What are your worst or weirdest experiences from a vendor hosting the viewings?

TheJP

My brother viewed a house where the sellers thought a mixer style event would be a good idea, basically 10 people who all wanted to buy the house awkwardly mingling in the garden with drinks whilst viewing the house. He said it was like being in a room with 10 of your ex girlfriends together. 

Former_MSE_Will

I once went to view a flat with a friend, and it contained a bit of a surprise. When we got there the agent knocked on the door, nobody answered, we went in, the agent shouted "hello?" and nobody answered (you can probably tell where this is going). We looked round the flat - living room was big, kitchen was nice, bedroom 1 was fine, then when we went into the second bedroom there was someone fast asleep in bed... which was a bit awkward! Anyway, we liked the flat and when we eventually moved in there were no more shocks  

GentleGiant01

When I was viewing houses to move back to the city I was born in (in Edinburgh), the vendors happily let me in and was showing me around the house. 

They were really happy until I told them I was moving from Derby and they decided that the viewing was over because they don’t want “those English folk” buying all the housing! 

I said to them I was from Edinburgh and even have a broad accent to which they responded with “well; obviously you’re pretending!!”

The house was still on 9 months later 😂

TBagpuss

I posted on the previous thread about viewing a property with the agent, but the owner was there, and conscientiously showed me all the flaws in the property and told me all about the neighbours. 
My viewing was a total waste of time as it was much more of a project that I was interested in, and neighbouring houses had a right of access across the garden which was a dealbreaker for me, so I was able to relax and enjoy the entertainment. (Although I did suggest to the agent afterwards that they they the  access point clear in the listing) 

I did also do another viewing where the owners teenage son, was asleep in bed when we did the viewing at about 2 p.m. The room absolutely stank of unwashed socks overlaid with Lynx.  The seller was three - I think in there position even if i couldn't get the teen out of bed I would have  opened the window to air the room out a bit, and perhaps have picked up all the directly clothes from the floor! 

My parents had one couple ho came to view their house who kept saying (as in, 15-20 times during the course of the viewing) "Wow, you have a lot of books" - which is true, they do, but all the bookshelves were shown in the photos, and they made the same comment multiple times in each room. Another viewer asked them what they did to stop the cows coming into the garden. While standing next to the solidly built stone wall between the garden and the field

tetrarch

Just for balance, we viewed a property for my daughter a week ago. Mrs Tet and I got an early EA-accompanied look around on Thursday and then we went back mob-handed the next day, this time we met the Vendors (probate sale), one of whom actually only live three doors away.

This wasn't a viewing, this was an interview. The experience was incredible as they were delightful people and we put in a asking-price offer later the same day. We must have passed the interview as they took the property off the market and cancelled an open house/ EA  cascade of bookings the next day.

Regards

Tet

 

Folksriker

Estate agent one, but we walked in and the alarm immediately starts going off, Estate Agent says "what's that noise?" My partner interjects that it is probably the burglar alarm, which the Estate Agent assures us is impossible because there is no burglar alarm here. We look around the kitchen while being deafened by the noise and find the alarm panel, flashing away. EA continues to insist they've been told there's no alarm, but eventually after much persuasion calls the office. No alarm code there either. We complete a cursory viewing with our fingers in our ears and leave, alarm still blaring away...

Soot2006

We had a weird one - really precious vendor who permitted access only in socks. I am actually fine with that in principle as some places are pristine, but in this case the whole house was SO FILTHY I could feel bits crunching underfoot and I think I threw away the socks afterwards.

natasha22

In general I've much preferred our owner viewings. Its a bit awkward if your trying to point out a worrying crack or dodgy renovation to your partner but in general they are really helpful.

It's been useful to have the owner on hand to answer questions, rather than an agent hazarding a guess which you can already tell is wrong

Owners have been mine on information eg. We chose this layout because its really nice when the sun hits. Sometimes they are too honest!

We've had multiple viewings where they've been telling us about errors in the house or slagging off the neighbours or even saying stuff like "I hate this sofa but my wife loves it"

Our worst have been when people clearly don't want to move. We viewed a tenanted property where they were having a bbq with friends as we viewed, and a really sad one where the guy was getting divorced. We must of spent an hour with this guy telling us the grand plans that he had when he remortgaged only for his wife to have an affair, he told us about how he was struggling and "couldn't face" viewing flats for himself, loss of family life etc all while his kids were proudly showing up their bedrooms asking if we would buy it


We also had one where the owner had puppies. We loved the house so we sat through some graphic descriptions of birth including him lubricating bits and pieces. He didn't accept our offer and Its a description that will stay with me

Woolsery

Not all agents are useless. We invited one to value a few weeks ago and he not only remembered exactly what the house was like 13 years ago before we totally re-jigged and extended it, but he also knew and remembered details of 3 houses I'd lived in as a child 50-60 years ago and sold within his time as an EA ....say about 35 years.

I'd say something like "We lived in Kestrel View around 1962-67." and he'd reply, "Oh, sold that about 5 years back, good spot, Mrs Robinson....she  went to Bideford. It's between Green Pastures and that funny thatched one at the end of Darky Lane.....err Chuzzlewits, isn't it?"

He was like a human version of Rightmove Sold Prices. If we ever sell up, he gets the job!

Carrot007

Woolsery said:

The agent's response?  "You're blacklisted!" He didn't  survive the Crash of 2008-9. The nursery was eventually sold and re-built as a small garden centre. I think it still struggles, but there really are plants there and they're alive !

Ohh that's harsh.

I did view a house one where the couple selling wanted 10k more than they bought it for 2 years ago despite obviouly not having cleaned it once. I said as much to the agent and they agreed.