We had our first viewing set for today at 17.30.

spent all day cleaning the house up and getting it nice and presentable and then………

no show !!

how frustrating is it, we could of gone off for the day, but instead we tried to be accomodating for a possible buyer!!

Kind of fed up tbh,been on the market since 8th april, took the EA 10 days to get brochures ready and the for sale board had the wrong number on until this thursday.anyway we have had absolutely no interest what so ever.

starting to think renting may not be a bad idea afterall

starting to think renting may not be a bad idea afterall

If you’re getting this stressed/affected by one no-show, then renting ISN’T going to be a good idea.

*and it’s could have gone out. 🙂

it’s only the 24th!

if this is stressing you out i think you’re in for a tough time

Renton – take it from someone who has just moved and had loads of this kind of dicking around.

1. Ditch your estate agent very quickly if you aren’t getting footfall.
2. Make a rule that only people who have their mortgage in principle AND a confirmed sale on their house or who are cash buyers are shown round. Insist on seeing the evidence yourself.
3. If tidying up every time is a pita then box up stuff you don’t use every day and stick it in the loft

I had 4 months of it!

Minimise the disruption eg if you have kids make THEM tidy up otherwise no pocket money. Put stuff in the loft/garage temporarily.

Stay on top of housework rather than letting it mount up! For example I had a few viewings at really short notice. In the end I gave the estate agent a key so that meant EVERY DAY it had to look reasonable. 🙄

In fact, I was getting so fed up that I even left a frame sitting on the lounge floor cos I cba’d putting it somewhere!

Also, if you feel people are wasting your time during a viewing, rush them through and get them out the door.

Good points made by yossarian.

One of the reasons I took my house off the market and said **** it! Even banned one woman from coming back because she failed to show twice! Also as yossarian said, no viewings unless they are ready to exchange, pointless exercise otherwise!!

Also as yossarian said, no viewings unless they are ready to exchange, pointless exercise otherwise!!

I don’t understand that fully, often I don’t know what I want until I see it, so I’d have to view a lot of houses until I get to that gut feeling, love at first sight thing. If I feel that I won’t have a problem getting the money together and don’t see any need to demonstrate my significant wealth to a stranger, I won’t. If a seller puts up too many barriers and makes things difficult, I’ll go elsewhere. Isn’t it difficult enough trying to sell at the moment without putting off potential bauyers?

We moved stuff into storage (as we were moving to a deadline sale or not) had a couple of no shows which were annoying so got the mobile number for all who were coming after that. One said we wernt in (guess they sat in the car waiting for someone to find them) Couple of times we cancelled at short notice but that was mainly because the ad was “slightly misleading” and after a quick walk round decided it was a no. Make sure your ad is good to avoid people coming round and driving off

I don’t understand that fully, often I don’t know what I want until I see it, so I’d have to view a lot of houses until I get to that gut feeling, love at first sight thing. If I feel that I won’t have a problem getting the money together and don’t see any need to demonstrate my significant wealth to a stranger, I won’t. If a seller puts up too many barriers and makes things difficult, I’ll go elsewhere. Isn’t it difficult enough trying to sell at the moment without putting off potential bauyers?

There you go, classic timewaster 😉

I do know what you mean DS, but look at it like this;

I want to sell my house. I may well need to move quickly because I’ve got my eye on a another house. I have a limited amount of time. I really dont care that much who buys my house as long as they don’t piss me about. If giving me evidence that you are either well advanced in your sale or have cash is ‘putting up a barrier’ then I don’t think you are serious and I’d rather make an effort for someone who is.

There you go, classic timewaster

And that is something you’ll never know. 😉 😀

Maybe not, but if the guy behind you has the funding and is cool about proving it, I’ll accommodate him over you every single time. Selling and buying houses is a PITA for all involved. My experiences have taught me to keep it clean, simple and weighted in your favour.

DS might be a timewaster – but he’s a viewer compared to zero viewers right now. So even if he’s not interested and gives some feedback it might be useful. Even if he’s not in a position to complete his interest might generate a bit of momentum in the other people viewing who feel its popular and had better not dither. And if you refuse him a viewing, he falls in love with something else and eventually buys that 3 months later but your property is still on the market and getting very few viewings how will you feel then?

Time wasting sellers, I know first impressions count and all that, but come on! 🙄

Now where can I spend my EuroMillions? 😉

Ok Poly, in your exact scenario you are right.

Let me give you a different one. Estate agent shows chap around house. Chap very interested. Chap arranges second viewing a week later telling estate agent he is a cash buyer (estate agent doesn’t check). Chap puts asking price offer in which is subject to the house being taken off the market. Seller agrees and goes off to put an offer in on a house he wants. A week passes. Chap says he’s on hols. Another week passes. Chap stops answering his phone. Another week passes. Sellers new place goes back on the Market as chain has collapsed because of time waster.

This kind of thing happens a lot.

Better to have one serious buyer than 20 carpet treaders. It doesn’t matter how much interest there is in a property if no one has the money to buy it.

Other scenario, Buyer views a house, buyer likes the house and the offer is accepted. Everything in place so effectively a cash buyer. Buyer goes on holiday for a week and gets a call from agent. In spite of offer being accepted there is now another player who is offering full price. If I want to buy I have to increase my offer. Rat smelled! If they’re offering full price let them go with it as I don’t think the house is worth it.
2 years later house still not sold, **** chancer!

Better to have one serious buyer than 20 carpet treaders. It doesn’t matter how much interest there is in a property if no one has the money to buy it.

You’re asking too much. 😉

DS – yep been in a very similar situation and dis the same as you.

Your house is only worth what someone will pay for it. We took a hit on our last place but managed to pass most of it down the chain. Helped I think that we had all finances and stuff in place before we started and didn’t try and bluff anyone.

The system is the problem allowing people to jerk both buyers and sellers around.
If I’m driving around and I see your house with a For Sale sign on it and like the look, I might just knock on your door without an appointment. I don’t care if it’s untidy, I can see beyond that, but if you get shirty or tell me to make an appointment, that’s one sure fire way NOT to sell a house to me. Selling requires work.

Oh god yes selling or buying a house can be a massive ballache. Two years ago I was pipped by someone else who wanted the same house, they ended up offering just over the asking price. It’s back on the market now at £35K more than they bought it for – lunacy.

Both the first house we bought, and our current house, we decided we wanted them before we went inside. We did a drive-by before we went to the estate agents.

And when we got inside our present house, it was a total shihtole. So don’t kid yourself that the fresh flowers, baking bread and fresh coffee smells do anything. Let alone the pants on the banister.

if you have something for sale then prospective buyers now matter how unlikely is what you have to deal with..

as a supplier of anything when dealing with the great british public you got to do it with a smile.. and without putting barriers up.. put up a sign saying ”just knock and we’ll show you round”. You ll meet lots of wasters, nice people and possibly a buyer..

I may well need to move quickly because I’ve got my eye on a another house.

He might not let you see it though, given you aren’t a proceedable buyer 😉

My sisters house has been on the market for almost a year with no views and the people across the road dropped the price of their house about 5 times before they got a viewing. They sold it for a fraction of what they wanted in the end. Looks like two 18 year old girls have bought it, they’ll probably start getting undressed with the curtain open and stuff. Just my luck!

You do have to accept that time-wasters exist and just deal with it.

We sold our house last year and had around 20 viewings before it sold. One viewer phoned the estate agent at 5pm Friday and insisted on a Sunday afternoon viewing. We were going away for the weekend to visit relatives and had to cut this short to get back on the Sunday morning and make things presentable. The viewer did not turn up and did not even phone to cancel. I was furious by my partner was more pragmatic. The next people to view the property bought it.

In this market you need to persevere and act on any feedback about why people did not like the property.

OP – ditch your agent.

We’ve been on the market since the beginning of the month – 6 viewings so far including a second viewing. We don’t do the viewings – the agent does, i.e. any time that gets wasted is theirs not ours. They always call & give at least a day’s notice so we can leave the house tidy before heading out. Brochures were all good to go before we were …! and property was in the paper and on rightmove from day one.

Keeping the house clean is a PITA but like CG say, just keep on top of it, and tidy stuff away as best you can. A clean and tidy house helps but it ain’t going to make or break it. On the issue of being proceedable or not … I think the jury really is out and there are too many variables to call and it’s not worth getting too fixed on any particular position. We’ve had a couple of people round who hadn’t even put their houses on the market, but saw our place and loved it and are now on the market – one of those has had an offer which they have accepted already (our second viewer).

Our approach has always been sell first – then look seriously (as opposed to my daily speculative viewing of all things property 😉 ) – as being a cash buyer &/or with finances in place always makes you a stronger buyer. But that said we’ve seen a place we love and and are having to resist very hard going to view as we are not in a position to pursue it properly yet … we may just go and view anyhow – which of course makes us timewasters doesn’t it … or not, depending on your view… 😕

The bottom line is that this buying/selling stuff is stressful, so unless there are other factors at play that mean you have a burning deadline, then you just have to chill into it and do the best you can given that that you only have control of a very small fragment of the whole.

Kind of fed up tbh,been on the market since 8th april

ha! two weeks and you are fed up already! try 11 months of it renton! 😆

i’ve had one offer, get plenty of viewings (average one a week now) – nothing in nov and dec though, but was surprised by how it restarted in the first week of january

not that arsed about it really now, had people cancel at the last minute, and a couple of no shows – i arrange viewings around my diary

but not going to find a place and lose it again, so selling first, then looking seriously like ART says

If an offer has been accepted then the estate agent should remove the property from the market place. If they don’t do that automatically, you should insist on it.

I think it can be more productive for the owner to do the viewings. For example, as a woman I can upsell certain fittings/items replaced/improved etc. whereas a male estate agent, particularly if young, wouldn’t even mention them.

thanks for all the replies so far.

i guess i just got caught up in the line from the EA “oh we can sell this type of house really quickly at the moment”

now i realise it was a load of old drivel to get me to sign up!!

not to fussed if we sell or not to be fair as we can rent it out fairly easily too 🙄

It took us over 18 months to sell our house, we finally completed last month. My memories of the idiot no-shows and timewasters is fading rather because the last 8 or 9 months of that was sold subject-to-contract, with epic quantities of messing about from the buyers. We had to drop our price twice to keep them on board even with no chain involved. Speaking from my own personal experience, selling a house at the moment is a gigantic pain in the backside. If it makes financial sense to rent the place out instead, you should probably do it.

Is it your benifit(sic) sponging neighbours devaluing the neighbourhood by littering the street with satellite dishes and caravans?

Ditch the high street agents, and find a good net based one. Every one is searching online, and if your agent has a poor net presence your buggered. And there fees will be much lower as they dont have massive High St locations to pay rent on. I can sell for as little as 0.50% so shop around

Most high St agents use online services anyway – rightmove, mouseprice etc. So you get interweb, local press and high street exposure (hence higher fees).

We “sold” our house 3 times on 3 separate occasions the first day we put it on the market. Took us 3 years to move as the first 2 “buyers” ended up falling through on their sales.
If you expect a stress-free life don’t enter the housing market.

see this thread !!!!!

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/preparing-a-house-to-rent-it-out

And if course a local agent will photograph your house for you. An Internet service won’t.

We put our house up for sale about 7 weeks ago. The wife had her heart set on a house from the off and although I told her we shouldn’t view it until we had movement on ours I relented and went to view said house.

Now we couldn’t offer on it until we’d sold ours but I don’t think we were being timewasters as we had a geniune interest in the house.

We had one lady come to view our house 2 days after it went on the market and she was a definate timewaster, turns out she viewed a friend of a friends house as soon as that went on market and also another house in our street; I got the inpression she just liked viewing houses as she was a bit weird and gave no indication of being interested in the house.

Our second viewer put in a bid that although was less than we wanted to sell at it enabled us to offer on the house we wanted and had already viewed. Jobs a good ‘un.

We’ve been to view loads of houses without finances in place (first time buyers). Any body insisting on an agreement in principle before viewing in this climate must be mad.

We got an AIP before offering on one house but when that expires in couple of months we won’t get another until we have an offer accepted.