fair pud I wouldn't buy a house where there was a dog either, because DH is quite badly allergic to them.

I don't see the point in all this feedback unless it's something you can put right. The most feedback we had selling ours was that it was too big - I mean wtf, it was a 3 bed terrace and that the person didn't like where it was (but obviously couldn't afford a house in a posh area which is why they were viewing it). OK - I'll just move it then shall I? Someone else didn't like where the boiler was.

[choosyfloosy]

usually the most honest feedback would be 'i just didn't feel like buying it'

but you feel a twat saying that to the estate agent so you make something up that is kind of true but annoying to the owner

it only takes one person to love your house and you will be there

[RollBaubleUnderTree]

We had for our old house that did not even bother getting out of the car once they saw the road!

[thedollshouse]

We had a cash buyer interested in buying our house for his 18 year old daughter. He made an offer but wanted all the furniture included and even wanted some of our personal possessions such as artwork that we had on our walls that had been collected on our travels. We agreed to leaving some of the furniture but not all of it as we needed some and some items were bought as presents. He got really angry and came knocking on our door saying that because he was a cash buyer he should be able to have what he wanted. Our neighbours got a lucky escape!

[UnquietDad]

I love the Beech Cottage story.

I do sympathise with the doggists though. DW and I went to look round a house which would have been really nice, and right for us, but it stank of dog and there were dog-hairs everywhere.

I don't think doggy people really give any thought to how thus can appear to non-doggy people. We came out gagging.

[UnquietDad]

I was incensed by the couple who looked round our first house... (counts) 14 years ago. It was on for £56k. This was at a time when everything was starting to go for the asking price or even over. They offered £50k and said apologetically, "it is our budget."

So if your budget is 50k, why are you looking round 56k houses, you twonks??

It didn't help that my mother, when we told her about it later, did the cat's-bum face and said "ohh, I think you really should have taken that" (in that "pitying" tone).

[ChickensLoveMarmite]

Yes! We had a couple view our house, and then say that their budget was twenty thousand under our asking price. Now, if we were living in a half a million pound house, maybe. Our house is up for 150k

[BigusBumus]

Ex-H and I used to live in a flat in North London and when we sold it an arty type woman came in, looked around without a word then exclaimed, "Oh yes, there it is! This is the ONE"! We nearly jumped out of our skins. She then told us she believed in symbols and omens and had asked the spirits for the sign of a Unicorn if the flat would be right for her. She had then happened to see a tiny unicorn symbol on a piece of equipment in DHs recording studio. Mad woman! Then she was gushing about its beauty and sharing her life story with us. We accepted her offer, but she pulled out a few weeks later as there was a tiny patch of damp in the bathroom.

Then a few years later we had a Victorian terrace which had had really rubbish floor boards. Big gaps between them, broken bits, terrible old woodworm etc and wouldn't strip properly. So we put down a new floor at great expense (£2.5k) - solid wide plank oak. When we sold it we got some feedback that the viewers had said it would be too much work for them to pull up the "cheap old laminate" and strip back the original boards. Needless to say we sacked the agent that same afternoon.