Viewings...

lessonlearned

Again Dafty is spot on.

I't's all about your mindset, your attitude and what people think they hear when you say the things you come out with. I don't think you understand just how judgemental and harsh you sound.

You seem to show nothing but contempt for buyers. I realise you may not of course, but this is coming through your posts. How do you think they are going to respond.

Dafty's question about chucking in the curtains is valid. Flexibility is key. You would upset a purchaser over a stupid pair of curtains,?? Are they made out of spun angels breath and stitched with gold thread. Buy another pair.

In my career I have dealt with many vendors who seem to think their property is immune to the fluctuations of the market.

"Oh my house will sell no problem". Ha!!

Money - are you seriously proposing to relocate to another area and buy "blind". Are you mad. :rotfl:

Rent first and get the feel of the place.

lessonlearned

HariboJunkie wrote: »

:rotfl: I'll see this and raise it .... Sold and moved to rental property with 6 month old twins then moved to current home when they were 9 months _pale_. All while my husband was working. The removal men were lovely though and refused to leave before building the cots for me.

You win.:T:T

JimmyTheWig

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

No chance of throwing anything anywhere much in a laundry basket to get it out of the way. No garage/shed/conservatory/utility room in this place. Its too small a house (from my pov) to have anywhere spare to stash things out of the way. Its full of my stuff already - hence part of the move is to get a bit bigger house.

When we sold our last house we used to put stuff in the car before a viewing.
[Was rather embarrising when one couple turned up a few minutes early and I was out the front stuffing the hoover into the car!]

hazyjo

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

When we sold our last house we used to put stuff in the car before a viewing.
[Was rather embarrising when one couple turned up a few minutes early and I was out the front stuffing the hoover into the car!]

I've hidden stuff in the dishwasher and oven before. Somewhat mortified when someone wanted a look once

Jx

Better_Days

HariboJunkie wrote: »

Dips toe tentatively into this board.
Another point is that I would be suspicious of viewing a house that was occupied if the person that occupied it has instructed an EA to do viewings in her place. The only places I have viewed with and EA are those which are unnoccupied at the time.

Just to point out there is sometimes a good reason for the EA doing the viewings. In my case it has been because:
1) After a considerable amount of work I found an excellent EA who was much better at doing a viewing than I would have been - pointing out the positive points of the property and where it could be flexible.
2) I have a chronic illness and find it hard to stand or walk for longer than a couple of minutes at best. A viewing taking say 30-45 minutes would be very difficult indeed. I certainly didn't want to rush viewers because they could see I was exhausted and in pain

The strategy has, I hope, worked. We are close to exchange with a good offer, and the buyers haven't even asked for a second viewing.

GL with your sale. In my experience presentation is very important. I think it was googler who commented something to the effect that if an item doesn't contribute to the attractiveness of the property, then put it away for viewings. Dish drainers and the like are functional but not things of beauty. Best to hide them away. I stuffed so much in my wardrobe I was worried that the door would pop open with the pressure during viewings, but luckily it never happened. One of the cats did deposit a dead bird in one of the bedrooms though

DRP

HariboJunkie wrote: »

snip//

Another point is that I would be suspicious of viewing a house that was occupied if the person that occupied it has instructed an EA to do viewings in her place. The only places I have viewed with and EA are those which are unnoccupied at the time.

//snip

It is *very* unusual for vendors to carry out viewings in my experience of this area (Bristol & South Wales). In fact I have never had a viewing exclusively with the vendor and less than a handful where the vendor is even present.

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

Davesnave

lessonlearned wrote: »

Rent first and get the feel of the place.

Especially when, socially speaking, the place isn't like where you live now, and where prices are lower for a reason.

Frankly, when I heard where you planned to go without first renting and getting to know the various locales, it scared me. I visited and stayed there too in the winter months over a period of three years. Only then did I begin to think that I had a rough knowledge of which places to avoid.

Had I not grabbed this Devon property at the last minute, (by being in rented and able to move fast as a cash buyer) I would have been renting for maybe a year or more in that region, just to complete my 'education.'

I would not have made a financial commitment to stay until I was sure, especially with prices still moving downwards there.

BertieUK

DRP wrote: »

It is *very* unusual for vendors to carry out viewings in my experience of this area (Bristol & South Wales). In fact I have never had a viewing exclusively with the vendor and less than a handful where the vendor is even present.

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

We will be putting our property onto the market within the next few weeks and my wife is looking forward to being there when the viewings takes place, and has intimated that she would prefer to conduct them herself if that could be arranged.

I am not so sure if that is the best idea but she in judging what happened on the sale of our last property four years ago, whereby the EA staff sometimes did not meet the standard of viewing that she expected, sometimes hardly contributing very much information and sometimes hardly any at all. I said to my wife well perhaps the EA staff felt intimidated at her presence.

Sometimes the EA apologised by saying that they had an interested party that wanted to view but 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%

We can only judge on experience and comment likewise.

Davesnave

Better_Days wrote: »

One of the cats did deposit a dead bird in one of the bedrooms though

We came across a huge crow flapping around, breathing its last and blocking the drive to a property we went to view.

I don't really believe in omens, but it wasn't a great start!

The house was on the market for some years after that. While the crow was a bit upsetting, it was nothing compared with the vendors two surly teenage children. :eek:

lessonlearned

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.

This is why the vendor can often be the best person to do the viewings.

The vendor has a vested interest, can answer questions, more to the point can ask questions, can volunteer information, can build up a good rapport with the viewer. There are a lot of advantages to diy viewings.

Love some of the hiding places for "stuff". :rotfl: And yes I've done most of them.

A lack of garage or shed need not be a problem. Car, oven, washing machine, airing cupboard, wardrobes. - they're all fair game - as long as they can't be seen.

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.