Vendor viewings - good or bad?

beth111

The house we are buying the vendor was in. We hated it! We are still buying it mind. But had there been another property that offerd the same we would have gone with the one with no vendor. once offer was accepted we would have liked to see the vendor but not before

Dan-Dan

beth111 wrote: »

The house we are buying the vendor was in. We hated it! We are still buying it mind. But had there been another property that offerd the same we would have gone with the one with no vendor. once offer was accepted we would have liked to see the vendor but not before

How bizarre

Grenage

I massively preferred viewing with vendors; they are less likely to lie, and more likely to know the answer to a question.

frugalsmurf

I find it uncomfortable with vendors (well some vendors!) But they're more likely to know info on the house /what the neighbours are like/what year the boiler was fitted etc.
Again, there are drawbacks if you get a pushy estate agent as some are sales men which is off putting.
So a mixed opinion.

zzzt

I'm a buyer. So far I have done over 25 viewings and just one of them was with the owner rather than estate agent.

It didn't make a big difference. It's slightly less personal and they are sometimes not as able to answer questions, but it would certainly not put me off buying, I guarantee that.

Whether a house is right for me or not is mostly gut feeling along with ticking of checkboxes in my head. Most of the questions I ask the estate agent is usually able to answer.

The one time I had an estate agent who knew the answers to absolutely none of the questions I had about the house still didn't put me off buying it. If it's a great house that I can imagine living in then that will be true regardless of what the estate agent does. If I really like it, I will try to find out the information I want to know by contacting the estate agent again.

If you show someone around your house yourself and are very charismatic and give a great personal touch, you are still not going to convince someone to buy your house if they weren't likely to already. It's a huge investment and people know what they're looking for.

Edit: I got this question backwards, but the point is it wouldn't make a huge difference to me either way.

Pete9501

I would really like to have the owner present during a viewing or hosting it themselves, they always say too much.

When purchasing my first house I was told the vendor had found her ideal home to move to. Later she confirmed that this house had been on the market for 10 months. Those two pieces of information meant an offer £5k less than the asking price £95k even though the EA said she wouldn't take offers. She capitulated and accepted the offer when I told the EA I was flying abroad in 48 hours take it or leave it.

This might sound slightly hard nosed, but it brought the property into my price range making it affordable.

So do your own viewings at your own risk.

Pete