Viewing a house with a seller vs an estate agent?

Mickygg

chillicheesedog said:

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. 

That’s absolutely right I don’t want to ask the vendors a thing. If I want to find out about neighbours I knock on doors and have done several times, ask vital questions such as timescales and age of boiler through EA and searches, boundaries, what’s being left etc is all done through solicitors.

asking questions to someone who wants to sell their house and won’t say a bad thing I just don’t see the point. Just my view though. Hence why I always want to view with EA. 

Majoggy

I'd rather the vendor than an EA. They give me the creeps.

Scotbot

As a seller I would be quite happy to talk about why I was moving and what work I had done. Asking about the neighbours is a bit pointless though as no seller is going to admit to problem  neighbours!

natasha22

I asked this question when i started my search. Ive now done multiple viewing with both estate agents and home owners.

The downside to home owners is that i often feel unable to talk openly to my partner about issues, i find us both trying to do meaningful looks about damp patches! However we've had some home owners who have then left us to wander which is helpful

Its nice to get a sense of the property from the owners and what their timescales are etc. We also haven't found some estate agents helpful with viewings. One company never seems to know more than what you would gain from looking round eg. Never knows things like boiler ages, or non visable details.

On the plus side too, we've found that we have had some long discussions with home owners (sometimes they are really keen to name all of their neighbours and tell you their life stories!)and they are less rushed than estate agents. My other half is fairly engaging so we've had times were we've been specifically contacted to make an offer because of positive interactions with the home owner, whilst i realise that might be a bit of a ploy, i also figure it cant hurt to already have a bit of raport with the seller or positive relationship if you are proceeding
 

natasha22

Also ive been amazed at what people will tell you.
Sometimes we've had people be a bit too honest about certain things! We've had viewings where the owner is present, but we are being lead by the estate agent. We've ended up talking with the home owner and can see the estate agent cringing as they tell us all about the damp, the time next doors dog savaged the children etc

HCIMbtw

Getting shown around by a seller with them following you into each room must be terrible. 

We sold recently and conducted viewings ourselves, but basically just let people show themselves around while I sat in the garden, then they could pick my brain with any questions after (including, does this house get many spiders? a genuine question to which I responded an ordinary amount of spiders) 

I've had a mixed bag on all fronts when viewing properties myself, some vendors leave you to it, others with the best of intentions make the whole thing more uncomfortable than it needs to be. I think its important to have space to discuss things honestly with your partner while you are there. 

fiwen30

Thanks all.
Viewing this afternoon went really well! Sellers were absolutely lovely - the kind of people my partner and I both interact with every day at our retail jobs, so that was fine. Really chatty, and pretty upfront too, provided most of the info we needed without questioning. The house had been agreed for sale twice (thought I recognised the listing from a while ago), but fell through both times due to the prospective buyer’s chains breaking. Selling due to needing a bigger/better laid out house for their 2 almost-teens. Brand new gas heating & boiler put in before Xmas last year, best energy rating we’ve seen in any house we’ve viewed so far. Seller was even keen to show off the strong water pressure in the shower, which is something I always test but feel a bit self-conscious about being ‘fussy’!

The house is a good fit for us, the area is lovely and quiet. Good garden, not overlooked, driveway & parking out front. House a few doors up with the same layout but a larger plot went for 10k more a few months ago. We were the first to view since their last agreed buyer fell through, and 2 more viewings on Thursday morning. I’ve no doubt it’ll be snapped up, so we put in a full price offer of 115k as soon as we left. It’s top of our budget, but provided the surveys don’t come back with anything shocking, there wasn’t anything obviously wrong with the place.

It’s still a long shot, because it is a desirable location, a good price, and similar properties are selling like crazy right now. We can’t afford to go much, if any, higher, so just a case of waiting for now.

fiwen30

EA was back in touch. Sellers have heard our offer, but have chosen to ‘honour the 2 arranged viewings’ for tomorrow. The viewers will be advised of our asking price offer, and that any offers will need to be made quickly. I understand that the sellers probably think they’ll get better offers if the viewers know there’s an asking price offer in already. And they might likely get better offer(s) too! Unfortunately, we’re not in a position to go any higher as it’s at the top of our budget. Just have to hope that our first time buyer status, quick asking price offer, and whatever rapport we might’ve established with the sellers will be enough, because we don’t have the budget for a bidding war on this one...

Mortgage broker has sent over our mortgage in principle and proof of deposit, so the EA knows we’re proceedable. Nothing to do now but hope that our offer and position come out tops.

boldaslove

fiwen30 said:

EA was back in touch. Sellers have heard our offer, but have chosen to ‘honour the 2 arranged viewings’ for tomorrow. The viewers will be advised of our asking price offer, and that any offers will need to be made quickly. I understand that the sellers probably think they’ll get better offers if the viewers know there’s an asking price offer in already. And they might likely get better offer(s) too! 

Urg I hate this! We're also in the same position today. This is the 5th(!) house we've offered on and although the agent didn't tell us (we were told the vendors want to think about our offer overnight) we know there's a viewing today as we spotted it written down on the fridge when we viewed the house    I can kind of understand the sellers point of view but it's frustrating when you're offering the asking price isn't it?

I hope it goes well for you!

fiwen30

boldaslove said:

fiwen30 said:

EA was back in touch. Sellers have heard our offer, but have chosen to ‘honour the 2 arranged viewings’ for tomorrow. The viewers will be advised of our asking price offer, and that any offers will need to be made quickly. I understand that the sellers probably think they’ll get better offers if the viewers know there’s an asking price offer in already. And they might likely get better offer(s) too! 

Urg I hate this! We're also in the same position today. This is the 5th(!) house we've offered on and although the agent didn't tell us (we were told the vendors want to think about our offer overnight) we know there's a viewing today as we spotted it written down on the fridge when we viewed the house    I can kind of understand the sellers point of view but it's frustrating when you're offering the asking price isn't it?

I hope it goes well for you!

Yeah, definitely understandable, but frustrating. Especially when we know we can’t go higher

Will cross my fingers for you too!