Performing viewings yourself - any tips?

timmyt

Don't do your own viewings. Use a HIgh STreet Agent. They pay their way by squeezing a Buyer for more than you could negotiate and they keep the move going by chasing, they vet the strangers coming to your door, and they have local knowledge.

Big mistake not to use a High Street Agent, as you could miss out on thousands more.

Tinkaf1

googler wrote: »

Oh, dear.... worst nightmare.

Just what every seller needs; the viewers' uncontrolled children running around their house, opening/shutting/slamming cupboard and wardrobe doors, jumping up and down on the radiators (and separating them from the walls), and using the toilet unannounced and uninvited...........

Are the children the decision makers, the ones spending the money on the house? No. Since they're not, they shouldn't be there. They'll go where their parents go.

Do you have children? I am guessing no... most children have some basic manners, especially in a new environment.

Like I said in my post, our house was EMPTY, but I would always be accomodating regarding family even if it hadn't been. The only thing I would have done differently is that I wouldn't have left them alone in the house if all my valuables had been in there.
Their children were about 6 and 4 and were very well behaved, walking around holding their parents hands. I mean "jumping up and down on the radiators" what children have you come into contact with... do they have asbo's?

I live 200 miles away from extended members of my family, when I view a house my three children (11, 9 and 4) will come with me if the viewing is outside school times, and when I do a second viewing I will take them if they missed the first one. It isn't about giving them the decision, it is about sharing the excitement of seeing their potential new home.

Are you suggesting that you would refuse to accomodate viewers who turned up with children? No, of course not. You would be crazy to. When you organise a viewing of your property you never actually know how many people will turn up do you, so why not be accomodating from the start? Worked well for us. The children were also "picking their rooms" which made the parents laugh, pester power and all that. Parents generally like to see that if they like it they hope their children do too, so why not welcome them with open arms?

googler

Tinkaf1 wrote: »

I mean "jumping up and down on the radiators" what children have you come into contact with... do they have asbo's?

I'm quoting that directly from another thread on this forum where someone asked about the wisdom of open viewings, where viewers may be on their own in the house. Someone responded to the OP and related how a viewer's child climbed on the radiator to see the view from the window, and the radiator came away from the wall.

I heard tell of another instance where someone took their children on a viewing, and in an unguarded moment, one of the children went to climb on one of the radiator valves and had to be shouted at by the seller, because the viewing parents hadn't noticed what they were about to do.

The incidence of a child using the toilet uninvited and unannounced was from my own personal experience.

I'm sure these children didn't have ASBOs, but the combination of being in a different house, one in which they have to explore everything, one in which they haven't previously been told if anything in the house is off-limits to them, and lack of supervision/control by their parents can lead to situations like the above.

googler

Tinkaf1 wrote: »

Do you have children? ....

Their children were about 6 and 4 and were very well behaved, walking around holding their parents hands.

No I don't.

Dare I suggest that these children were the exception rather than the rule? It's all very well for you to opine that you want your children to 'share the excitement' of the viewing, it's quite another when as a seller, your prime focus becomes control of the viewer's children, rather than promoting your property to the adults of the group.....

The children aren't the decision-makers. By all means bring them along once you've decided to buy the house, and let them choose their rooms then, but this shouldn't be part of a first viewing, when you're looking at the house speculatively, and haven''t committed to it.

They're not holding the purse strings. You are, and they will go where you go.

daisymay2008

timmyt wrote: »

Don't do your own viewings. Use a HIgh STreet Agent. They pay their way by squeezing a Buyer for more than you could negotiate and they keep the move going by chasing, they vet the strangers coming to your door, and they have local knowledge.

Big mistake not to use a High Street Agent, as you could miss out on thousands more.

have to disagee there, we used a high street agent and they were pretty good but doing the actual viewings I think I was much better than the agent could ever have been...

after all i've lived in my house for 5 years so I know everything about the house and the local area so know exactly what I was talking about and would know the the answer to any questions immediately where as the agent maybe not

CheeseCat

timmyt wrote: »

Don't do your own viewings. Use a HIgh STreet Agent. They pay their way by squeezing a Buyer for more than you could negotiate and they keep the move going by chasing, they vet the strangers coming to your door, and they have local knowledge.

Big mistake not to use a High Street Agent, as you could miss out on thousands more.

Are you kidding? :think:

I was shown around the house I am currently buying by a 'high street agent' who didn't know anything about the area or the property and couldn't answer any of my questions with much certainty. I wished the seller had shown me round to save me badgering the EA to pass on queries and then I had to pester them for a response.

They didnt 'squeeze' my offer or try and negotiate, in fact they couldn't even be bothered to respond to me half the time never mind chase me. I do wonder what EA's get paid for really.

I much preferred the viewings I had with the actual vendor - they could give alot more information and as long as they left us to have a look around and talk without following us, it was alot better overall (one couple insisted on boring us with information long after I decided I wasn't interested - but she was blocking the door so I couldn't try to leave :rotfl: )

tyler80

I've yet to have an estate agent show me round a house unless the owner was dead, so bear in mind that you still might do viewings even if you went with an estate agent.

I don't really think there's any art to doing viewings, a good performance isn't going to sell a house on it's own. I'd ask potential viewers if they'd prefer to be accompanied or look round on their own but I don't think you need to give any sort of spiel. Lets face it, 90% of what the agents say is crap, emphasizing how fabulous the mature garden is as you're wading through the undergrowth!

Doing your own viewings also means you're unlikely to !!!! viewers off before they've looked by turning up late or forgetting the keys.

Tinkaf1

googler wrote: »

No I don't.

Dare I suggest that these children were the exception rather than the rule? It's all very well for you to opine that you want your children to 'share the excitement' of the viewing, it's quite another when as a seller, your prime focus becomes control of the viewer's children, rather than promoting your property to the adults of the group.....

The children aren't the decision-makers. By all means bring them along once you've decided to buy the house, and let them choose their rooms then, but this shouldn't be part of a first viewing, when you're looking at the house speculatively, and haven''t committed to it.

They're not holding the purse strings. You are, and they will go where you go.

And what do you propose to do with them when they are little and the vendor can only do weekend viewings? Leave them in the car with the window down a bit? LOL!!!!

They are not the exception to the rule where I am from. My children are well behaved, the viewers children were well behaved, no child in my extended family would behave like that either! Some children maybe a little louder than others, but I have NEVER come across children that would run round a house, opening cupboards and bouncing on radiators like you describe!! And what if you had a viewer who came and their child DID behave like a cat 1 fruit loop? You simply open your mouth and say "Excuse me, could I ask that you hold onto your little one please, we are worried something might get broken" Not too difficult I don't think.
If I turned up to view a house and the vendor answered the door and said "sorry, no kids" I would walk away.

stormCat99

We used to make sure we showed them downstairs first, so we could leave them upstairs at the end, and let them look around on their own.

I know some people would say you shouldn't leave them alone in your house - and I do agree with this thought in a way - but ultimately, we decided we had to trust that 99% of human beings are decent people and wouldn't steal anything. The alternative was to escort them around the whole time, and I know from when we've been to viewings like that, you don't really feel you can look at things properly when that happens.

Riq

I've viewed the house I am buying twice, the guy who "showed" us round just opened the door and let me get on with it.

I liked him.

If I had any questions I just went back downstairs were he was just hanging round.