Estate agent won't let me view

Ms_Chocaholic

TimStewart said:

The property "going live" is what it says on the agents website with a timer counting down. The property is empty so I can't knock on the door. I know where it is and I've seen it from outside. It looks OK in the pictures but I suppose they all do. I don't trust them to forward any offer I make. I do have a mind to offer 10 or 15k over the asking price and get it all on camera. See what happens. 

A note through the door might work.

clockworkplanet

This happened to me last week as well, although mostly my fault. I had to cancel a viewing for my dream home, as due to a work emergency I would have been later than the 15 mins viewing slot allocated but they wouldn't allow me to re-book. We have a large deposit and chain-free which the EA knew from previous offers we'd made, but said they would only be able to arrange a viewing if it hadn't sold after the weekend. 

Obviously it sold
I was tempted to put a note through the door to ask the vendor for a viewing but was worried about !!!!!! off the EA.

I reckon right now EAs couldn't care less if you can offer higher or are in a good buying position. It might be good for the vendor but the difference a few grand on the bid will make to the EA's commission is probably negligible, therefore, they book in enough viewings to make it look like they're doing a thorough job but they just don't need more buyers.

You could try asking the agent to tell you if any viewings are cancelled and make it clear you'll be ready to pop over (if near enough!).

Hebblethwaite

When I was looking last year, I found that even waiting for property alert emails to come through from Rightmove meant that I missed the boat on appealing houses. Viewing slots seemed to be booked up by people able to sit with the website open and hitting refresh every 15 minutes or so (presumably people working from home or in an office type environment). The Zoopla app offers push notifications which tend to be quicker but there can still sometimes be a delay.

The housing market doesn't seem as crazy as it did 9 months ago, but attractive houses are still going to garner a lot of interest. I wouldn't take it personally or make a big-deal out of it with the EA or they will chalk you up as someone to be avoided. If I was selling a house, I would want an EA to warn me about a potential buyer who had behaved in a suspicious/paranoid fashion as I'd be worried about how a sale might proceed. 

Honestly, I think the best way to go about things is to let it all wash over you. It's a stressful enough process without imagining slights that don't exist. I'm sure you will find other properties to view.

RS2OOO

Ms_Chocaholic said:

RS2OOO said:

I had exactly this when I wanted to view the house I'm sitting in right now.

We knocked on door and told vendor we had been unable to get a viewing and really liked the house. She invited us in, we spent about 3 hours chatting and it turned out she and my wife went to nursery together.

On leaving the house we rang estate agent and made an offer. An hour later our offer had been accepted and all other viewings cancelled.

Worked for us, but I'll be honest, if someone came knocking on my door to view I'd be sending them back to the estate agent to arrange a viewing, although I would of course phone estate agent to make sure they are given an appropriate appointment.

This time round whilst house hunting there were a couple of occasions where we contacted agents to arrange viewings and they never called back. One house we had to chase daily for a week to get a viewing.

Why would you send a potential buyer to the EA if it worked for you, wouldn't it be fair to "pay forward" a potential buyer in the same way that your sellers did to you?

I see your point.

But.

1) There are some nutters about and inviting a random stranger into your home may not be risk free.

2) you can guarantee the house will not be in a presentable state at the time they knock on the door unannounced.

2) You are paying the estate agent a lot of money to provide a professional service as skilled negotiators. Well, more to the point the EA will have the skill to turn difficult questions into positive answers, whereas I would probably say too much and scare the buyer away!

When we came unannounced the vendor definitely gave us too much info, much of which would put a lot of people off. She even told us not to plant anything expensive in front garden as it would get nicked!

Thrugelmir

Likely that the EA has a number of vetted potential purchasers on their books. They will have been contacted immediately and given first dibs to view the property. Nothing unusual in this. 

Snookie12cat

RS2OOO said:

Ms_Chocaholic said:

RS2OOO said:

I had exactly this when I wanted to view the house I'm sitting in right now.

We knocked on door and told vendor we had been unable to get a viewing and really liked the house. She invited us in, we spent about 3 hours chatting and it turned out she and my wife went to nursery together.

On leaving the house we rang estate agent and made an offer. An hour later our offer had been accepted and all other viewings cancelled.

Worked for us, but I'll be honest, if someone came knocking on my door to view I'd be sending them back to the estate agent to arrange a viewing, although I would of course phone estate agent to make sure they are given an appropriate appointment.

This time round whilst house hunting there were a couple of occasions where we contacted agents to arrange viewings and they never called back. One house we had to chase daily for a week to get a viewing.

Why would you send a potential buyer to the EA if it worked for you, wouldn't it be fair to "pay forward" a potential buyer in the same way that your sellers did to you?

I see your point.

But.

1) There are some nutters about and inviting a random stranger into your home may not be risk free.

2) you can guarantee the house will not be in a presentable state at the time they knock on the door unannounced.

2) You are paying the estate agent a lot of money to provide a professional service as skilled negotiators. Well, more to the point the EA will have the skill to turn difficult questions into positive answers, whereas I would probably say too much and scare the buyer away!

When we came unannounced the vendor definitely gave us too much info, much of which would put a lot of people off. She even told us not to plant anything expensive in front garden as it would get nicked!

Ha ha we viewed one some years ago where the vendor agreed to do it over the agent.. he shouldn't have been allowed. 

He was telling us how his wife died and the house was the best years of his life (but in a super depressed way) and then when I pointed out the blown window pane he proceeded to tell me how he was going to fix it but it was too expensive 🙄🙃

Some people should leave it to the agents. There is honest and then there is too honest.

Mahsroh

Quite normal in the current market and probably nothing untoward. 

I had multiple phone calls with agents last year when we were house hunting (more often than not the same day it went on the market) to be told they'd already got X number of viewings lined up and were anticipating multiple offers from those viewings therefore currently weren't booking more in. 

On the flipside we also registered with multiple agents so were getting calls / e-mails telling us of properties a couple of days before they'd even gone on Online. We viewed two houses that were sold (to others) without even ever making it to Rightmove! 

Mahsroh

jenni_fer said:

In our local area, you can't afford to wait until the next morning if you want a viewing on a popular house. I have been known to book a viewing in before I've even tried to speak to my husband as it's that crazy. 
Frustrating as a buyer but the way it currently is sadly. 

Yep, same here! Multiple times when we were looking I sent my wife a link to the property on Whatsapp for her to see for the first time just saying "I booked us a viewing"! 

TheJP

TimStewart said:

The property "going live" is what it says on the agents website with a timer counting down. The property is empty so I can't knock on the door. I know where it is and I've seen it from outside. It looks OK in the pictures but I suppose they all do. I don't trust them to forward any offer I make. I do have a mind to offer 10 or 15k over the asking price and get it all on camera. See what happens. 

You really are overthinking this with conspiracy theories, I'm pretty sure the EA don't have some sort of grudge against you. Sounds like the viewing slots are all booked up, if you are going to make those type of offers are you going to follow through?

Ramouth

Happened to us quite a bit too - not unusual for properties to be fully booked up by 9:30am on the first day or to go onto the online portals as sold.  You just have to keep trying.  The agents limiting viewings is to your advantage if you are one of the viewers as there is less potential competition.