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

bex2012

We viewed a house where every bedroom had strategically placed “upmarket” shopping bags on a ottoman at the foot of the bed. Each ottoman contained exactly seven bags - extra large, 3 medium, 2 small and one micro-small (all empty). Think companies like Jo Malone or The White Company. They probably thought it looked upmarket and aspirational, I just thought it looked like a job lot from ebay, & all fur coat and no knickers.

Abbafan1972

JuanBallOfWimbledon said:

Last year we viewed a house we really liked and we were willing (and able) to pay over asking if all was ok on viewing. Well, the owner answered the door and took a full 30 seconds looking the wife and I up and down before even saying hello. It felt like the longest 30 seconds in history. He then introduced his wife who asked which car was ours, then spent the same amount of time quietly assessing it. The whole way round the house they made comments about it being an ‘upscale neighbourhood’ and ‘an area full of professionals’. They had a Merc in the drive, the wife was dripping in jewellery, they had crystals and shiny shi*e literally everywhere and a big Chanel wall sticker above the bed.  We’d not even been in the car 10 minutes when the agent called to say that before he’d even hear an offer from us, they wanted to see proof of funds. We’d viewed a few others with them and never had that before, I can only assume our attire and beat up old Citroen made them assume we were far too poor to buy their 3 bed semi. It sold pretty quickly, but came back on the market shortly after the SDLT holiday ended. It’s still up now. 

Another time we viewed a house and the woman was showing us round the bedrooms, one of which had a sleeping teenage boy in. She proceeded to literally scream at him to get his ‘lazy !!!! up and have a shower, you smelly little !!!!’. We didn’t know where to put ourselves but she carried on showing us round like nothing had happened. 

JuanBallOfWimbledon said:

Last year we viewed a house we really liked and we were willing (and able) to pay over asking if all was ok on viewing. Well, the owner answered the door and took a full 30 seconds looking the wife and I up and down before even saying hello. It felt like the longest 30 seconds in history. He then introduced his wife who asked which car was ours, then spent the same amount of time quietly assessing it. The whole way round the house they made comments about it being an ‘upscale neighbourhood’ and ‘an area full of professionals’. They had a Merc in the drive, the wife was dripping in jewellery, they had crystals and shiny shi*e literally everywhere and a big Chanel wall sticker above the bed.  We’d not even been in the car 10 minutes when the agent called to say that before he’d even hear an offer from us, they wanted to see proof of funds. We’d viewed a few others with them and never had that before, I can only assume our attire and beat up old Citroen made them assume we were far too poor to buy their 3 bed semi. It sold pretty quickly, but came back on the market shortly after the SDLT holiday ended. It’s still up now. 

Another time we viewed a house and the woman was showing us round the bedrooms, one of which had a sleeping teenage boy in. She proceeded to literally scream at him to get his ‘lazy !!!! up and have a shower, you smelly little !!!!’. We didn’t know where to put ourselves but she carried on showing us round like nothing had happened. 

What does SDLT mean please? 

Woolsery

Carrot007 said:

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 !

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.

Had one a bit like that in deepest Wales, though the couple were well over 80 and hadn't been able to get upstairs for a few years.Their kids had told them not to 'give the house away' but they hadn't helped their parents to clean! It had been on the market for 2 years when we viewed; not excessive in that area though. Potentially nice under all the grime, I reckoned £100k under asking could fix it, so that was offered, and rejected.

It did sell......3 years later and at the exact price we thought right. I  wonder who benefited from that cash, as the old dears were literally on their last legs when we visited. Sad!

Slithery

Abbafan1972 said:

JuanBallOfWimbledon said:

Last year we viewed a house we really liked and we were willing (and able) to pay over asking if all was ok on viewing. Well, the owner answered the door and took a full 30 seconds looking the wife and I up and down before even saying hello. It felt like the longest 30 seconds in history. He then introduced his wife who asked which car was ours, then spent the same amount of time quietly assessing it. The whole way round the house they made comments about it being an ‘upscale neighbourhood’ and ‘an area full of professionals’. They had a Merc in the drive, the wife was dripping in jewellery, they had crystals and shiny shi*e literally everywhere and a big Chanel wall sticker above the bed.  We’d not even been in the car 10 minutes when the agent called to say that before he’d even hear an offer from us, they wanted to see proof of funds. We’d viewed a few others with them and never had that before, I can only assume our attire and beat up old Citroen made them assume we were far too poor to buy their 3 bed semi. It sold pretty quickly, but came back on the market shortly after the SDLT holiday ended. It’s still up now. 

Another time we viewed a house and the woman was showing us round the bedrooms, one of which had a sleeping teenage boy in. She proceeded to literally scream at him to get his ‘lazy !!!! up and have a shower, you smelly little !!!!’. We didn’t know where to put ourselves but she carried on showing us round like nothing had happened. 

JuanBallOfWimbledon said:

Last year we viewed a house we really liked and we were willing (and able) to pay over asking if all was ok on viewing. Well, the owner answered the door and took a full 30 seconds looking the wife and I up and down before even saying hello. It felt like the longest 30 seconds in history. He then introduced his wife who asked which car was ours, then spent the same amount of time quietly assessing it. The whole way round the house they made comments about it being an ‘upscale neighbourhood’ and ‘an area full of professionals’. They had a Merc in the drive, the wife was dripping in jewellery, they had crystals and shiny shi*e literally everywhere and a big Chanel wall sticker above the bed.  We’d not even been in the car 10 minutes when the agent called to say that before he’d even hear an offer from us, they wanted to see proof of funds. We’d viewed a few others with them and never had that before, I can only assume our attire and beat up old Citroen made them assume we were far too poor to buy their 3 bed semi. It sold pretty quickly, but came back on the market shortly after the SDLT holiday ended. It’s still up now. 

Another time we viewed a house and the woman was showing us round the bedrooms, one of which had a sleeping teenage boy in. She proceeded to literally scream at him to get his ‘lazy !!!! up and have a shower, you smelly little !!!!’. We didn’t know where to put ourselves but she carried on showing us round like nothing had happened. 

What does SDLT mean please? 

Stamp Duty Land Tax.

andy444

Not really that weird but I went for a house viewing one time and the vendor left the radio on for around 90% of the time of the viewing and you could hear it throughout the house. Thought it was slightly rude at the time but thinking back I wonder if he was maybe hiding noisy neighbours.

housebuyer143

andy444 said:

Not really that weird but I went for a house viewing one time and the vendor left the radio on for around 90% of the time of the viewing and you could hear it throughout the house. Thought it was slightly rude at the time but thinking back I wonder if he was maybe hiding noisy neighbours.

My mum told me they had neighbors from hell who played loud music all day and night. She would put the horse racing on the TV during viewings to drown it out. 
Be very careful of background noise during a viewing.

ka7e

The vendor would be my Mother. My 89 year-old Mum has her house on the market and it takes meticulous planning to ensure she never has contact with potential buyers. Her house is being marketed as a "fixer-upper" and priced accordingly, but she has a list of defects she thinks buyers should be aware of. She thinks it would be only fair to point out the misty double-glazing, the ripped vinyl, the leaky lean-to roof, the ancient wiring and the foibles of the central heating. Then they would get her unexpurgated life story, her passionate views on UK politics and economy, Brexit etc and details of her ongoing feud with the neighbourhood cats digging up her flowerbeds.

We have a very understanding EA who coordinates viewings with me, and my sister who whisks Mum off before she can sabotage the whole process.

Skiddaw1

andy444 said:

Not really that weird but I went for a house viewing one time and the vendor left the radio on for around 90% of the time of the viewing and you could hear it throughout the house. Thought it was slightly rude at the time but thinking back I wonder if he was maybe hiding noisy neighbours.

That reminds me of a house we viewed. We arrived at the specified time and could here there was a radio on but the vendor didn't answer the door. We tried a few times and were about to give up when vendor finally opened the door in a very disgruntled fashion and grumpily told us we'd interrupted The Archers omnibus. Whilst showing us around the house vendor treated us to a diatribe against all the previous viewers and the EA ('Silly woman who wears ridiculous shoes')... we often wonder what vendor later said about us!

woahsoah

From the flip side.. I was renting a house out with the agent present, a few prospective tenants were visiting. One guy was left alone in the kitchen, he removed the boiler cover and was "checking it". He also went looking for a ladder so he could get up into the loft. Needless to say I didn't rent to him, he was obviously a nightmare in the making.

[Deleted User]

This is from the flipside but as an owner showing prospective buyers around. The first weekend of viewings and we had about 5 back to back I think. But luck would have it that it was the most horrific torrential rain there had been for a very long time and it was almost pitch black outside with rain seeming to come vertically and diagonally. 

The place was immaculate and I was happily showing the first couple around when we walked in to the conservatory for us to all literally have water dripping down our heads as we walked through the doorway and looked up to see leaking across the whole of the conservatory. I was absolutely dismayed, we'd never had it before but of course that sounded like a complete load of nonsense when I'm stood there with water dripping from me saying 'I'm so sorry, this has never happened before. Really!'. It was just the worst timing. And not even the last viewing - but the first. Two minutes before the viewing it had been bone dry.

My teenager and I had to rush and try and mop up bits and try and stop any water as best as we could in the ten minutes between viewings! I can't believe the buyers never mentioned it to the estate agents after.

Luckily it actually wasn't a huge fix so it was all sorted before the house actually sold but it was so stressful and embarrassing. I must have looked like a complete plonker!