Vendor present at the viewing

RoisinDubh_2

Davesnave said:

RoisinDubh_2 said:

lookstraightahead said:

nimbo said:

RoisinDubh_2 said:

Sazzy1253 said:

I went to viewing back in March and the vendor was working from home. I didn’t think it was appropriate as we weren’t allowed to see the room he was in as he was working. Slightly annoying as if never put an offer in if I hadn’t seen the whole place. I wouldn’t have minded if he’d let us have a look though 

Well, exactly! What even is the point? In this case, it was a one bed flat and he was in the living room, which was the main space! I got to stick in my head in walk around quickly with this guy making it very obvious he didn't really want me there, ...what goes on in these people's heads? Just ask viewers to come in the evening and pop out for 10 minutes?! 

Why would someone want to leave a total stranger in their house with all of their possessions entirely alone? Especially if their are 40 viewers per property…. 

That’s 8 hours minimum wandering round with knob all to do. Assuming that people really are only there 10 minutes each. 

This is true. It's like asking a shop keeper to go out of the shop so that customers can have a browse. 

I don't think I've ever seen such a strange perspective on a situation. Very unusual indeed. Very unusual.

my daughter who is 21 is looking for a house share in London. Each time not only the estate agent, but the tenants have been there. Which is perfectly normal. 

I don't think this op is ready to take the plunge into buying. 

The equivalence would be your daughter viewing a flat with the LANDLORD there, someone who wasn't going to be living there, not showing her around, but just sitting there staring at her. She goes to view her future bedroom and the landlord is sitting on the bed looking at her with an air of annoyance. Are you honestly telling me that isn't weird and uncomfortable?

It happens all the time if your daughter is a student in a university town. The landlord might have 15 properties or more and wants  the youngsters to get on with it and make their minds up quickly. If they don't want it, someone else will, so it makes no odds to him/her.

This might not be how we'd like things to be, but it's how they are. On the flip side, as  parent, I was glad we could whip through 3 properties in rapid succession and get stuff sorted on the 4th without another round trip of 220miles. It wasn't a wonderful pad, but weird, uncomfortable and dirty in different proportions were the drivers in rejecting the other 3!

I've been in the same situation myself as a student in a university town. I don't think a student renting a bedroom for a year is really comparable to trying to view a flat which will be your home for the next 5 or so years and a significant investment, though! I think we will have to agree to disagree, but I certainly can't focus on doing a viewing of a small flat with the owner just sitting there. I've spoken to some colleagues about this this morning and they all feel the same, so perhaps there's a significant demographic difference here. The bemused reaction of the EA of the place I'm viewing later when I asked if the vendor would be present also leads me to think that it's nowhere near as normal as people here seem to think it is. 

TBagpuss

I think part of it is that your reaction seems a bit excessive - there's a big difference between 'this is unusual and I'd be less comfortable' and 'this is so unacceptable to me that I won't consider this property further'

There are differences of opinion about whether people prefer to have the vendor or an agent to viewings, and from previous threads there seem to be regional variations in which is more usual.

I think what a lot of people here are saying is that your reaction seems a bit excessive for something which is not particularly unusual, not that no one but you would feel it was awkward or would prefer to do a viewing differently.

On a personal level, I'd find it a bit awkward and would always prefer not to have the vendor present at a first viewing, but I wouldn't be crossing a property of my list of possible for that reason, and I think if you are saying you couldn't look round the living room properly because the vendor was sitting there then it would have been reasonable for you to ask them to step out of the room so you could, or to put a mask on so you could go in to look properly (if  for instance it's a small room and therefore difficult to stay 2m apart, for instance, or to see it properly and maintain that distance.)

RoisinDubh_2

Pok3mon said:

Could anybody imagine selling a property to this person!

Imagine expecting to view a property without the vendor sitting there staring at you....how utterly wild! What an utterly insane and ridiculous expectation to have, especially in a pandemic when being indoors with strangers with no masks on isn't the wisest idea!

I've now spoken to two agents this morning who both were surprised that another agency had allowed a vendor to be present without telling me (in violation of their own rules) and assured me that of course this wouldn't happen. Thank God people in the real world seem to completely understand these very basic, obvious concerns.

RoisinDubh_2

TBagpuss said:

I think part of it is that your reaction seems a bit excessive - there's a big difference between 'this is unusual and I'd be less comfortable' and 'this is so unacceptable to me that I won't consider this property further'

There are differences of opinion about whether people prefer to have the vendor or an agent to viewings, and from previous threads there seem to be regional variations in which is more usual.

I think what a lot of people here are saying is that your reaction seems a bit excessive for something which is not particularly unusual, not that no one but you would feel it was awkward or would prefer to do a viewing differently.

On a personal level, I'd find it a bit awkward and would always prefer not to have the vendor present at a first viewing, but I wouldn't be crossing a property of my list of possible for that reason, and I think if you are saying you couldn't look round the living room properly because the vendor was sitting there then it would have been reasonable for you to ask them to step out of the room so you could, or to put a mask on so you could go in to look properly (if  for instance it's a small room and therefore difficult to stay 2m apart, for instance, or to see it properly and maintain that distance.)

I'm on the autistic spectrum and I'm sure that has to do with feeling panicked and pressured by an unexpected extra person being there, especially when they aren't even participating in the viewing but are instead sitting there looking at me, but I honestly don't think most people would like this. Perhaps it wouldn't stop them being able to view it, but who wants to feel rushed and pressured when sizing up a property you're going to spend a significant amount of money on?

The whole 'can you get up so I can see this properly' when someone is on a video call is extremely awkward and I don't think most people would be comfortable with that. I think if someone isn't able to take 15 minutes off work to let someone view in peace, they shouldn't be having viewings during their work day. 

Davesnave

RoisinDubh_2 said:

Davesnave said:

RoisinDubh_2 said:

lookstraightahead said:

nimbo said:

RoisinDubh_2 said:

Sazzy1253 said:

I went to viewing back in March and the vendor was working from home. I didn’t think it was appropriate as we weren’t allowed to see the room he was in as he was working. Slightly annoying as if never put an offer in if I hadn’t seen the whole place. I wouldn’t have minded if he’d let us have a look though 

Well, exactly! What even is the point? In this case, it was a one bed flat and he was in the living room, which was the main space! I got to stick in my head in walk around quickly with this guy making it very obvious he didn't really want me there, ...what goes on in these people's heads? Just ask viewers to come in the evening and pop out for 10 minutes?! 

Why would someone want to leave a total stranger in their house with all of their possessions entirely alone? Especially if their are 40 viewers per property…. 

That’s 8 hours minimum wandering round with knob all to do. Assuming that people really are only there 10 minutes each. 

This is true. It's like asking a shop keeper to go out of the shop so that customers can have a browse. 

I don't think I've ever seen such a strange perspective on a situation. Very unusual indeed. Very unusual.

my daughter who is 21 is looking for a house share in London. Each time not only the estate agent, but the tenants have been there. Which is perfectly normal. 

I don't think this op is ready to take the plunge into buying. 

The equivalence would be your daughter viewing a flat with the LANDLORD there, someone who wasn't going to be living there, not showing her around, but just sitting there staring at her. She goes to view her future bedroom and the landlord is sitting on the bed looking at her with an air of annoyance. Are you honestly telling me that isn't weird and uncomfortable?

It happens all the time if your daughter is a student in a university town. The landlord might have 15 properties or more and wants  the youngsters to get on with it and make their minds up quickly. If they don't want it, someone else will, so it makes no odds to him/her.

This might not be how we'd like things to be, but it's how they are. On the flip side, as  parent, I was glad we could whip through 3 properties in rapid succession and get stuff sorted on the 4th without another round trip of 220miles. It wasn't a wonderful pad, but weird, uncomfortable and dirty in different proportions were the drivers in rejecting the other 3!

  I certainly can't focus on doing a viewing of a small flat with the owner just sitting there. I've spoken to some colleagues about this this morning and they all feel the same, so perhaps there's a significant demographic difference here. The bemused reaction of the EA of the place I'm viewing later when I asked if the vendor would be present also leads me to think that it's nowhere near as normal as people here seem to think it is. 

Maybe there are demographic differences at play here and your 'real world' covers a limited area . You might consider this as a possibility before writing the rest of us off. Those present this morning are randomly self selected and must cover a pretty wide range of places / experiences.

I am in the West Country and we certainly don't do things the way they do them in Scotland or the London. That's one of the reasons I live here!

Oh, hang on, I've just seen, "I'm on the autistic spectrum...." Might just have a bearing on things too! 

RoisinDubh_2

Davesnave said:

RoisinDubh_2 said:

Davesnave said:

RoisinDubh_2 said:

lookstraightahead said:

nimbo said:

RoisinDubh_2 said:

Sazzy1253 said:

I went to viewing back in March and the vendor was working from home. I didn’t think it was appropriate as we weren’t allowed to see the room he was in as he was working. Slightly annoying as if never put an offer in if I hadn’t seen the whole place. I wouldn’t have minded if he’d let us have a look though 

Well, exactly! What even is the point? In this case, it was a one bed flat and he was in the living room, which was the main space! I got to stick in my head in walk around quickly with this guy making it very obvious he didn't really want me there, ...what goes on in these people's heads? Just ask viewers to come in the evening and pop out for 10 minutes?! 

Why would someone want to leave a total stranger in their house with all of their possessions entirely alone? Especially if their are 40 viewers per property…. 

That’s 8 hours minimum wandering round with knob all to do. Assuming that people really are only there 10 minutes each. 

This is true. It's like asking a shop keeper to go out of the shop so that customers can have a browse. 

I don't think I've ever seen such a strange perspective on a situation. Very unusual indeed. Very unusual.

my daughter who is 21 is looking for a house share in London. Each time not only the estate agent, but the tenants have been there. Which is perfectly normal. 

I don't think this op is ready to take the plunge into buying. 

The equivalence would be your daughter viewing a flat with the LANDLORD there, someone who wasn't going to be living there, not showing her around, but just sitting there staring at her. She goes to view her future bedroom and the landlord is sitting on the bed looking at her with an air of annoyance. Are you honestly telling me that isn't weird and uncomfortable?

It happens all the time if your daughter is a student in a university town. The landlord might have 15 properties or more and wants  the youngsters to get on with it and make their minds up quickly. If they don't want it, someone else will, so it makes no odds to him/her.

This might not be how we'd like things to be, but it's how they are. On the flip side, as  parent, I was glad we could whip through 3 properties in rapid succession and get stuff sorted on the 4th without another round trip of 220miles. It wasn't a wonderful pad, but weird, uncomfortable and dirty in different proportions were the drivers in rejecting the other 3!

  I certainly can't focus on doing a viewing of a small flat with the owner just sitting there. I've spoken to some colleagues about this this morning and they all feel the same, so perhaps there's a significant demographic difference here. The bemused reaction of the EA of the place I'm viewing later when I asked if the vendor would be present also leads me to think that it's nowhere near as normal as people here seem to think it is. 

Maybe there are demographic differences at play here and your 'real world' covers a limited area . You might consider this as a possibility before writing the rest of us off. Those present this morning are randomly self selected and must cover a pretty wide range of places / experiences

Not one of the responses of 'the vendor was there when we viewed' covered a tiny one-bed flat in London. A vendor working from a study in a four-bed house is quite different to the vendor literally taking up half the living room. Interestingly, not one person has addressed my point that the agency's own rules specify that the vendor must not be present at the viewing. This is absolutely standard in London. 

Section62

RoisinDubh_2 said:

Inconvenienced??? They put their flat on the market! Nobody forced them to!

I think the buyer should the one who is accommodated when handing over lots of money, not the other way around! I understand that people are working from home now but I think if someone has gone to the trouble of going to view your property, you should really find a way to pop out for 15 minutes, or at the very least, let them know you'll be there and let them decide if they want to do it with the vendor present.

RoisinDubh_2 said:

I do think that it's unreasonable to expect to be at viewings when selling a house, BTW. It's incredibly awkward. Even as a renter I've always been expected to leave the property while people came to view. 

RoisinDubh_2 said:

It's absolutely mental to me that people are acting as if nobody would ever leave their property for viewers to look around. It's so much the norm that the agent I spoke to this morning regarding a future viewing thought I was mad for asking if the viewer would be in. 'No, of course not' was the answer, with a tone of absolute bemusement.

I feel like I live on a different planet to the rest of you. 

Covid issues aside, now might be a sensible time to review your buying strategy.

Property transactions rely very much on trust - a bad buyer or vendor can cost the other party tens of thousands of pounds, so the game isn't simply about you having lots of money that someone else is desperate to accept off you.  Sensible vendors will want to gauge whether a prospective buyer is reliable before accepting an offer from them.

The people on this forum aren't "on a different planet" - they have extensive experience of buying and selling property in all kinds of situations. And they are right that it is a norm that the vendor is present (if they want to be) during a viewing, unless an EA is doing the viewing and there has been a clear request for the vendor to be absent.

Instead, treat the presence of the vendor as an opportunity to make a connection with them, so that they want to sell the property to you. Observe what their interests appear to be and find a way to compliment the property or their possessions, even if you don't really mean it.  If you want your offer accepted you either need the vendor to be very greedy and you be willing to pay the most money, or that the vendor thinks you are an Ok human being compared to the others who've traipsed around their home and the least likely to be a pain in the neck to deal with later in the process.

Otherwise there's a good chance of you doing 100+ viewings and still not having got anywhere.

Finally, using an EA as a guide to 'normal' is unwise.  Their job is to sell the property for maximum commission and least cost. They will tell you whatever it is they think you want to hear.  You ask them if the vendor will be present, they assume you don't want that, they will reply in a way which convinces you that all will be well.

Davesnave

With or without your condition, there is no need for posters to respond to every reply. We see things differently and that's fine.

My daughter is on the spectrum too and her unique view of things helps her make a good living. She really doesn't care how anyone else thinks or sees things, though, so maybe that's something you can take from this thread.

warby68

What perhaps is missing for you here is the concept that you can be both right and wrong at the same time - such is this imperfect world.

Yes the vendor should not have been there per the agent's published policies but people can be tricky and things can crop up and in other times the vendor being there is perfectly normal. The option to forewarn you just might not have been there.

Yes you felt very uncomfortable but relied on others to avoid or resolve that for you and it doesn't often work that way. You have to look out for yourself.

The time to react was when you arrived but everyone kept quiet ( probably in the interests of trying to get the job done) - half right/half wrong.

The scale of your reaction after the event is out of proportion to most people but you have particular views and needs. 

You stressing what was wrong and how badly it was wrong but doing the viewing anyway represents quite mixed messages.

I hope you find a way to put it behind you and find somewhere you like soon. Perhaps you can reframe it that you've done 43 viewings and only one was squirmy. That's a very high success rate.

RoisinDubh_2

Section62 said:

RoisinDubh_2 said:

Inconvenienced??? They put their flat on the market! Nobody forced them to!

I think the buyer should the one who is accommodated when handing over lots of money, not the other way around! I understand that people are working from home now but I think if someone has gone to the trouble of going to view your property, you should really find a way to pop out for 15 minutes, or at the very least, let them know you'll be there and let them decide if they want to do it with the vendor present.

RoisinDubh_2 said:

I do think that it's unreasonable to expect to be at viewings when selling a house, BTW. It's incredibly awkward. Even as a renter I've always been expected to leave the property while people came to view. 

RoisinDubh_2 said:

It's absolutely mental to me that people are acting as if nobody would ever leave their property for viewers to look around. It's so much the norm that the agent I spoke to this morning regarding a future viewing thought I was mad for asking if the viewer would be in. 'No, of course not' was the answer, with a tone of absolute bemusement.

I feel like I live on a different planet to the rest of you. 

Covid issues aside, now might be a sensible time to review your buying strategy.

Property transactions rely very much on trust - a bad buyer or vendor can cost the other party tens of thousands of pounds, so the game isn't simply about you having lots of money that someone else is desperate to accept off you.  Sensible vendors will want to gauge whether a prospective buyer is reliable before accepting an offer from them.

The people on this forum aren't "on a different planet" - they have extensive experience of buying and selling property in all kinds of situations. And they are right that it is a norm that the vendor is present (if they want to be) during a viewing, unless an EA is doing the viewing and there has been a clear request for the vendor to be absent.

Instead, treat the presence of the vendor as an opportunity to make a connection with them, so that they want to sell the property to you. Observe what their interests appear to be and find a way to compliment the property or their possessions, even if you don't really mean it.  If you want your offer accepted you either need the vendor to be very greedy and you be willing to pay the most money, or that the vendor thinks you are an Ok human being compared to the others who've traipsed around their home and the least likely to be a pain in the neck to deal with later in the process.

Otherwise there's a good chance of you doing 100+ viewings and still not having got anywhere.

Finally, using an EA as a guide to 'normal' is unwise.  Their job is to sell the property for maximum commission and least cost. They will tell you whatever it is they think you want to hear.  You ask them if the vendor will be present, they assume you don't want that, they will reply in a way which convinces you that all will be well.

Then we'll have to agree to disagree. My experience of viewings in London as well as speaking to two estate agents this morning tell me it's absolutely NOT the norm for the vendor to be there. I do agree with you that there are positives to meeting them, and indeed, I would probably request to meet them during a second viewing to ask the more nitty gritty questions about what it's like to live there and what the neighbours are like. But during that first viewing when I'm trying to get a feel for the place and imagining myself living in it? I absolutely do not want them there. If they are using an EA then they should trust that EA to vet the buyers and to feed back to them what the buyer is like and how serious they seem, IMO. Otherwise, why use them? They could put the property on Purplebricks and do the viewings themselves. I actually do prefer the Purplebricks vendor-led viewings, but I think if you're using an EA, then let them do their job. Don't crowd the buyer or make them feel like they're in the way when they've taken time out of their day to view your property.