Ghost viewings....do they happen?

Daniel_B

Peeps - we had 2 viewings scheduled for yesterday, and one was cancelled 1 hour beforehand and the other one they were unable to get in contact with, so also never happened.

Our house went on the market the friday before last, and our EA rang us on the Monday with 2 viewings booked for the saturday, 2 hours apart.

Now call me cynical, but is this the norm, or were these made up viewings to make us think they were doing a good job/give us confidence in them?

No other viewings/interest have been communicated to us by the EA.
Previous experiences/opinions gratefully received.

Dan

clutton_2

it is so normal for this to happen, its ridiculous. often more than half of appointments dont turn up. my mate who has been an EA for donkeys years, says people are less likely to not turn up if the EA is accompanying them to the property, rather than just meeting you - make them work for their money !!

lilyann1

Yes we had loads of them and it is so annoying when the EA phones and says that someone cancelled 5 minutes before they were due to arrive,especially when you have 3 children like me and have to spend a age trying to keep the place tidy.

Bluefusion

Also note that when an appointment is set up, some viewers only see the estate agents details, and might turn up at your house early to take a look at the area location.

I know from when we were looking, we would turn up as early as possible to have a look at where the house is situated. We found that some of the houses that we had appointments for turned up to be right on main roads, or back onto a railway line etc and these were big no no's for us so to save wasting ours and the vendors time we would cancel in advance, so it does happen.

mi-key

Agree with the post above, although we went and looked at the outside first before booking a viewing so as not to waste peoples time. I think it is true when people say you can tell in 30 seconds if a house is definitely wrong for you !

garbadine

At least if you didn't like the look of the outside, you called the agent to cancel: according to our agent, one couple cancelled because they drove past "a few days ago" and decided the road was too busy (fair enough) .... but then didn't bother to call the agent (we only found out that they wanted to cancel because the agent called on the morning of the viewing to check they were still coming!)

clutton_2

in my last sales period, and after finding cheese in my swimming kit bag; stationery in the fridge and shoes in the larder i swore i would never go thru it again (EA phones PLeeeeeeeease can they come now and i have done mega fast tidy up !!!) - next time i am gonna have "Viewings on Sat 2-4pm" for MY convenience !!!!

vicker

It's a coincedence they were both cancelled. it does happen. I'm sure you'll be jollying the agent along anyway, so just keep this info in the back of your mind if you become suspicious about other things too.

rosysparkle

When I was seling my house I had several people book viewings and not turn up. One bloke made three separate appointments and didn't show up for any of them. After the third lame excuse, I told the estate agent not to bother booking another viewing with him, I'd already had to juggle other commitments and lock my kids in the cellar (this part may not be true) three times for no purpose.