Estate agent etiquette

AnotherJoe

AnnieGunn said:

I was asked for an AIP before I was allowed to view by 2 out of 6estate agents while I was buying, however I just explained I'd be paying with proceeds from sale + cash so I couldn't produce an AIP and they let me view numerous properties.  They said it was due to Covid to minimise time wasters. 

They also said I'd be surprised about the amount of people who do literally spend their weekends (especially bank holidays) block booking a large number of properties to view and then looking at peoples house for sale just for fun.

It doesn't have to be an AIP, it is proof of funds, eg affordabilty that is wanted. That might be and is round here, house on the market and proof of the cash which might be AIP or might be (and was in my case) a bank statement showing the difference. .
Some disagree that you need to be on the market to view, (OP are you up for sale or even SSTC?)  and you may lose out on some buyers, but it definitely does cut out time wasters. 

Skiddaw1

youth_leader said:

I definitely had people viewing just for curiosity, I was selling my listed railway station.  First offer the viewer had blatantly lied to the EA, said he was in rented and a cash buyer, turned out he had a £750K house to sell and wasn't even on the market.  Second offer said he was a cash buyer, but his ex-wife in Sweden had the cash and he wasn't getting any of it.  I'm all for checking that viewers are proceedable.  I sold at auction in the end, which is supposed to be 10% deposit on the day of sale - viewing agent told me one of the viewers said she liked it so much she was going straight home to put her house on the market.  I'd assumed auction houses also checked their viewers, I had 33 people muddying my carpets and looks like some of them were there for the view.   I trust no-one now. 

Oooh! I think I would have loved your house....

I remember the carpet-muddiers well. It was proper irritating. We always took our shoes off when house viewing.

Irishpearce26

Well judging by the variation in types of AIP the estate agent and vendor aren't going to know the difference. I get a 5-min AIP off the internet and I get a viewing. I spend years making sure I have everything in place and im waiting for an AIP through my broker, and I don't get a viewing.  Absolutely ridiculous criteria. I'm so glad my vendor was a savvy one.
what is it with people thinking their houses are so special? 

I don't think its to do with people thinking their house is special just that they want to ensure anyone coming for a viewing has the resources to buy or is able to proceed with their own house sale. Think of the effort that goes into getting a house ready for viewing in the normal of times then add in the additional prep/post work in a pandemic then you may be a little more sympathetic to the reasons why. When we sold our house 10 weeks ago we had 3 viewings which meant a lot of prep and getting the little one out of the house then coming back and sanitizing everything, I wouldn't be happy if my EA wasn't taking the relevant steps to ensure the person viewing had the means to proceed. As you say you get prepared beforehand, we did as soon as we saw a property we liked on rightmove we crunched our numbers and got in touch with our lender and had a DIP in hand. One property we liked wouldn't let us view unless we had a memorandum of sale on our property that we are selling. That property is still for sale 12 weeks later but i think that is more down to the fact the buyer pays the EA fees.

teachfast

Irishpearce26 said:

That property is still for sale 12 weeks later but i think that is more down to the fact the buyer pays the EA fees.

These people wish to have their cake and eat it!

Irishpearce26

teachfast said:

Irishpearce26 said:

That property is still for sale 12 weeks later but i think that is more down to the fact the buyer pays the EA fees.

These people wish to have their cake and eat it!

Yes absolutely, no one in their right mind is going to pay over asking price plus £3-7K in EA fees for the pleasure of a new house.  

PatriciaHooper

My question was about estate agents, not vendors and I sympathise with vendors who have endured time wasters. The estate agent told me it was "company policy" to ask for proof of funds "because of CV-19". Had the agent said that the vendor insisted I would have been more inclined to believe that the "company" was acting in her/his best interests. I decided to let the property go as I was not prepared to show my bank statement (rather different to producing an AIP). The EA has since made contact to arrange a viewing. 

eddddy

PatriciaHooper said:

 The EA has since made contact to arrange a viewing. 

The EA wanted to check that you were a credible buyer and not a time waster.  I guess one way of doing that was to ensure that you had funds for a deposit.

Presumably, you've found a different way of convincing the EA that you're a credible buyer. 

Maybe their policy is to ask for proof of deposit, and if you don't provide it, ask the vendor if they still want to agree to a viewing.

PatriciaHooper

Maybe, I certainly hope this is the case. Part of their customer service could be to suggest this course of action to a prospective buyer.
EA asked for proof of full funding, not deposit. 

Scotbot

House advertised yesterday on RM and the blurb stated only proceedable viewers allowed to view.  First time I have seen it on a listing

stevenbecca

We viewed a house 2weeks ago, we've actually offered and had it accepted on the condition we can get a mortgage, we cannot apply for 1 for another 2weeks due to age of some previous credit issue's, the sellers we're quite happy to let us view and offer under these conditions, there only stipulation is it's to remain on the market until we get a mortgage (i wouldn't have expected anything different) we've spoken to a broker and know there is lender's that will lend from the 16th march onwards.