Contact with buyer

sultanabran

What's the consensus on communicating with the buyer of your house outside of solicitors?

I was thinking of giving my buyer my mobile number in case they had any questions, to communicate if any issues came up or even something simple like they wanted the dimensions of windows or something.

Is it generally best to avoid this and keep it "business like" and only communicate via the solicitors?

I can see it being an issue if something bad came up (not that I think there will be something bad come up), especially post-completion. But I can also see potential benefits.

da_rule

Personally I'd keep it between the solicitors and estate agents. Not so worried about stuff during the transaction, but it's more about after. Take the post about the 'faulty' oil tank as an example, I wouldn't want those buyers to have my mobile number.

sultanabran

da_rule wrote: »

Personally I'd keep it between the solicitors and estate agents. Not so worried about stuff during the transaction, but it's more about after. Take the post about the 'faulty' oil tank as an example, I wouldn't want those buyers to have my mobile number.

That was my main concern.

Chanes

We gave the person who bought our house the landline number and we spoke outside of solicitors and estate agents. She was a nervous buyer and had inherited the money but was desperate not to waste it, I told her absolutely everything about the property from about neighbours and how they were (fine), things that needed work (bathroom)...and when she had her survey I walked around the house with a builder she sent for estimates.

She knows where we live because we didn't move far and she really did get a good deal buying our old house which she knows now, three years on and a nice jump in house values later.

hazyjo

I'd give an email address but not a tel no. You don't want them ringing you up 100 times a day once they've bought!

Mrs36

We have been in regular contact with our vendors. Makes it so much easier to ask questions without the EA adding their own interpretation.

StumpyPumpy

da_rule wrote: »

Personally I'd keep it between the solicitors and estate agents. Not so worried about stuff during the transaction, but it's more about after. Take the post about the 'faulty' oil tank as an example, I wouldn't want those buyers to have my mobile number.

Solution would be to give them the land line number of the house they are buying.

SP

kilby_007

We swapped numbers with our buyer. He was a little bit annoying after the sale (asking where stuff was, why is the boiler so noisy, etc) but to be fair it really helped the sale along and we agreed a completion date over the phone rather than going back/forth through solicitors. I would probably do it again. If the worst comes to the worst you can always ignore their calls or change your number.

sultanabran

StumpyPumpy wrote: »

Solution would be to give them the land line number of the house they are buying.

SP

I have a VOIP number so it won't be staying with the house.

forum_posts

Get a PAYG (Pay As You Go) sim card and a cheap mobile and give them the number of that. Once your house purchase has completed you can toss it without worrying someone will ring you months down the line moaning about something which they have only discovered.

3mph

I gave our buyer a 30 plus page brochure on everything about the house plus copies of every manual I could find or download. I made a list of all the neighbours for her and also told them her name etc. Also gave her my mobile number since didn't know the landline. But she was lovely and we both worked to make the sale as easy as possible for each other.

So it will depend upon what they are like.