Viewings...

moneyistooshorttomention

lessonlearned wrote: »

Who does the viewings, vendor or EA is down to personal choice, and differing circumstances, work, illness, small children, vendor's nervousness..... .

However, please be aware that the lovely charming, knowledgeable and clued up person who did the valuation and signed you up will not necessarily be the person who will be doing the viewings.

Many viewings are contracted out to someone who just does viewings on a casual basis. Some will have no training, experience, or knowledge. They just turn up with a key, let the viewer in and then stand around like a stuffed dummy, making no attempt to build up a rapport with the viewer and unable to answer the simplest question.

In fact my EA has just asked me if I wanted to work for them doing exactly that. I said Thanks but no thanks. I'm far too busy:D:D.

The point is these casual staff will know nothing about your property other than what they have gleaned from the schedule of particulars they have just skimmed through. They will also be pushed for time, having several appts booked.


Avoid suitcases etc on top of the wardrobe or stuff on top of kitchen cupboards. They are red flags, signalling that there is not enough storage space.

I wasnt aware that viewings were contracted-out by some estate agents - now feeling all the better I have picked a small independent estate agent where I have met the staff (all 3 of them) and I must admit to being somewhat amused that what struck me already as a "professional" type outfit duly picked up a comment from one of their customers (ie myself) about a local "council" factor that influences the potential use of some of the houses round here and it's up there in the details of a property they have put on the market since meeting me/getting that comment about how the Council operate:D. So - I'm glad to see they are open to suggestions and still working on being better:T

Re stuff that makes houses look too small (errr...could be translated as "shows up that they are too small":cool:) - I have noted my own thoughts about stuff up on top of kitchen cupboards of "That kitchen is too small for them - so will certainly be too small for a keen cook like me" and duly hidden away everything I had up top of cupboards already (food and kitchen equipment in sitting room cupboards anyone?:cool:). Part of me wants to leave out all my dried pulses/grains/etc (ie signs of aware/thoughtful/healthy eater) on the work surfaces where they belong in a kitchen according to My Taste/lifestyle - but...yep...they'll be hidden (though I'm darned if I know where actually......).

The suitcases are inside the wardrobe (one of the plus points of my house is there is loads of storage space in it - errrm...even though its still too small for me personally....). The "too small for me" boils down to standard size kitchen (I need a decent size one or utility room top-up)/no garage/no conservatory/too small a sitting room/no garden (tiny back yard instead). I'm not sure whether to derive hope or no from having my tiny kitchen 10' x 11') described as "standard" size and all those house sale programmes where they gasp with astonishment at a small garden and describe it as "large" or even "very large". I've not yet worked out why pocket handkerchief gardens are always described as large by these property professionals - cynics' take answers on a postcard re that.

moneyistooshorttomention

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

We found that whilst there are definitely advantages in showing potential buyers around yourself, mainly due to your own wealth of knowledge about your own house, sometimes an agent can come in useful.......I could have really done with the agent doing the viewing when I had to single-handedly show a convicted killer around our former house :eek:

Now I just have to be nosey and ask at what point you realised your viewer was ******. Had you seen his photo in the papers and recognised him when he turned up and thought "Damned if I do and damned if I dont" as regards whether to continue with the viewing appointment?

Also curious as to what excuse you made not to sell the house to him - if he decided he wanted it that is?

DRP

Having read a lot of the preferences on this thread for DIY viewings (ie. without the EA), I think it will probably come down to demographics of the area in question...

ie. Both members of my household work full-time and I currently live and am looking to buy in a city-central area where a big proportion of the population are similar - hence every EA in my area (in my experience) carries out basically every viewing.

There isn't a debate to be had as it simply isn't possible to do it ourselves (even if we wanted to - which we don't! ).

googler

lessonlearned wrote: »

Who does the viewings, vendor or EA is down to personal choice, and differing circumstances, work, illness, small children, vendor's nervousness..... .

However, please be aware that the lovely charming, knowledgeable and clued up person who did the valuation and signed you up will not necessarily be the person who will be doing the viewings.

Many viewings are contracted out to someone who just does viewings on a casual basis. Some will have no training, experience, or knowledge. They just turn up with a key, let the viewer in and then stand around like a stuffed dummy, making no attempt to build up a rapport with the viewer and unable to answer the simplest question.

DRP wrote: »

Most vendors wills be at work 9-5 and imo EAs need to be earning that 1% !!

BertieUK wrote: »

Sometimes the EA apologised .... as they were so busy they could not cover the viewing and asked if she could cover for them, of which she did but was not pleased at stumping up the high percentage rate called commission. This time we will be trying for 1%

The OFT determined a few years back that the average EA commission in E&W was 1.6%; am I the only one who sees a connection between sellers angling for lower and lower fees (with the two quoted above seeing 2/3rds of the national average as the norm for them), and some EAs farming viewing work out to those who'll work for less?

In the USA, realtors earn their crust by doing all the viewings themselves, and as buyer's agents, by networking to the Nth degree, and by a variety of other techniques. They wouldn't dream of working for 1% of a sale - 6% is accepted as the norm over there.

DRP

googler wrote: »

But, by the same token, aren't there many instances up and down the country where the valuer/agent is the one who handles viewings?

yes definitely. My EA always told me who was carrying out the viewings and it was one of 4 people (on was the valuer, one the manager and the other 2 were full time staff who i met on several occasions).

The agency across the road (the 'spivvy' agency) has a manager and a PA plus about 8 YTS lads who did 99% of the viewings...they tried , but...

DRP

googler wrote: »

The OFT determined a few years back that the average EA commission in E&W was 1.6%; am I the only one who sees a connection between sellers angling for lower and lower fees, and some EAs farming viewing work out to those who'll work for less?

probably, but certainly not always in my experience (see my post
above comparing 2 agents who offered us exactly the same fees:1%).

I think the % fee is highly related to the local market - our area is seen as very popular hence competition and low fees.

DRP

oops

deleted

JimmyTheWig

What are people's thoughts on untidy floors in children's bedrooms? Our eldest is 9 and his beroom floor is always full of his Playmobil. The games he plays with it go on for days, so tidying it up would mean messing up the game.
But it is a total, total mess.

Do you think it would be acceptable to leave it like that for a viewing? It would be the only room like that in a 5-bed house.

HariboJunkie

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

What are people's thoughts on untidy floors in children's bedrooms? Our eldest is 9 and his beroom floor is always full of his Playmobil. The games he plays with it go on for days, so tidying it up would mean messing up the game.
But it is a total, total mess.

Do you think it would be acceptable to leave it like that for a viewing? It would be the only room like that in a 5-bed house.

Could you get a large under bed storage box that he could set up the playmobil games in and then when you have a viewing it could be rolled under the bed but his game would be intact?

As a mother I would probably understand the floor of a nine year old's room being messy but others may be put off by it.

Better_Days

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

What are people's thoughts on untidy floors in children's bedrooms? Our eldest is 9 and his beroom floor is always full of his Playmobil. The games he plays with it go on for days, so tidying it up would mean messing up the game.
But it is a total, total mess.

Do you think it would be acceptable to leave it like that for a viewing? It would be the only room like that in a 5-bed house.

I would tidy it up because:
1) You don't want viewers to hurt themselves if they trip over something they are trying to navigate around on the floor
2) You don't want viewers to inadvertantly step on one of your son's treasured playmobil pieces
3) The room will look bigger and it will be easier for viewers to imagine it with their things in without Playmobil all over the floor

GL with your sale.