Vendor quibbling over second viewing

moneysavingvixen

Offer made and accepted on house. Have started legal and mortgage application process (DIP already received prior to offer). Asked for second viewing of 60 minutes prior to survey (to allow us to make list of things we'd like surveyor to focus on, look at things in more detail, etc.).

Vendor is saying 30 minutes max for second viewing.

This rings alarm bells for me. Any thoughts appreciated!

Thank you.
msv

m_13

I don't think your surveyor will thank you for an hour's worth of notes. When they ask for areas to concentrate on they mean mentioning that you've seen a damp patch or that the electrics seem odd.

Personally I think a 60 minute viewing is far too long. It's their home and if it's a three bedroom house with two receptions then you're average 10 minutes a room. What on earth are you going to be doing bearing in mind you can't take up flooring or move furniture?

moneysavingvixen

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry for not making it clear - the 60 minutes is not just for making notes on survey; this will be part of it, but it's also to measure up, plan garden, get closer look at house, etc.

cte1111

I don't think I've ever specified a length of time for a viewing, either as a buyer or a seller. An hour seems like a long time, but as a seller I'd probably put up with it in order not to upset a buyer.

Is it the vendor themself doing the viewing?

moneysavingvixen

Thanks for your reply.

No, the vendor is not doing the viewing themselves.

duchy

I'd refuse an hour too on the grounds if you are serious about the sale you know what you want and measuring up etc would be twenty minutes max. Use the extra ten minuites to take photographs of the garden if you really must and do your planning at home.

moneysavingvixen

Thanks for your reply too.

I suppose what I'm really getting at is if the vendor is unwilling to negotiate on something pretty insignificant in the scheme of things (30 minutes), should it worry me for trickier problems down the line?

I should add she wouldn't be in the house during the viewing either.

moneyistooshorttomention

You may have "queered the pitch" a bit by making an offer on the house before a second viewing and then compounded it by saying how long the 2nd viewing would be and that you would be checking things out from surveyors viewpoint.

Personally, on both houses I bought now, I didn't make an offer until after my 2nd viewing. I also didn't indicate how long the 2nd viewing would last or that it was being made with the surveyor in mind.

At my 2nd viewing on current house, I turned up ready to give the house a thorough "once over" myself and duly did so and quite probably took more than an hour in the process.

I didn't put an offer in until after I had done that.

Looks like a little bit of backtracking and saying just how much you like the house might be necessary in order to get that 2nd viewing (ie because you come over as not actually needing it...considering that you've put in an offer anyway).

moneysavingvixen

Thanks - that's a great reply.

I haven't said anything about the reasons for the length of the second viewing, but I can see exactly what you mean.

BeansOnToast_2

Our second viewing was after we'd had our offer accepted. It took far longer than we'd expected because the vendors insisted on a sit-down tea and biscuits!

I think they wanted to sound us out, because they'd already pulled out of a previous sale because the original buyers took too long.

TheWife_2

Our buyer offered after his first viewing (30 minutes), then a week later demanded a second viewing where he measured, planned, demanded to know where plug sockets were, opened every window and cupboard (2.5 hours), followed by a third viewing with a builder to price adding an en-suite (1.5 hours) and a fourth viewing with a second builder (1 hour).

We've bought and sold many houses now and we only agreed to all of this (which was a complete pain) because we were buying a new build and needed a quick exchange, with a 6 week wait to completion.

I agree with reiterating how much you like the property and just want to be thorough in your preparation and planning. Hope it all works out.