Visiting a house after offer's been accepted?

phoebe1989seb

IMHO it's a minor inconvenience that goes with the territory if you're serious about selling. Whilst personally as buyers we've always tried to do/see everything we can in just two viewings, we've had several buyers that required more and we wouldn't dream - however much it might be a pita - of denying them the chance/or of getting their backs up.

We all have busy lives, but can surely make a bit of time when hundreds of thousands of £££ are changing hands Our last buyers in 2011 came to view around five times iirc (not including the surveyor's visit) - bringing their kids to the second viewing, then parents, then a *measuring up* visit and finally to discuss the results of their survey.

That was in Essex and our EA was one that didn't do the viewings - we'd moved from Hants where EAs we'd used always did them - so were expected to accommodate the buyers ourselves. We could have refused, but to my mind that would have been discourteous.

Otoh, at the same time we were moving 200 miles and obviously couldn't keep *popping in* for extra viewings on the house we were buying - but....we did drive over with my parents one Sunday just prior to exchange (they lived more locally) intending to park up and show them the outside of our next home.

The vendors (who no longer lived there) happened to be outside. We'd never met them, having been shown over previously by their EA, but they not only welcomed us in and encouraged us to show my parents over - bit risky as it was a building site, being a half-finished project, but hey-ho - but also gave us a set of keys and invited us to start moving our stuff in once exchange had happened :eek:

getzls

I went for another visit and glad i did.
There had been no ladder to get into the roof space so as the house had been rented for a number of years i wanted to have a look.

Brought a ladder with me and looked in.
Looked in was all i could do as the roof space was bunged with left overs from the previous tenants.

Got it removed. Wonder if they got it all into one skip.

becominganobsessivesaver

Go BEFORE exchange of contracts. If there's something you notice on that third viewing you need the opportunity to change your mind, which you wouldn't have after.

moneyistooshorttomention

Another take on this is that imo there's not really very much point in having Extra Viewings anyway...might as well stick to the standard 2/3. This being down to in most places there is only a limited amount of housing up for sale at any given time. Once you've ruled out the ones you cant afford (darn it:() then there really isn't much left to look at any way. With that, you know you're going to have to take the best one there is in your price bracket and once you've viewed all contenders once and the More Likelies a second time then you've seen what there is to see and have made your decision as to which is Best Available Within Your Price Bracket.

Having decided what's the best house you can get for your money, then I don't see the point personally of visiting again (unless an Even Better House comes onto the market unexpectedly and you've gone from "decided " to "undecided" when comparing them). You'd then get a jittery seller of House No. 1 wondering if you were going to change your mind and let them down...as they would almost certainly know about the other house that had just come on the market.

I know I always kept a very good eye out for "rival" houses going up for sale nearby and had a very good idea which other houses my viewers would want to look at and would have made the connection and wondered if I were in for a let down if an extra viewing had been "requested" after a "rival house" had come on the market.

When buying my current house, the choice of ones to view boiled down to about 10, only 2 of which merited a Second View and it was pretty obvious out of this one and the other "second view" one which was the better bet (at least for me). In fact the other Main Contender house is still up for sale now, whereas I would have lost this house I now have to another viewer if I hadn't made it VERY plain that no-one else was to view after my firm offer had been accepted.

AdrianC

Definitely OK. Expected, even.

StuC75

It can also be a good way to check for anything you might have missed..

On a previous purchase is was only on a follow up visit that spotted damage to a patio door (missing the outer pane on a double glazed unit - making it single glazed essentially)..

AdrianC

StuC75 wrote: »

It can also be a good way to check for anything you might have missed..

On a previous purchase is was only on a follow up visit that spotted damage to a patio door (missing the outer pane on a double glazed unit - making it single glazed essentially)..

TBH, for me that'd be the second viewing before offer. First time to see if I liked the "feel".
Second time to look at the detail and take a LOT of photos. Then pore over those back at base.
Post-offer-acceptance viewing to measure etc.

lessonlearned

AdrianC wrote: »

TBH, for me that'd be the second viewing before offer. First time to see if I liked the "feel".
Second time to look at the detail and take a LOT of photos. Then pore over those back at base.
Post-offer-acceptance viewing to measure etc.

Some solicitors will also strongly recommend that you revisit a property immediately prior to exchange of contracts to ensure that everything is tickety boo and that the Vendor has not contravened the terms of the contract. This could mean things like rubbish removal, ensuring that the fixtures and fittings are as stated in the contract etc.

So there's 4 visits …….

phoebe1989seb

StuC75 wrote: »

It can also be a good way to check for anything you might have missed..

This.

Prior to buying our current house we had had an offer accepted on another in a different part of the county (still some 200 miles from the house we were living in/selling) and it was only by chance that we decided to do a second viewing before exchange to show the house to DS (21) who was living away from home at the time.

On arrival at the house we were surprised to see a quantity of diggers etc in the car park that separated the rear garden of the house from fields. This car park belonged to the country inn next door. We asked both the vendor and her EA (who were present at both first and second viewings) what this signified and both denied all knowledge of any building work. On our way home we called in to speak to the manager of the EA who informed us that two bungalows were being built there. He said the EA that showed us over was not aware of this!

On arriving home we checked the online planning portal and discovered two detached houses were being built behind *our* grade 2 property completely masking the view - one of our main reasons for choosing the house in the first place. We spoke on the phone to the EA who still denied these were anything other than bungalows :mad:

We pulled out of the purchase and the house took a further 18 months to sell - for a greatly reduced price - so pleased we had that second viewing

Raggie

becominganobsessivesaver wrote: »

Go BEFORE exchange of contracts..

This a 1000 times.. at contract you are committed to buy.. it could be several weeks/months before you reach the point of exchange.. go as close to this point as you can.. as this is the condition you will be purchasing the property in..


Rags