Diary of a House Search

phoebe1989seb

lessonlearned wrote: »

How the devil do you arrive at that conclusion.....

The one hour notice could also mean the purchaser is only in your area today and has just spotted your property in the EA's window.

Honestly Money you are cutting off your nose to spite your face. .

Unless you treat your home like a pig sty then 1 hours notice is more than enough for a quick whizz round. A simple "sorry the place is a little untidy you caught me on the hop" is all that is needed.

You don't need to make a Hollywood production out of it.

A viewer who only gives a short notice would not expect your house to be pristine. They would just be happy to have the opportunity to view.

Bend a little.

Just had a lovely chat with the surveyor who will be doing my building survey tomorrow. He knew the EA wouldn't allow me access so he rang me for my thoughts and further instructions, ie anything that might be an area of concern, was there anything I wanted him to pay particular attention to.

He also told me to disregard the standard letter of terms that says allow 10 days for the report. He promised me he would turn it round far quicker than that.

Nice to see there are still people giving good service, using their initiative, taking the time to make a phone call to get proper instructions, delivering more satisfactory time scales, promising to call me if he found any "show-stoppers".

Fingers crossed he doesn't.

Anyway it's good to see he is on the ball.

Money - it does seem as though you're not giving some potential buyers the benefit of the doubt just because they don't fit with your picture of the *ideal* buyer. A family we used to know had their large Edwardian detached house on the market as they were hoping to downsize to a smaller house in another town after their kids went to uni. It was the kind of house that would require more than a quick whiz round with a vacuum/duster before a viewing to get things ship-shape.

One morning they were sitting at the breakfast table when they got a call from the EA marketing their house, saying there was a couple that wanted to view it, only issue being the couple (down from London for that day only) were standing outside the house and wanted to view straight away. They were keen (but definitely not desperate) to sell, so they agreed to the viewing and whilst the couple didn't make an offer, it would have been just plain crazy (IMHO) to pass up the chance of a sale........

Lesson - does sound as though you've picked a good surveyor there - not like the rubbish (esurv) one our buyers had on our last house sale - he couldn't even identify a Tudor-built property, LOL!

When we were buying our first house there was a really good *old school* type surveyor my dad recommended - his name was Robert Mitchum (known as Bob ) - and he was a mine of useful information to novices like DH and I. He was happy for us (and my dad) to accompany him on the survey and share his knowledge as he went round the property.

Hope the survey tomorrow doesn't throw up too many nasties!

moneyistooshorttomention

If someone is just in the area for the day only, then a viewing could be made available at much shorter notice than normal (and they would have to take their chances that the bed would be unmade/loads of dishes waiting to be done/etc). My EA themselves works on the standard basis of automatically offering a viewing the following day when they get a request for one - but would fit one in sooner if it was a person from another area on a just a few hours trip to my area. I would just feel put out if it was someone from my own area who had just taken a fancy to coming round right away - as they could come anytime rather than not giving a darn about the other person involved. The EA themselves has stated that someone "just standing outside" would need to book an appointment and I would imagine they would provide one an hour or two (as happened recently) later and that would give me time to at least make sure the bed was made and take myself off out (fortunately too this is a part of the country where its very much the norm that the vendor isnt present - as could soon be explained by the EA).

Anyways - re adapting - a particular viewer seemed a very possible buyer to me before she came round in the first place and she has now been back for a second view with the EA and.....she has one heck of a lot of ideas as to what she might do to the house by the sound of comments relayed back by my EA. I don't think the house would know what had hit it (well the neighbours certainly wouldnt that's for sure...) if she buys it. The house will look a very different creature indeed if she gets it - and she has the money to absolutely rip it apart if she wants to. Never mind do a bit of work - more like a total redesign by the sound of it. EA is obviously thoroughly enjoying himself and....I have a distinct feeling such huge ideas as she has would involve a third viewing:eek: and an architect around. But I wouldnt anticipate any "negotiations" about paying the asking price okay:) and it sounds like she's itching for a project to get her hands on. So - if I have to allow a third viewing in those circumstances (ie major revamp - rather than just "third viewing" to spot ordinary "bits and bobs" that should have been checked for in the second viewing) then I could understand that. So I do "bend" if there is a genuine reason for it - rather than just someone saying "I'm a buyer...its a buyers market...I want you to jump SO high...."just because they think they can....

I'm fine about reasonable/logical requests.

nakiwala123

The house we are currently buying was one that we viewed bse we were in the area. We live 40miles away and for us to arrange a viewing for another time would have involved an 80mile round trip. We were walking off a heavy lunch near inlaws area when we spotted the for sale sign being erected. Vendor spoke to EA 1st on phone and they confirmed that they knew us and that we were 'keen' buyers searching in the area.

We viewed 1hr later and made an offer later that day. Negotiations went on for 7 days andwe are pleased with our purchase. Mind you we paid 12k over our budget but we did not want the planned open day the coming weekend to go ahead!!! We wanted it off the market immediately. All the works that we wanted to do on a project had already been done to our taste so hopefully we shall just have to move in and enjoy.

Almo

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

If someone is just in the area for the day only, then a viewing could be made available at much shorter notice than normal (and they would have to take their chances that the bed would be unmade/loads of dishes waiting to be done/etc). My EA themselves works on the standard basis of automatically offering a viewing the following day when they get a request for one - but would fit one in sooner if it was a person from another area on a just a few hours trip to my area. I would just feel put out if it was someone from my own area who had just taken a fancy to coming round right away - as they could come anytime rather than not giving a darn about the other person involved. The EA themselves has stated that someone "just standing outside" would need to book an appointment and I would imagine they would provide one an hour or two (as happened recently) later and that would give me time to at least make sure the bed was made and take myself off out (fortunately too this is a part of the country where its very much the norm that the vendor isnt present - as could soon be explained by the EA).

Anyways - re adapting - a particular viewer seemed a very possible buyer to me before she came round in the first place and she has now been back for a second view with the EA and.....she has one heck of a lot of ideas as to what she might do to the house by the sound of comments relayed back by my EA. I don't think the house would know what had hit it (well the neighbours certainly wouldnt that's for sure...) if she buys it. The house will look a very different creature indeed if she gets it - and she has the money to absolutely rip it apart if she wants to. Never mind do a bit of work - more like a total redesign by the sound of it. EA is obviously thoroughly enjoying himself and....I have a distinct feeling such huge ideas as she has would involve a third viewing:eek: and an architect around. But I wouldnt anticipate any "negotiations" about paying the asking price okay:) and it sounds like she's itching for a project to get her hands on. So - if I have to allow a third viewing in those circumstances (ie major revamp - rather than just "third viewing" to spot ordinary "bits and bobs" that should have been checked for in the second viewing) then I could understand that. So I do "bend" if there is a genuine reason for it - rather than just someone saying "I'm a buyer...its a buyers market...I want you to jump SO high...."just because they think they can....

I'm fine about reasonable/logical requests.

Is spending a couple of hundred thousand pounds not enough of a reason? While I wouldn't plan on a third viewing normally, if I felt I needed one and the seller turned me down because they deemed my reason insufficient I would certainly reconsider the sale. If I really wanted the house I'd certainly reconsider my offer. You see, I would conclude that the seller had something to hide and was worried I would spot it on the third viewing.

lessonlearned

nakiwala123 wrote: »

The house we are currently buying was one that we viewed bse we were in the area. We live 40miles away and for us to arrange a viewing for another time would have involved an 80mile round trip. We were walking off a heavy lunch near inlaws area when we spotted the for sale sign being erected. Vendor spoke to EA 1st on phone and they confirmed that they knew us and that we were 'keen' buyers searching in the area.

We viewed 1hr later and made an offer later that day. Negotiations went on for 7 days andwe are pleased with our purchase. Mind you we paid 12k over our budget but we did not want the planned open day the coming weekend to go ahead!!! We wanted it off the market immediately. All the works that we wanted to do on a project had already been done to our taste so hopefully we shall just have to move in and enjoy.

Fab story. Sounds like it had your name on it.

If it's really what you want then going over budget is not a bad thing. If it had gone to open day you might have faced stiff competition.

Hope all goes well.

lessonlearned

Almo wrote: »

Is spending a couple of hundred thousand pounds not enough of a reason? While I wouldn't plan on a third viewing normally, if I felt I needed one and the seller turned me down because they deemed my reason insufficient I would certainly reconsider the sale. If I really wanted the house I'd certainly reconsider my offer. You see, I would conclude that the seller had something to hide and was worried I would spot it on the third viewing.

£200,000 good reasons:rotfl:

And yes, you are right, a vendor who refused viewings and was generally un-co-operative should set alarm bells ringing.

sinbad182

lessonlearned wrote: »

£200,000 good reasons:rotfl:

And yes, you are right, a vendor who refused viewings and was generally un-co-operative should set alarm bells ringing.

Pretty much sums up why Moneyistooshort hasn't come close to selling or getting an offer on their house yet

Better_Days

[QUOTE=moneyistooshorttomention;60747493 So - if I have to allow a third viewing in those circumstances (ie major revamp - rather than just "third viewing" to spot ordinary "bits and bobs" that should have been checked for in the second viewing) then I could understand that. So I do "bend" if there is a genuine reason for it - rather than just someone saying "I'm a buyer...its a buyers market...I want you to jump SO high...."just because they think they can....

I'm fine about reasonable/logical requests.[/QUOTE]

I would have allowed our buyer 5 viewings if they requested it. They were spending in the region of a quarter of a million pounds and in doing so allowing us to move on towards a property more suitable to our needs. It would have been inconvenient, especially as my health is poor, but in the long run it would have been well worth it.

As it was they only asked for a second viewing just before exchange. Totally reasonable especially as they had only seen the property once before in the pouring rain 3 months earlier in the autumn!

I would take a request for a third viewing as a positive thing, I can't see that a timewaster is going to look round a property 3 times. Much more likely to be on to other properties to 'browse' around (although I wouldn't be that mean - it takes a lot of effort to get a property ready for a viewing - one lone male vendor even kindly lit a joss stick in an effort to hide the cigarette smoke - he would have better spent the time cleaning the downstairs loo :eek: - oh dear, I'm rambling - it must be catching!)

jibbyboo

I viewed the property I'm purchasing 3x before putting in an offer. I wouldn't have put an offer in had I only seen it twice actually, as I had a different purpose on each visit.

Albeit my vendor hasn't lived in the property for months.

nakiwala123

nakiwala123 wrote: »

The house we are currently buying was one that we viewed bse we were in the area. We live 40miles away and for us to arrange a viewing for another time would have involved an 80mile round trip. We were walking off a heavy lunch near inlaws area when we spotted the for sale sign being erected. Vendor spoke to EA 1st on phone and they confirmed that they knew us and that we were 'keen' buyers searching in the area.

We viewed 1hr later and made an offer later that day. Negotiations went on for 7 days andwe are pleased with our purchase. Mind you we paid 12k over our budget but we did not want the planned open day the coming weekend to go ahead!!! We wanted it off the market immediately. All the works that we wanted to do on a project had already been done to our taste so hopefully we shall just have to move in and enjoy.

Moral of the story is that you never know whether the buyers who requested a viewing in 1 hour have been looking for a property just like yours and that they get rather too excited and pay over the odds (like in our budget went the window once we viewed this house) for your house. And if they don't offer then atleast it has given you an indication on whether you can quickly prepare for future short-notice viewings (or not).