Estate agents and viewings

Flugelhorn

when I sold the last couple of houses the estate agent did all the viewings - didn't seem to be an issue with agents, they all said they did the viewings and I was quite happy with that.

Went to visit a property yesterday and the vendor was doing the viewing, first thing she said when we arrived was "I hate doing this" - we suggested that she get the agent to do it instead as that was what she was paying them for. blank look.

Do some agents charge extra ? do some simply not do it ?

hazyjo

Online ones rarely do.


Also depends where in the country. Londoners often seem to expect to do our own. Ask in Bristol and the like, and they'll expect the EA to do it. I've sold 7 times and nearly always done my own viewings. When viewing in Leigh-on-Sea, I was surprised at how often it was the EA showing us round as I've been used to the vendor doing it.

Bimbly

Online agents generally don't do viewings as it helps keep their costs down. Although many will do so for an extra fee.

davidmcn

hazyjo wrote: »

Also depends where in the country. Londoners often seem to expect to do our own. Ask in Bristol and the like, and they'll expect the EA to do it. I've sold 7 times and nearly always done my own viewings. When viewing in Leigh-on-Sea, I was surprised at how often it was the EA showing us round as I've been used to the vendor doing it.

Yes, it does seem to be quite a regional thing. In Scotland, owner-occupiers pretty much always do their own viewings.

Then again, online agents can arrange viewings - I recently viewed a Purplebricks one (being sold by an owner-occupier) and it was the agents' local rep who did the viewing.

Rambosmum

Ours would, but only until 6 at night and at weekends by arrangement. I don't mind doing them and often find the viewer wanted to ask questions the estate agent didn't know the answer to (I was often working from home during viewings). However we had friends who were not prepared to do any viewings themselves - it took much longer for their house to sell. I suspect it's because I offered to host an open weekend to get lots of viewers through the door.

kathrynha

When we bought/sold last time, we did our own viewings, and all but two of the houses we viewed the vendor did the viewings.


The 2 done by estate agents were both empty properties. One where the owner had died and one where the owner had moved away.

eddddy

From the seller's perspective, it's something you should ask when you choose your EA.

I would tend to choose an EA that did viewings, and make it a condition of instructing them, but I know some people prefer to do viewings themselves.

Waterlily24

We've sold 5 times and did the viewings on all of them. Kent, South Coast, and Lincolnshire. We've only had agents when viewing for empty properties.

Flugelhorn

eddddy wrote: »

From the seller's perspective, it's something you should ask when you choose your EA.

I would tend to choose an EA that did viewings, and make it a condition of instructing them, but I know some people prefer to do viewings themselves.

i agree - much prefer agents to do the viewings, just wondered if some charged more for doing so. I have never been given the option. The one we viewed was with a rather traditional rural agent - maybe they don't like spending their time with doing viewings

victoriavictorious

We've just sold through House Network and did all our own viewings, but we were given the option to pay £300 extra for them to do them.
Local high st agents do normally include accompanied viewings as part of the service, but of course they are not usually able to do them at the most popular times (evenings / weekends / bank holidays) when they either can't fit them in, or are closed - so you may end up having to do them yourself anyway, or lose a potential buyer.
We almost always had to do our own, even when using local agents, so it's quite the norm these days.
I prefer to be shown round by the vendor, as they know more about their own house than any agent.
The local high st agent who showed us round the house we're buying now, answered all our very basic questions with a polite "I don't know."

trf1960

When we bought and sold our house I did all the viewings and likewise the sellers showed us around the house. When we sold my parent's house after they both passed away I used an agent similar to the current PB type ones. On one day we had 3 viewings and guess who took the vendors round? The agent turned up half way through the second viewing, saw that I was basically doing his job and then asked if I didn't mind him leaving me to it as he had to do a valuation of another property! Two of the three put in offers and we accepted on one the same day. Personally I would never rely on an EA of any sort to sell my house as I am the only person who can give any vendor the information they will need about the house, area, schools, transport etc. I would be seriously miffed if I viewed a house only to have an EA show me around and not know any of the essential information I would want to ask. Each to their own I suppose.