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Signs of a serious viewer

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steve_jones
steve_jones Posts: 37 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
Hi,

Just had a viewing on my property, the viewer bought a family member around aswel, is there any signs of a serious viewer and what to look out for?
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Comments

  • IAmWales
    IAmWales Posts: 2,024 Forumite
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    They'll be carrying a yellow rose and a copy of the Financial Times under their right arm.
  • Mickygg
    Mickygg Posts: 1,737 Forumite
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    IMO you can't tell if any first viewing is serious. I have been told before when selling that the family want to come round as they know the road and are very interested in the house......only to be told it's not the road for them!!

    You just won't know which one is serious unless they put an offer in.
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    Not really. There are properties I've viewed which I already knew ticked all the boxes, so I probably wouldn't have spent much time or asked many questions. Why are you trying to guess whether they're a "serious viewer" anyway? A serious viewer might not like your property, a silly viewer might buy it.
  • Pumpkim
    Pumpkim Posts: 214 Forumite
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    We had three offers and I predicted all three. I could just tell they genuinely liked the place. They were pretty enthusiastic compared to all the other viewers who said the right things but were giving nothing away.
  • robatwork
    robatwork Posts: 7,092 Forumite
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    Just read this thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=73100762#post73100762

    What it proves is that you can't tell who is a serious viewer. Just accept some viewers will be nosey !!!!!!s (who may conversely look very interested) and the ones looking disinterested may well be your buyer.

    Alone, en famille, young, old, male, female, quick, slow...if you're selling you have to assume they are all "the one".
  • Natbag
    Natbag Posts: 1,563 Forumite
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    What pumpkin said.
    I think viewers spending longer in your property, making positive comments, speaking as though they were imagining themselves living there and generally appearing enthusiastic are all good signs. Also, buyers who say they are in a good position to buy - ie no house to sell, or offer already accepted on their existing property, deposit in place, mortgage in principle agreed, etc.
    But then you'll always get people who don't give anything away - they may be keeping their best poker face to try drive a better bargain later.
    Property buying/selling timeline - currently into week 21
    04/12/20: Both properties listed for sale
    11/01/21: Offers accepted on both sales & on our joint purchase
     25/01/21: Identity checks completed, solicitors instructed
     27/01/21: Purchase survey & valuation complete, mortgage offer received 
     05/02/21: Reduction agreed on partner's sale (under-valuation) & on purchase. Mortgage offer amended
     08/02/21: Buyers pack returned to solicitor - sellers packs already returned
    26/02/21: Partner's sale contract signed
    10/03/21: Purchase searches all back
    16/03/21: My sale contract signed
    28/03/21: Purchase enquiries satisfied, Title Report & contracts issued, contracts signed & returned
    11/05/21: Still waiting on final enquiry in the adjoining chain to be resolved. Consent to break the chain granted, instruction to move to exchange given.
    17/05/21: All parties agreed to June 3rd for completion
    27/05/21: Exchanged on my sale only
    28/05/21: ALL EXCHANGED!
    03/06/21: Completion
  • freeisgood
    freeisgood Posts: 549 Forumite
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    During first/second viewing... bringing a tape measure and making notes/taking photos of plug socket positions. Very good sign.
  • steve_jones
    steve_jones Posts: 37 Forumite
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    Thanks for the replies, the viewer was asking the usual questions:
    What are the neighbors like?
    Do you hear any noise?
    Why are you selling?
    Asking information about the hearing etc.

    It is hard to judge if someones genuine unless they obviously give it away.

    The way I see house viewing is these days with the internet everyone has all the information to hand. So a viewer should know if they are serious when booking a viewing. As long as the EA has provided a decent description, photos and the price is fine then there should be little to put people off when they turn up to view. Especially if the area is nice and the property has been cleaned and tidied.
  • Natbag
    Natbag Posts: 1,563 Forumite
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    Our two viewers from last week, one had a house to sell that wasn't even on the market yet, and the other clearly hadn't done her homework. She couldn't remember the list price and was in and out in 10 minutes. Neither serious.
    Taking notes, that's another good one from freeisgood. We've just accepted an offer on ours again and the couple made notes - they had seen 6 properties that day though, so probably needed to just to remember details of each one separately!
    Those questions are definitely questions you would ask if you had decided you liked the property and were seriously considering buying it. Fingers crossed for you!
    Property buying/selling timeline - currently into week 21
    04/12/20: Both properties listed for sale
    11/01/21: Offers accepted on both sales & on our joint purchase
     25/01/21: Identity checks completed, solicitors instructed
     27/01/21: Purchase survey & valuation complete, mortgage offer received 
     05/02/21: Reduction agreed on partner's sale (under-valuation) & on purchase. Mortgage offer amended
     08/02/21: Buyers pack returned to solicitor - sellers packs already returned
    26/02/21: Partner's sale contract signed
    10/03/21: Purchase searches all back
    16/03/21: My sale contract signed
    28/03/21: Purchase enquiries satisfied, Title Report & contracts issued, contracts signed & returned
    11/05/21: Still waiting on final enquiry in the adjoining chain to be resolved. Consent to break the chain granted, instruction to move to exchange given.
    17/05/21: All parties agreed to June 3rd for completion
    27/05/21: Exchanged on my sale only
    28/05/21: ALL EXCHANGED!
    03/06/21: Completion
  • StumpyPumpy
    StumpyPumpy Posts: 1,458 Forumite
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    Last time we were in the market to buy I took a clipboard to take notes, a camera to take pictures and had a list of questions I wanted to ask. Some were actually answered in the listing but I wanted to hear the owner/estate agent answer them (we often got a different story!) As we were moving countries we got as many viewings in as we could spread across a long weekend. Some we were very interested in, some we might have been persuaded about and others were really non-starters but as we were in the area already we filled our schedule.

    Notes were taken in all of them, photos were taken (with permission) and questions were asked in all of them but there was really no way of telling which ones we were actually interested in. In fact the property we ended up buying had the fewest notes and least questions asked of them all.

    Everyone is different, you won't know if buyers are serious until an offer comes in. And sometimes not even then.

    SP
    Come on people, it's not difficult: lose means to be unable to find, loose means not being fixed in place. So if you have a hole in your pocket you might lose your loose change.
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