Worried estate agents aren't taking me seriously.

Lottir

I'm a first time currently looking for a house. On paper I've been looking for about a year and half and I'm worried that estate agents now think I'm not a serious buyer and am wasting their time.

I started looking a year and a half ago but had to stop after a couple of months due to family illness/bereavement (I had to travel back and forth out of the area for a few months and so didn't have time to view properties). Then I started looking again and then corona happened.

So while it looks like I've been looking for ages in total its been about 4 months of actual looking. I've viewed around 10-15 properties, put in offers on two houses and been beaten out of both.

I emailed to arrange a viewing of a property and the agent got back to me and said the earliest they can do was a week away. Usually they seem keen to book viewings in as sloon as possible so this seemed weird to me. I suppose they could be extra busy but I'm just getting the feeling they are getting fed up of arranging viewings for me as it appears to them that i've been looking forever.

I am a serious buyer with a 15% deposit and desperate to get out of renting. I'm starting to feel embarrassed about even enquiring any more because I imagine them rolling their eyes when they see it's me. Am I just being paranoid?

RelievedSheff

You are just being paranoid.

We viewed around 80 properties before buying our first house.

GixerKate

I think you are over-thinking it, they probably haven't a clue who you are and are very busy.  I've noticed that its gone from being able to book in a viewing for the next day to having to book in well in advance and often by the time the viewing has come about the house has already had an offer on it and is off the market!

AskAsk

you are probably worried about nothing, but i find estate agents do make decisions to ignore people for whatever reason if they think they are unlikely to get any result from you.
it can take a very long time to find a property.  it took us 2 years to find our existing house.

i bought my first house when i was very young and i found estate agents did not take me seriously as i looked like a child, lol.  i had to take my mother with me to make me look more credible 

Thrugelmir

Perhaps the vendor is on holiday currently. 

foreverhome3

We have recently accepted an offer on our property and some viewings were booked in for a week later, the property market is very busy at the moment. Plus  more people working from home and limited times for viewings.

Hannimal

Might be that there are people living in the property and so they have to arrange viewings around the occupants' schedule. Though, if it is the sellers and not tenants living there, and they aren't keen to arrange a viewing that same week, it might be that the sellers are the ones who aren't very serious about selling.

MaryNB

A house came on the market on a Thursday and I rang a few hours later to see if I could view on Saturday. I was told they only had one slot on Saturday which had been booked and I would have to wait until Wednesday evening. I thought it was odd that they only had two viewing slots the first week it was on the market but maybe the vendors weren't that flexible. 

NameUnavailable

I'm in a similar position, have been looking on and off since last November. I've missed out on a couple of places that sold before I could view, I've offered on a few, one I was very interested was taken back off the market. I'm in a fortunate position at the moment renting a friends second property so I'm in no hurry to buy just anything and want to now wait to see how the market goes in the autumn/winter as I am expecting prices (and demand) to slump. That said if the right place comes along it won't stop me going for it.

[Deleted User]

MaryNB said:

A house came on the market on a Thursday and I rang a few hours later to see if I could view on Saturday. I was told they only had one slot on Saturday which had been booked and I would have to wait until Wednesday evening. I thought it was odd that they only had two viewing slots the first week it was on the market but maybe the vendors weren't that flexible. 

The other slots could already have been booked.  

Scotbot

Thrugelmir said:

Perhaps the vendor is on holiday currently. 

Or back and in quarantine