Etiquette for dealing with multiple buyers at same time?

movilogo

I have buyers booked back to back viewing my house.

How do deal with when viewer #2 arrives and viewer #1 not yet finished?

Do you ask #2 to wait outside or simply allow #1 & #2 side by side?

Annie1960

The best option would be to get your estate agent to conduct the viewings. However, if you wish to do these yourself, I have been on a number of open days, and there have been other potential buyers viewing at the same time.

racing_blue

If they are back to back they may not notice each other. Don't let one of them turn round though

nubbins

Let them in, won't do any harm knowing there are other buyers interested.

jbainbridge

When you say back to back - how long are you allowing? I doubt most first viewings are more than 10-15mins.

In any case there's probably no harm in allowing them to bump into each other - shows that there's competition!!

Jhoney_2

How long are you allowing for each viewing? If you do 1/2- 1 hour slots, that should allow for people running a bit late or the viewing running a little longer? Anyone not fitting that, should be warmly encouraged to book a second viewing!

movilogo

I am using online EA so have to conduct viewings myself.

I am keeping at least one hour gap between viewings but people don't follow the clock anymore Sometimes people don't turn up at all or come at completely wrong time!

I am trying to accommodate buyers as much as possible.

Jhoney_2

Yes, I will be doing my own viewings in the future too and would like to be accommodating, but if I were on a confirmed viewing slot I would be a bit peeved if the vendor then kept darting off to speak with other buyers. Otherwise it should be advertised as an open day or block viewings.

I would also want to get/give a sense of the space and that would be difficult with others milling about.

davidmcn

I've attended some very crowded open viewings (commonplace in Edinburgh), so two viewers at once is hardly a problem. I would just let them all in, they're not going to need your undivided attention to look around the house.

moneyistooshorttomention

If you've got a husband/wife then you could get them to show the viewer the garden and/or chat outside to them re the neighbourhood whilst you show them round the house.

Some buyers don't like other viewers looking at the same time. Somebody leapt in and piggybacked with MY viewing one time and I'm surprised neither they nor the vendor seemed to have the slightest awareness that I was glaring at them both for being so rude and taking over what was meant to be MY viewing.

When I sold my last house my EA said that they would take any opportunity to have one viewer walking out, as another one walked in - in order to encourage them both into thinking there was competition for the house BUT they didn't intend/wouldn't have been allowed to have two viewers in at the same time. After all there was the practical viewpoint of one EA with one pair of eyes couldn't keep an eye on two viewers at once and make sure there was no damage or theft going on. If anything had gone amiss, I would have wanted to know just who to chase to compensate me.

phoebe1989seb

When we were selling my parents' house in 2012 our EA deliberately arranged back-to-back viewings to encourage competition as one buyer saw another leaving the house and the result was a handful of offers

Don't underestimate how long a potential buyer will need to look around fully. We found when we sold our last house in 2014 that even first viewings could take an hour. Our EA did some, then - due to the EA office being short-staffed - we did a few ourselves and the shortest in either case was 45 minutes......the lady that purchased was actually there for 1 1/2 hours for hers!