Viewing a house with a seller vs an estate agent?

fiwen30

Hi all, partner and I are viewing another property tomorrow, but this time it’s going to be the seller showing us around, rather than the estate agent.

We’ve only viewed vacant properties up till now, and only with the EA. Have you got any tips or advice for viewings conducted by the seller? Any useful questions to ask, or any questions to avoid? Is it rude to ask about previous work done, or any neighbour problems? Hoping that a seller may be able to give more information than some of the clueless estate agents we’ve dealt with so far! 

kasqueak

I actually prefer viewings with the seller as I think you can get answers to questions that the EA doesn’t know. Like maybe about parking or alterations to the property. It can feel a bit strange and awkward looking round someone’s house when they’re there. I’d normally not say too much about what I thought about it to my partner till we got back to the car! Good and bad! 

Grabs39

By all means ask reasonable questions, such as has work been done.  Don’t ask a million questions about tiny details.  We had someone around asking really obscure questions about what was on the survey which I hadn’t read in five years.  You can always email the agent with any questions later if you’re more comfortable with that.

And don’t walk around saying the decor is horrible!  Save any opinions to discuss with your partner after you’ve left.

MaryNB

I would have preferred the seller. The estate agents sent over someone who looked about 18. He knew nothing beyond how to open the front door. 

emzshea

We've been looking for a property for years and funnily enough each one we've had an offer accepted on (3 in total, 2 fell through due to unfortunate circumstances their end and covid, the 3rd we're currently buying) viewings were with the seller. 
I always prefer viewing with the seller because you can build a rapport with them and when I've really liked the house, I gushed over how lovely it was and how I could see myself there. Basically kissed butt but it worked all 3 times, they had numerous offers but they went with us because they remembered us and how keen we were. The seller tends to be quite honest in our opinion, where as we've had many fibs from estate agents! 

atrixa

Mine were all with the sellers. I asked about the boiler, what the neighbours were like, did they know when a rewire had last been done, that kind of thing. As the above poster said, be polite about the property! One couple just let me have a wander around by myself, others chatted to me as I went round the place and answered any questions I had as we went. 

Mickygg

I much prefer going round with EA. I can be more direct and if I don’t like it after a few minutes then I say and get out the house.

Hearing the Seller banging on about how great the house is gets on my nerves. Plus I have been told so many lies by sellers over the years I didn’t believe a thing they say anyway.

OP nothing to prepare for other than you may be a long time! 

chillicheesedog

It's a good way to find out things an EA wouldn't know. You can always frame it in a nice way, so ask what the neighbours are like and also why they're selling it.
I feel like with a bit of charm you might get a lot more info out of sellers than an estate agent. 
Plus when you're friendly and compliment the place, the seller will probably feel more reassure that they may be selling to someone nice who will appreciate the house and more likely to take their offer over someone else's if there are sever, similar offers. It worked for us. 👍

kangoora

Personally I'd always prefer to be shown around by the seller. On our second house purchase we were shown around by the owner (60+ lady downsizing from a 4 bed) and someone tried to gazump us but the owner said no and said "She wanted to sell to the nice young couple with the lovely baby". This was the message relayed by the estate agent, I'm not sure how much extra was offered

Mickygg

chillicheesedog said:

It's a good way to find out things an EA wouldn't know. You can always frame it in a nice way, so ask what the neighbours are like and also why they're selling it.
I feel like with a bit of charm you might get a lot more info out of sellers than an estate agent. 
Plus when you're friendly and compliment the place, the seller will probably feel more reassure that they may be selling to someone nice who will appreciate the house and more likely to take their offer over someone else's if there are sever, similar offers. It worked for us. 👍

Why ask the person what the neighbours are like and why they are selling? If they hate the neighbours and are moving because of terrible noise they are hardly going to say the truth! So many people selling lie, I have had lies told to me on numerous occasions. On my last house I was told by vendors that they had regular neighbour meets in street for drinks and electric gates were in the pipeline to be fitted as it was a private road. Turned out to be total nonsense on both. 

I totally agree on your second point though about being friendly and nice, worked for us too. I just hate listening to all the sales drivel about how great their house is. 

chillicheesedog

Why not ask them? If everything they could tell you is a lie, you may as well not ask a single thing. Also, some people are pretty bad liars so if they're being a bit weird about those questions, you can be sure something is definitely wrong. Sometimes it's about how they answer and not what they say, but that comes with being able to read people well.