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People who don't turn up for viewings
Comments
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When we were house hunting 10 years ago, we wanted to view a particular property which was vacant at the time. It was therefore going to be the estate agents who showed us around. We got there early and waited for ages, but it was the estate agent who didn't turn up, they left us waiting there!!!!!
We didn't use that EA again, .......CARPE DIEMaut viam inveniam aut faciamBe sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour0 -
Having read this thread, it has got me thinking and I'd appreciate opinions on this one please...
With one exception, we always go inside and view a property we have an appointment for even when we arrive and are convinced from the area and/or outside that it is not for us. I consider it extremely rude and inconsiderate not to show up or cancel at the last moment for an appointment I have made. However, on one occassion, when we had appointments to view two very similar houses on the same road, having viewed the first one, we knew without a doubt we would not be interested in either of them. There was a couple of hours to go before the second viewing so we rang the EA and cancelled the second viewing. My opinion at the time was that it would be kinder to the vendor to cancel then (so s/he could go out or whatever) than to waste his/her time showing us round when we definitely wouldn't buy. I'm interested to know if sellers share that opinion!
What about when you walk into a house and within seconds know that this is 'not the one'. Do you still go all round making polite noises (possibly getting someone's hopes up) or do you risk upsetting the vendor by saying as politely as possible, 'Thank you very much but I can already see that this isn't the property for me' and leave before seeing everything?
I find it sooooooooo hard to be in a house thinking 'this is a dump that I wouldn't touch with a bargepole' while an enthsuiastic and often very proud vendor is telling me how lovely it all is and what a wonderful DIY job he has done. I find myself making vacuous comments about it being 'nice' when that is the opposite to what I'm really thinking!“A journey is best measured in friends, not in miles.”
(Tim Cahill)0 -
I think it is better to cancel at short notice than to view a house you know you don't want.
I also think if a house really isn't for you then it is probably fair to say so but more polite after being shown around I think. Somebody told me on an old house of ours, straight out that upstairs wasn't big enough for her and actually I was quite relieved that I didn't have to wait for the feedback. I have also told vendors that I'm very sorry, you have a lovely home but it just isn't right for me. If I don't like it when being shown around I will try to point out really randomly plus points like a good size room, a handy plug point, start pointing out of the window or talk about something completely different. I'm happy for people to think me a bit odd and know I'm not really intersted than have to pretend and let them spend days waiting for an offerI know how it feels.
I'm just wondering whether people who pretend are more annoying than people who don't turn up, LOL!
When I was eight months pregnant, a woman spent an hour and a half in my house going nuts. She wanted to make an offer there and then etc. and then it never came to anything. They used to slink past us into the pub afterwards. Someone tell me what's fair about doing that to a pregnant woman? :mad:
EDIT: I added quite a lot - this has become a rant!Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
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As an EA I'm finding this thread interesting. We always accompany viewings, even out of hours, we realise people need to work to pay the mortgage.
On our details, we ask people to drive past the property, before making an appointment to view (not feasible for all). This statement has been on the details for at least ten years, but for some reason we have had a big increase in the number of people ringing us and asking us why we have this on our details, as other agents don't. Many assume it is because the property is in a 'rough' area. Its got to the point that we were thinking of removing the statement from our details. However, having read this I've decided to keep it on the details.
We also ring viewers on the morning of the appointment to confirm that they will be at the property, at the set time. If you are suffering from a number of no shows, it may be worth asking you agent to do this with your property. This doesn't mean that people don't always turn up, I had two no shows on Saturday. Frustrating for all concerned.0 -
Cheers Jorgan. You are right with your statement, butit just goes to show that peopel aren't particularly insightful on the whole.
I do wonder why people don't bother with a drive past. I called about a house the other day as the full details aren't (and still aren't on rightmove). She wanted to book me in but I said no as I wanted to drive past but also wanted at least the bedroom dimensions before I wasted any of the vendor's time. It's my time too but it was my main thought not to put people through undue stress.
Perhaps people think they are too busy to bother with a drive past so just book a viewing anyway, and then are obviously too busy to even view once they get there!Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
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Doozergirl wrote: »I'm just wondering whether people who pretend are more annoying than people who don't turn up, LOL!
When I was eight months pregnant, a woman spent an hour and a half in my house going nuts. She wanted to make an offer there and then etc. and then it never came to anything. They used to slink past us into the pub afterwards. Someone tell me what's fair about doing that to a pregnant woman? :mad:
EDIT: I added quite a lot - this has become a rant!
I learnt something very quickly when I became an EA, empty vessels make the most noise.
As for details not being on Rightmove, the agent may delay putting the full details on the web until the vendor has approved the details & signed them off.0 -
Having read this thread, it has got me thinking and I'd appreciate opinions on this one please...
With one exception, we always go inside and view a property we have an appointment for even when we arrive and are convinced from the area and/or outside that it is not for us. I consider it extremely rude and inconsiderate not to show up or cancel at the last moment for an appointment I have made. However, on one occassion, when we had appointments to view two very similar houses on the same road, having viewed the first one, we knew without a doubt we would not be interested in either of them. There was a couple of hours to go before the second viewing so we rang the EA and cancelled the second viewing. My opinion at the time was that it would be kinder to the vendor to cancel then (so s/he could go out or whatever) than to waste his/her time showing us round when we definitely wouldn't buy. I'm interested to know if sellers share that opinion!
What about when you walk into a house and within seconds know that this is 'not the one'. Do you still go all round making polite noises (possibly getting someone's hopes up) or do you risk upsetting the vendor by saying as politely as possible, 'Thank you very much but I can already see that this isn't the property for me' and leave before seeing everything?
I find it sooooooooo hard to be in a house thinking 'this is a dump that I wouldn't touch with a bargepole' while an enthsuiastic and often very proud vendor is telling me how lovely it all is and what a wonderful DIY job he has done. I find myself making vacuous comments about it being 'nice' when that is the opposite to what I'm really thinking!
Whilst the best thing to do would be to politely explain that you are not interested as soon as possible (often when you walk through the door), like you we spend as little time as could be considered polite, also making vacuous noises whilst desperately looking for an exit.
I suspect it's the British in us:o0 -
As an EA I'm finding this thread interesting. We always accompany viewings, even out of hours, we realise people need to work to pay the mortgage.
On our details, we ask people to drive past the property, before making an appointment to view (not feasible for all). This statement has been on the details for at least ten years, but for some reason we have had a big increase in the number of people ringing us and asking us why we have this on our details, as other agents don't. Many assume it is because the property is in a 'rough' area. Its got to the point that we were thinking of removing the statement from our details. However, having read this I've decided to keep it on the details.
We also ring viewers on the morning of the appointment to confirm that they will be at the property, at the set time. If you are suffering from a number of no shows, it may be worth asking you agent to do this with your property. This doesn't mean that people don't always turn up, I had two no shows on Saturday. Frustrating for all concerned.
Absolutely right.
We always drive past first if the house is local. If it isn't local then we do as much research as possible such as checking aerial photos to check for main roads and other blemishes to save wasting anyones time.
At the end of the day you can only do so much though. You still can't research that feeling you get when you walk through the door.0 -
One way would be to arrange a viewing / open house for say a Saturday afternoon. Anyone can come along, no appointment necessary....it might work.
For rentals, as I live very close to my BTL's I always ask that the people viewing are to phone me about 15 minutes BEFORE they are going to arrive at the property. That way I can always ensure its ME thats late and not THEM.0 -
Its not just buyers who are no shows, sellers do it too. We viewed a house we really liked so made another appt to view for the following weekend. The vendor wasn't there. On phoning the EA they said they were just going to call us *yeah right* as the vendor had had to go out. We set up another one after swapping all phone numbers with the vendor. We turned up again but they were out again! Despite having both our home number and mobile they couldn't be bothered to let us know. Despite all this we had an offer accepted on the house but it fell through.....we should have known it would.
When viewing properties we would turn up about 20 mins before we were due to get a look at the area. If we didn't like what we saw we phoned the EA to cancel. 20 minutes isn't much notice I know but its better than not turning up at all. If we were running late I called the EA to let the vendor know but sometimes they didn't bother.
Nenen, the following experience is the only one we didn't go round making polite noises and told the vendor straight.
On the way to a house the EA called to warn us that the house might not be exactly clean.When we got there the vendors son turned up to show us around. It was presented on rightmove beautifully....the pictures were obviously taken before the tennants moved in, as we soon found out. As soon as we got in the front door the stench hit us. It was like something had died. The place was absolutely filthy. We looked around the downstairs then as the smell was so bad I asked to go round the garden before we went upstairs. I told the vendors son rather bluntly that there was no way were we looking upstairs and I couldn't believe his parents were trying to sell the property in the state it was in. I think they sent the son as they were so embarassed.
We gave our feedback to the EA and she said someone had viewed the house the day before and didn't think it was too bad :eek: Good lord, the smell hung to our clothes all the way home.
Usually though we would go round saying how nice it was but then we would call the EA with our feedback and say it wasn't the one for us so the vendor wouldn't be waiting too long for the offer that wasn't going to come.:heart2: Love isn't finding someone you can live with. It's finding someone you can't live without :heart2:0
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