Excessive proofs required to view house?

zzzt

I've been viewing houses for 3 months now (dozens of them). So far every estate agent has just asked me for my own address and what my situation is (e.g. do I need to sell, am I buying with a mortgage).

But I've recently had an estate agent who said in order to view the property I had to provide the following:

• agreement in principle
• valuation of my own house
• current mortgage statement
• my solicitor to contact them with chain information

This is just to view it...

I understand and have no problem with proving I am capable of buying it if I've made an offer, but what is the point of putting all these hurdles in the way to view it? I don't even know if I want to buy it, how can I until I've viewed it? That's a lot of personal information to provide and a lot of effort on my part. They've just lost someone who might have very quickly bought that house.

I told them to forget it. They said that their vendors want to make sure whoever views is motivated, which is ironic because I'm extremely motivated. I've sold my house already and just had a purchase fall through and I'm looking for somewhere to buy quickly, which is exactly why I don't have time to waste jumping through their hoops (I have many more viewings to do regardless).

Is this normal? Do you think it's the vendor who stipulated this? Or maybe this particular estate agent mainly deals with very expensive properties and they want to deter time wasters that want to gawp at mansions...

caprikid1

"I've been viewing houses for 3 months now (dozens of them). So far every estate agent has just asked me for my own address and what my situation is (e.g. do I need to sell, am I buying with a mortgage)."

That seems an incredible amount of houses for a motivated buyer , that is dozens of people inconvenienced !!!. Not sure I have ever got into double figures of viewings.

dimbo61

The housing and rental market is just crazy at the moment.
My friend wants to rent a 2/3 bed house with garden and driveway but any properties going on the market are being snapped up within hours.
My Sister is looking to buy a house.
Estate agents offering open days with 15/20 viewings on a Saturday and Sunday and sealed offers taken on Monday.
Lots of motivated buyers and no where near enough properties for sale.
 Supply and Demand

Stamp Duty Holiday ! What was that all about 

zzzt

caprikid1 said:

"I've been viewing houses for 3 months now (dozens of them). So far every estate agent has just asked me for my own address and what my situation is (e.g. do I need to sell, am I buying with a mortgage)."

That seems an incredible amount of houses for a motivated buyer , that is dozens of people inconvenienced !!!. Not sure I have ever got into double figures of viewings.

Are you joking? Buying a house is the biggest purchase of your life, not something you do on a whim. I want to find a house that meets my criteria. I did already find one (after about 8 viewings) and the purchase fell through because the valuation came back under.

Unfortunately a lot of the houses I've viewed in the last 2 weeks have been very disappointing because it's the sellers who LIE with their pictures and not being honest about how much a house needs modernising or the state it's in, and in many cases they are not worth the asking price. Maybe buyers should be able to ask for proof of a valuation so that their time is not wasted.

When I was selling my house I did viewings for 12 people. I actually accepted one of the earliest offers but I was ACTUALLY motivated to sell so I would do anything and inconvenience myself to let people view it. I'm not gonna turn potential buyers away. Have you ever even bought/sold a house?

Sandtree

zzzt said:

But I've recently had an estate agent who said in order to view the property I had to provide the following:

• agreement in principle

Agreement in principle to what?

If you've been searching for 3 months you already know if its normal or not but ultimately if those are the conditions to engage with this property its either your choice to do it or try and contact the vendor directly but they may well push you back to the agent (its what they are paying them for after all). In a sellers market they can be picky over who they show to etc if they want.

I've only come across it once but it was the sort of property that I'd still be short of the deposit if I sold all of my organs. 

zzzt

Sandtree said:

Agreement in principle to what?

For my mortgage. I have no problem with sending that, it's more the rest of it which seemed a bit much.

I'm looking for a quick purchase and don't have time to faff around. When I proved all of this to the estate agent for the purchase that fell through it took about a week of forwarding various emails, screenshots of bank statements and stuff. Getting my solicitor to contact them about the chain information seemed particularly excessive, I don't have time to wait for that.

Mahsroh

caprikid1 said:

"I've been viewing houses for 3 months now (dozens of them). So far every estate agent has just asked me for my own address and what my situation is (e.g. do I need to sell, am I buying with a mortgage)."

That seems an incredible amount of houses for a motivated buyer , that is dozens of people inconvenienced !!!. Not sure I have ever got into double figures of viewings.

We viewed 7 when we bought ours but felt we dropped lucky early in our search - it could easily have been more. Yes "dozens" seems potentially excessive but double figures seems perfectly plausible. 

Plus in the current market most houses had a significant number of viewings and all 7 we viewed were under offer within days of us viewing, so even a "motivated buyer" can easily get into double figures without having an offer accepted - but not necessarily for the want of trying. 

Back to the original post, we never had THAT level of detail but most EA's asked for our status in terms of us being proceedable. One wanted a copy of our Mortgage AIP prior to the viewing which we gave them. Everything else on your list was only ever asked for at the point of offer though. Ultimately though if that's what they want to see and you want to view the property, you don't have much of a choice. 

zzzt

Sandtree said:

If you've been searching for 3 months

I should clarify the 3 months thing, because a lot of people seem to take umbrage with it.

I searched for 2 weeks before Christmas and then made an offer which was accepted. The sale fell through in the last week of January so I began looking again for the last week. So "3 months" was not 3 months of solid looking, I meant it more to indicate that I have experience of dealing with many estate agents. I'm looking in a lot of different locations so every house I view is with a different estate agent.

I'm not a time waster, I am desperately looking to buy a house as quickly as possible.

Mahsroh

Sandtree said:

I've only come across it once but it was the sort of property that I'd still be short of the deposit if I sold all of my organs. 

Interesting point this. I know someone who worked for a Central London EA who only sold properties for 7 figures or more.... most very high end. I asked the question out of curiosity as to what was required paperwork wise to view a property to stop the time wasters / people wanting to have a nosy round an expensive house and her response was shockingly.....nothing! If they got a call to say "i'd like to arrange a viewing of that £10m property in Knightsbridge please" the answer was usually "of course" with no questions asked! This was pre pandemic and in a different type of market, but still. 

caprikid1

"because it's the sellers who LIE with their pictures"

Not sure how a picture can lie but I will bow to your greater wisdom.

Ksw3

I'd say half of the estate agents we have spoken to requested the AIP before booking a viewing. It's a crazy market here been beaten by offers £20k over asking on a few occasions now.