Fed up with Buy to Let & Animal Lover viewers

pastmybest

Buy to Lets come round bragging, how they have the money, can move quickly and make themselves to be the big I AM. They make it clear we WILL leave all the curtains, light fittings and every piece of kitchen equipment when they make an offer. We have even found those who have tried to baffle us with silly comparatives proving our price is really silly (high) which it is not.

We have agreed two sales, to this group, and both pulled out each after a number of weeks and so we are getting the the point where I am seriously thinking of refusing more viewings from this group as we are not as desparate to sell as they seem to always think we are.

Would this be silly of me?


The other group is those with pets. We have a ground floor flat with it's own garden but a no pets clause on the lease. We feel we could get it altered to include a cat but not dogs. However still had viewings from those with dog/s who have even offered subject to our getting approval for their dog from the other three flat owners in the block.

Another viewed and then offered (too low), saying they would give their elederly dog, not even expected to live until a legal completion, to a family member and would increase the offer the next day. And then the next day they withdrew their interest as they couldn't bear being without a dog.

Then one cat owner whose only reason for not offering was because our enclosed garden has 6 foot high walls and she was concerned her cat may climb on top of the wall, fall off and hurt themself. She would only buy a place where the fence/wall was a low one. Surely cats do not fall off high wals or do they.

So again I said to our EA it may be easier to spell this no pets thing out when people ask to view or would it?

LandyAndy

How keen are you to sell?

Someone buying for business rather than personal reasons is going to be more hard nosed.

Your EA should be making it clear (probably by including it in the particuulars) that no pets are allowed.

The only reason propertry doesn't sell within a sensible timescale is that it is overpriced, regardless of what the vendor thinks.

silvercar

Why limit your buyers? Sell to whoever will give you the money.

QueenOfTheDesert

IMO it's your home these people are coming into and your time they are wasting so you can do whatever you please but you will have to accept that by limiting your market you may be less likely to get a sale.

One solution might be to get the agent to show them round and answer the questions, have one day a week for viewings and be out - that way they won't irritate/annoy/upset you. Just a thought.

mlz1413

If you get another BTL round when they offer just say that due to previous experiences you will only remove the flat from the market when an exchange date is agreed.

My friend has this happen and what annoyed her the most was the 8 weeks wasted before the 'buyer' said oh no I'm not interested any more.

Don't get involved with the conversions of what you will be expected to leave - tell them that you will discuss fittings when an offer has been accepted. If they go into detail about prices just tell them to speak to the EA - if of course the EA is not at the viewing.

With pets insist your EA talks the prospective buyers - you will be paying them a commission so let them do the repeative questions.

bitsandpieces

pastmybest wrote: »

Then one cat owner whose only reason for not offering was because our enclosed garden has 6 foot high walls and she was concerned her cat may climb on top of the wall, fall off and hurt themself. She would only buy a place where the fence/wall was a low one. Surely cats do not fall off high wals or do they.

Cats get onto high walls - but they'll get onto a high something if they want, anyway, unless you live in a flat desert... Never tested it - but cats land very well, so I doubt they'd hurt themselves even if they did fall/jump off 6ft wall. Odd.

talulahbeige_2

LandyAndy wrote: »

Your EA should be making it clear (probably by including it in the particuulars) that no pets are allowed.

Why oh why would a company who want to make money do this?

We struggled with LA's on this when we moved. I have a cat, the first question i asked whenever i called about a property was "Would the LL accept a cat in the propeerty" The answer was, come and see the property and then we can ask the LL about the cat".
They hope I will go see the property, fall in love with it and get rid of my cat who i've had for 13 years to live there and they have then earnt their money.

EA's / LA's are a money making business who want to maximise all money making opportunities and by publicising that a lease doesnt allow cats they are cutting down their possible market.
EA's / LA's dont particularly care that your time is wasted

not_loaded

talulahbeige wrote: »

Why oh why would a company who want to make money do this?…
…EA's / LA's are a money making business who want to maximise all money making opportunities and by publicising that a lease doesnt allow cats they are cutting down their possible market.
EA's / LA's dont particularly care that your time is wasted

On every occasion before we viewed, we’d always run our checklist with the EA. It’s surprising what short memories they sometimes have. The ‘must haves’ had to be ticked, or there was no viewing. They pretty soon stopped their silliness, or they were dropped.

Pastmybest, I think you’re suffering from the same problem we have: plenty of viewers but very few serious buyers. We reckon less than 20%, maybe only 10% are serious buyers. We accept viewings which are of course always based on what they’ve told the EA. They seem to think we don’t talk to the EA, and quite often there are glaring discrepancies within a minute of them opening their mouths.

Then you come to the strange comments, tapping on walls, questions like ‘would I be able to knock down that wall?’. I’m sure that very few vendors will be structural engineers, or legal experts as yours seem to expect.

The sort of questions we CAN answer rarely come, which makes me suspect they’re not serious.

We too have agreed two sales, and similarly both pulled out after a number of weeks. One with no explanation at all, the other muttering about lenders.

I’m not at the point of refusing viewings though – I feel that people new to property buying (possibly the biggest decision in your life) should be allowed to ‘browse’ but, well, yeah, do what you want to do, and make your decision. That’s what the viewing is for.

PS: Over thirty years spent went with cats: not one has ever had an injury from falling off a high wall or fence.

pastmybest

LandyAndy wrote: »

How keen are you to sell?

Someone buying for business rather than personal reasons is going to be more hard nosed.

Your EA should be making it clear (probably by including it in the particuulars) that no pets are allowed.

The only reason propertry doesn't sell within a sensible timescale is that it is overpriced, regardless of what the vendor thinks.

Hi of course we want to sell but feel like being a bit more hard nosed about it. Our price IS right otherwise we would not of got the interest we have done. Apart from several EAs figures I did a very thorough excercise after reading a very good thread posted some time ago which confirmed the EAs figures.

I guess I do have a problem with the concept of buy to lets and second homes both having ruined the housing prospects for younger people. But hey I am entitled to be as obliging or as awkward as I want;)

pastmybest

QueenOfTheDesert wrote: »

IMO it's your home these people are coming into and your time they are wasting so you can do whatever you please but you will have to accept that by limiting your market you may be less likely to get a sale.

One solution might be to get the agent to show them round and answer the questions, have one day a week for viewings and be out - that way they won't irritate/annoy/upset you. Just a thought.

I think to restrict to a certain time each week would cut viewings down radically. Our EA knows we will fit in viewings, with 5 minutes notice, and we have found many with that short notice. People on the way to, or from, somwhere who wouldn't be able to get back for a week or two.

pastmybest

mlz1413 wrote: »

If you get another BTL round when they offer just say that due to previous experiences you will only remove the flat from the market when an exchange date is agreed.

My friend has this happen and what annoyed her the most was the 8 weeks wasted before the 'buyer' said oh no I'm not interested any more.

Don't get involved with the conversions of what you will be expected to leave - tell them that you will discuss fittings when an offer has been accepted. If they go into detail about prices just tell them to speak to the EA - if of course the EA is not at the viewing.

With pets insist your EA talks the prospective buyers - you will be paying them a commission so let them do the repeative questions.

Yes we will keep on the market but when potential buyers see it is under offer thay don't want to view. The EA insists on marking it under offer as they say that is what they must do with their guidelines.

Good advice re what we are or are not leaving.