Viewings - Accompanied or not?

Kyrae

I prefer it when the seller shows me around, so I can ask lots of questions, and then ideally the seller leaves me to it so I can have another wander without distractions. Best of both worlds Only had one estate agent showing and he couldn't answer most of my questions and didn't seem to know anything about the house! 

lookstraightahead

I never want the owner showing me round. Don't feel as if I can check things out.

Snookie12cat

If an agent is doing it I find it incredibly weird when the vendor is just hanging around in the house. 
If I am viewing and the owner is doing the viewing then I expect only them to be there doing it, I don't want their family just sitting around as it makes people uncomftable.

twoLou

I’d much rather the agent showed me around. It keeps it much more impersonal which I prefer and I ask lots of questions about the vendors position ie where they are going, have they found etc as that is important to me and my own sale. The agents will always find out and get back with answers to any questions they aren’t sure about with the house itself.

Ramouth

Snookie12cat said:

If an agent is doing it I find it incredibly weird when the vendor is just hanging around in the house. 
If I am viewing and the owner is doing the viewing then I expect only them to be there doing it, I don't want their family just sitting around as it makes people uncomftable.

Me too.  Happy with agent lead viewings or owner lead viewings but hated agent lead viewings with the owners peering at us from the garden etc.  It feels weird.  And is really distracting.  It feels a little like you should be putting on a show as an attractive buyer.

eddddy

So it seems to be a mix - some people much prefer an EA to show them round, and some much prefer the seller. So it's hard to choose.


Most EAs I deal with prefer to to do the viewings, but that's because they don't trust sellers to do a good job. (Maybe they're a bit arrogant!)

The EAs I deal with usually devise a 'viewing strategy' - what order to show rooms, what to say before showing something 'bad', etc.


For example,

• An EA said to me that sellers often show the best rooms first (e.g. master bedroom), and the worst rooms last (e.g. box room bedroom).
• But the EA does it the other way round - as the last rooms you see, tend to stick in your mind more. (And the viewing finishes on a 'high' rather than finishing on an 'anti-climax')

But maybe you think that's all nonsense, and/or a seller can work that out for themselves.

ironlady2022

eddddy said:

So it seems to be a mix - some people much prefer an EA to show them round, and some much prefer the seller. So it's hard to choose.


Most EAs I deal with prefer to to do the viewings, but that's because they don't trust sellers to do a good job. (Maybe they're a bit arrogant!)

The EAs I deal with usually devise a 'viewing strategy' - what order to show rooms, what to say before showing something 'bad', etc.


For example,

• An EA said to me that sellers often show the best rooms first (e.g. master bedroom), and the worst rooms last (e.g. box room bedroom).
• But the EA does it the other way round - as the last rooms you see, tend to stick in your mind more. (And the viewing finishes on a 'high' rather than finishing on an 'anti-climax')

But maybe you think that's all nonsense, and/or a seller can work that out for themselves.

That's super useful. Thank you so much! I've noted it down and I'm happy to do some viewings. 

TBagpuss

This is one which people have strong and differing views on - personally, I'd let the agents do the viewings but if you have anyone wanting a second viewing then perhaps be present for those.

As a buyer, it always felt really awkward having the seller there - I was viewing as a single person so mostly didn't have anyone with me,  but if you do have someone with you then it's much more awkward not to be able to point possible issues / things you might want / need to change out to each other as you go round.

I definitely had a couple of viewings where had I just been with the agent, I would have been in and out within a couple of minutes as it was clear on arrival it wasn't going to work, but because the owner was there I didn't feel able to  leave quite so quickly. 

As a seller it wasn't really practical for me to be present as I work full time so it was have massively limited when viewings could take place, so I made clear to the agents that I needed 24 hours notice of any viewings so I could ensure that the house was 'viewing ready' and also let them know that I could arrange to be there for second viewings if necessary. (The time before I was selling at a distance so no chance of being present)

I have to say, while agents often didn't know the answers to questions I found that with the properties I looked at where the sellers did the viewings, they often couldn't or wouldn't answer questions either (although I did have one hilarious viewing where the seller took me round and conscientiously pointed out all the issues to me, and chatted away about the awkward neighbours, while the agents kept trying to change the subject. Since It was ne where I had decided immediately I wasn't interested (new onto the market with only a few photos and 'more to follow' - immediately obvious that they'd deliberately only shown photos or f the 2 rooms which were presentable, not the the others which needed a lot of work, which I'd made clear wasn't something i was interested in...)

So my recommendation would be let the agents do the 1st viewings, but let them know that you would like to be present for any 2nd viewing and are willing to answer questions if anyone has any follow up questions after viewing. 

london21

Estate agents more neutral and less pressure. 

ironlady2022

Thank you for everyone's responses, think I will just let the estate agent do it!