House viewing when house not for sale

googler

adg1 wrote: »

Of course the agent had a buyer walk in who described your house exactly. I bet they even have the full quoted asking price to spend?

I will eat my hat (I don't actually own a hat but would buy one for the priveledge of eating it) if they actually have that very buyer willing to view.

I doubt its more than a ploy to get you to sign their agency sole terms just to let this viewer through. Once signed they will market your property. It has also got you thinking as you want this person who described your house to the agent to view and hence set the seed in your mind about that agent having the buyers available.

Decide on which agent you like most and market that house with them. If there really is a buyer then they will search rightmove etc and find your house that way.

The agent will probably want you to sign an agreement before bringing the buyer round, so - if you want to seriously put it on the market, and were going to do so anyway, that's fine.

If you're doubtful of the provenance of this viewer, then complete the EA's contract with a rider to the effect that if 'the viewer' doesn't go through with viewing your property, the agreement is null and void. Simple.

giddypenguin

When we first got our house valued etc, and were um-ing and ah-ing whether or not to go ahead and put it up for sale (we both have quite a few stressful things going on at the moment) our EA found all these willing buyers who 'had described our house to a tee', well almost 8 months on and we've only just sold... and we didn't have a viewing for the first 2 weeks after it officially went on market, so I guess all those eagar beavers must have gone on holiday for the first 2 weeks it was on sale!

It's marketing garb - pure and simple! They just want your house on the books!

Jowo_2

If you want to put it on the market, put it on the market. You could insist that the contract for sole agency is restricted to a 8 week period, for example, and serve the 2 weeks notice common to these agreements to terminate it at the outset so it doesn't roll on past this date.

But the potential buyer the EA say they have, fake or genuine, is irrelevant since the main barrier to you marketing your own property is that you haven't seen an onward property to buy.

So even if the EA does come up with this viewer, and even if this viewer does make an offer, if you aren't happy with the availability of a property to buy, then it's going to get sticky.

You need to make up your minds now and contemplate whether you would be happy to accept an offer and move into rented accommodation or back with family until you find a suitable place to buy. A buyer isn't going to wait months for you to find somewhere to move to. That's the real issue here.

Jowo_2

giddypenguin wrote: »

..
It's marketing garb - pure and simple! They just want your house on the books!

I agree it could well be bull-poo from the EA.

A friend signed up to an agent who insisted he had easily half a dozen proceedable buyers on their books looking for similar property in the area and they would send them through the first weekend after it was marketed.

Number of viewers arranged in that period coming through the door on the first Saturday? Two. Response from the agent when challenged "oh, my colleague is on holiday. it's on rightmove, we can't drag viewers in off the street, what more do you want us to do?"

anyone signing up to an agent risks not having the property sold in this current market.

mummyfrugal

Hi Thunderbird, if I was you I would ask if this estate agent was the one you would go with out of the ones who have valued your home? If the answer is no then dont sign nothing, dont agree to the viewing (no one only uses one estate agent when looking for a house).

Some estate agents (particuarly ones that are nationwide) tend to have strict targets to adhere to and are, more aggressive in a word, to get their vendors on the books (there will be a target for that) and also sell the properties.

I would ask around - go and find a few houses they have sold signs on and go and knock on the door and ask the vendors if they had a good experience? were they pressured or tempted to sign? did they say the same thing to them? I know knocking on a strangers door seems a bit dauting but Ive done it and ive found that people are more than willing to dish the dirt on crappy estate agents. There is one particular agent in our area (no names here) who i will not use and while looking for a house if it was advertised by them i knocked on the door and asked to view without the estate agents involvment and explained why i wanted to do so and have taken paperwork to prove who i am and that im a serious buyer)

One rule while selling/buying houses - never trust the estate agents - remember this and you will be fine, they are full of carrot and donkey tricks.

giddypenguin

That's really good advice mummyfrugal, I wish we'd done that, although in saying that our EA did turn out to be pretty good (once the original guy left) and they have consistantly gone above and beyond for us (although I'm aware that this seems isolated to our particular branch of this nationwide EA). Our problems seemed to relate to the seller's EA, one in particular were rude, pushy, didn't turn up to viewings, and were awful to deal with. I'm glad they didn't have our dream house in the end - would of hated to help them meet their targets.

PasturesNew

I had this, I'd invited all agents round to price up my house, but one said they had somebody who might be interested in it. I let the viewing go ahead, without signing anything. They didn't want it, but they could have done!

eanick

Why not agree a reduced fee for a one off viewing to reflect lack of marketing etc - Maybe half the usual %. You could also push the asking price up a bit because if this viewer does exist and does want your type of house then why not give it a go. If the agent/buyer is genuine then they will probably agree to an agreement signed for one viewer only - this won't commit you to use them if this buyer doesn't come to anything.

I have two sales in the pipeline at the moment - one as described by the OP and one where we contacted a vendor who had taken his flat off the market 6 months before - we had a buyer that wanted that particular block, one phone call and a couple of viewings later and sale agreed!

silvercar

thunderbird wrote: »

I am in a difficult situation!

We have had our house valued by a few agents and have one that is keen to market it.
Having viewed several houses in the area we are thinking of moving to, we have concluded that there is nothing available that interests us and are considering different areas (although nothing available there at the moment either).

The estate agent that is keen on our house called me yesterday to say that they have had someone come into their offices today looking for properties and they pretty much described our house when saying what/where they wanted. So they have now asked if we would be interested in a one-off viewing, for this person to come and take a look.

I said we would think about it and get back to them. Seems a bit odd! Anyone else encountered this?

I had this happen to me. We allowed the viewing to proceed and they did make a full asking price offer. We would actually have sold to them had the chain not had a problem develop further on in proceedings.

clutton_2

if you are not going to sell.. dont accept the viewing.. dont waste everyones time...