Buyers!!!!

caringa

What is it with buyers? We are trying to sell a new build house and up to now the main reason for not making an offer is its location - surely they know that before they view? Anyway, today takes the biscuit. The agent had someone view that really liked the house with all its sustainable details but said that what they really wanted was an old building with character!:mad: My point is - why bother and waste everyones time and effort?!

yorkshire_terrier_owner

I know exactly what you mean - my parents are currently selling their house and I am dealing with it for them as they are OAP's and don't want to deal with the stress. We had one buyer come to view who gushed over the large garden and how wonderful it was then told the EA that it was too big!!

We are currently waiting on tender hooks as we had a couple view the house and rave about it, then told EA they wanted to think about it for a week, then came back at the weekend for second viewing and now we are back on tender hooks waiting to see if they offer or not. There's no urgency in it any more. My poor old parents are desperate to move to a flat from their large house and have found a flat they like but are waiting for an offer so they can put an offer in on the flat. Likewise, the vendors of the flat have found a house and they are also waiting for an offer so they can put their offer in.

I just find it all so frustrating - I know it's a big decision, but why do buyers in the current climate have to dither about? In my experience of buying houses, you either want to buy it or not so why mess people about?

SleeplessinScandinavia

....because people can be like that....?

I've 'been there' and its f#*k#!g annoying - I'm trying to sell my home in Sweden, and today we spent hours preparing for a viewing (scrubbing, cleaning etc) only to be told by the agent, 5 minutes before the 'viewing time' that the prospective buyer had just bought another house.:(

Not much you can do I'm afraid. From what you say though, your agent might have done more to find out exactly what type of property your 'viewer' wanted before arranging the viewing

hazyjo

Ours is a townhouse - four floors, with lounge on the first floor. Nearly every viewer has complained they don't want a first floor lounge, or that they don't like the fact it's over four floors.

READ THE BLOODY DETAILS! Grrrr. Driving me insane. What is it with people...

Jx

john_white

I've been on both sides here so have a good idea.

It's all about compromise. I was frustrated when selling our flat, feedback like, didin't like where the bathroom was ... well it's pretty clear on the plans! But, for some people they probably looked at the plan and thought well, if everything else ticks the boxes then it's a compromise we will make, but, what likely happened is there were other factors it's just easy to say the obvious.

We looked at a couple of properties that have obvious things we wouldn't like but somethimes after viewing you get a different feeling.

I really didn't want a fixer upper - we bought a fixer upper, as after viewing about 20 properties it was simply far better than anything else on the market at the time.

Ellie83

It's all about compromise. I was frustrated when selling our flat, feedback like, didin't like where the bathroom was ... well it's pretty clear on the plans! But, for some people they probably looked at the plan and thought well, if everything else ticks the boxes then it's a compromise we will make, but, what likely happened is there were other factors it's just easy to say the obvious.

My thoughts exactly as a buyer And sometimes the EAs thrust property viewings on us without our having the time to really check the particulars, especially true for buyers who have to relocate quite far away. EAs know this and try to make these types of buyers see as many properties as possible, even if it wasn't originally planned!

We looked at a couple of properties that have obvious things we wouldn't like but somethimes after viewing you get a different feeling.

That's exactly what happened to us. I swore for ages that I didn't want a windowless bathroom. But when I saw the house on RM I thought I may have to compromise as the rest was pretty much everything we wanted. And I am glad I did decide to ask for a visit: we offered the following day and our offer was accepted

I wish you good luck. I know it must be immensely frustrating as there are people who obviously view houses willy-nilly and don't realise/care the amount of prep needed to "stage" your home.

Ivana_Tinkle

We had a lot of that type of feedback when selling our last-but-one house. It was always that people liked the house, but didn't want to be on a main road, or wanted a bigger garden, or didn't like that it was ex-council - all things they already knew. In the end, we dropped the price by about 5% and all that type of feedback immediately evaporated and we had an offer within the week.

I think what people really meant was, "I wouldn't pay that much for an ex-council/a house on a busy road" or "I'd want a bigger garden for that price."

Better_Days

OP, frustrating as it is I think you have to grin and bear it.

One of your viewers may come back later having looked at other properties and decided that they like yours after all.

Feedback can be useful, but sometimes viewers pick on one seemingly obvious thing because:
1) They cant be bothered to think of anything else
2) They are too polite to say what the real issue was
3) They just didn't like the house and don't really know why (we have looked at a property that ticked all the boxes, but didn't like it, but couldn't put our finger on why)

We had a viewing booked on Saturday and the viewers didn't turn up. I was very cross to put it mildly. However they did ring the agents to let them know they were delayed, but the timing is unclear.

However, yesterday evening the viewers turned up, very apologetic indeed. They had come down from Kent for the weekend, had a few properties to look at and basically got lost. They are in their 60's, genuine people, so I let them have a look round there and then. I just couldn't face getting the house ready again for them to look at today. Told them to ignore the dishes in the sink (we had just had tea).

BTW what is wrong with the location of your property? Is it near a busy road, school, pub?

caringa

Better_Days wrote: »

OP, frustrating as it is I think you have to grin and bear it.

One of your viewers may come back later having looked at other properties and decided that they like yours after all.

Feedback can be useful, but sometimes viewers pick on one seemingly obvious thing because:
1) They cant be bothered to think of anything else
2) They are too polite to say what the real issue was
3) They just didn't like the house and don't really know why (we have looked at a property that ticked all the boxes, but didn't like it, but couldn't put our finger on why)

We had a viewing booked on Saturday and the viewers didn't turn up. I was very cross to put it mildly. However they did ring the agents to let them know they were delayed, but the timing is unclear.

However, yesterday evening the viewers turned up, very apologetic indeed. They had come down from Kent for the weekend, had a few properties to look at and basically got lost. They are in their 60's, genuine people, so I let them have a look round there and then. I just couldn't face getting the house ready again for them to look at today. Told them to ignore the dishes in the sink (we had just had tea).

BTW what is wrong with the location of your property? Is it near a busy road, school, pub?

It is situated amongst private housing, overlooks trees but is fairly near a small ex council estate which is what they dont seem to like. Apart from that, it is walking distance to a briliant school, lovely park and a variety of shops.

Soot2006

When I was buying the local estate agents were constantly talking me into viewing properties that I had ignored on their website (for not being what I wanted) ... They bigged up the parts they thought I would like, downplayed the bits I wouldn't, etc ..... In the end I bought one of those properties as it ticked most of the boxes ... so you never know!

chewmylegoff

when i was viewing agents used to take me to properties i wasn't interested in seeing - if they had 6 or 7 things in my price range they would take me around to them all in one evening. even though we said "we absolutely will not buy a flat with a combined kitchen/living room" they would still take us into them to, as they believed that we would change our minds when we saw what the flat had to offer as a whole.

so our feedback was "don't like this flat, it has a combined kitchen/living room", so it may not necessarily be the buyer's fault!