Potential home buyer has requested a second viewing without the homeowner present, reasonable?

The comments about 'as long as there will be an agent present', to be honest for that to not be the case would be a pretty unusual situation logistically if the vendors aren't present either because then how would they access the property? You'd basically have the agent giving the buyers the keys and saying "off you go lads, bring them back when you've filled up the van" which I doubt the vast majority of vendors would agree to.

If you mean the agent literally following them round in every room, that probably won't happen either, agent will do a brief tour and then mill about downstairs staring at their phone.
 
Simple questions for me, what level of interest have you had in the property? ie do you need this buyer or is the property likely to sell quickly to someone else? If the house will sell quickly to another buyer and you don't feel comfortable with this couple looking round say no it's your house and your sale so you can call the shots. I cannot imagine a single reason they need to look round when you are not in the property unless you are weird and followed them round every room without giving them a chance to wander and discuss things.
 
SPG said:
By all means do not follow them around though, unless they ask for you. As for opening up cupboards etc in the bedroom that is out bounds :)
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I'd disagree with that if the cupboard is built in or walk in etc then I would expect to be able to open it and look inside as I will after all be buying it same with kitchen cupboards. All the terraced houses in my area have a cupboard in one of the bedrooms that is under the loft stairs and we looked in every one as they vary considerably some being tiny pokey spaces and others being big enough for a wet room, most were rammed to bursting point during the sales to keep rooms tidy! I'd agree that opening draws and wardrobes that are not part of the sale is out of order.
 
After looking at circa 30 houses over the last 10 months. About 5 or 6 was with the owners, we much preferred the atmosphere without the owner. Although on one house it was a real benefit to have the owner and he was very nice.
Simply put it really irritated me when owners were there, one felt obliged to turn it into a guided tour.
Agents not being able to answer questions is the trade off you have to accept.
Having the owner in or not has never put me off making an offer, though it has often given me a clue as to their attitude regarding the sale. If an owner was guiding me around their home, then I would expect the price to be high with zero willing to accept the real world value that I have for that property.
As above the house with the guided tour was way over priced to, obviously that is a wildly simplistic statement based on my experience :)

If you need to be in when they have the second visit just make yourself scarce at the bottom of the garden?
 
I've never been present when selling my home and have never had the owner present when viewing a home, it would put me off quite honestly.

Agent goes around with them and I sure as anything wouldn't leave anything pocketable with value on display.
 
We are currently viewing houses, couple of weekends ago we viewed 4, 2 with the owners 2 without.
Personally I prefer the owner not being there, as you can talk freely about what you like, what you hate and what needs to change without offending anyone.
**Edit**Also it means I can walk in, say I hate it and walk out.**Edit**

We always vacate our house while viewings are taking place, we pay the estate agent to escort and sell our house, if he can he gets healthy commission.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
why do you prefer the owner not being there? also every estate agent i've met just went room to room saying, this is the kitchen, this is bedroom 1, this is the dining room, stuff i could have figured out myself. if anything they are terrible at selling, they don't care tbh from my past experience with them.
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I prefer the owner not being there because, as others have pointed out, you can be more honest without hurting anyone's feelings and you can walk straight back out again if the house is really not for you.

As for estate agents being terrible at selling then you've clearly come across some truly woeful agents. It's their job for goodness sake, they want to sell for the best price possible so they can make some decent commission.
 
When I was selling my house I would always take the dog for a walk when there was a house viewing. I preferred to give the potential buyers space.
 
Mark M said:
I wouldn't let anyone in the house without me being present. I've only sold one house to be fair but I showed people around and then told them to have a good look about while I made myself scarce.
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This IMO is the best way to do it. Give them the full tour. Tell them all the work you have done, etc. How old the boiler is, how it's serviced, etc. Then say feel free to take as much time as you like looking around. I'll be downstairs having a coffee if you want to ask any questions feel free to come and find me.
 
lucky13 said:
After looking at circa 30 houses over the last 10 months. About 5 or 6 was with the owners, we much preferred the atmosphere without the owner. Although on one house it was a real benefit to have the owner and he was very nice.
Simply put it really irritated me when owners were there, one felt obliged to turn it into a guided tour.
Agents not being able to answer questions is the trade off you have to accept.
Having the owner in or not has never put me off making an offer, though it has often given me a clue as to their attitude regarding the sale. If an owner was guiding me around their home, then I would expect the price to be high with zero willing to accept the real world value that I have for that property.
As above the house with the guided tour was way over priced to, obviously that is a wildly simplistic statement based on my experience :)

If you need to be in when they have the second visit just make yourself scarce at the bottom of the garden?
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Your not looking at the big picture here. It seems like you don't like people and want to deal with estate agents who are detached from the property and have no real care whether you buy or not they get their fees anyway.

When the homeowner is showing you around you get a feel for the person. You don't want to be buying a home off someone who is tight and likely skimped on maintenance, etc. It's like buying a car. Go to a independent dealer. He doesn't give 2 tosses about the car or you, just the sale. Go for a private buy and you can then gauge whether the owner is a plum, or an enthusiast who looked after the car very well and maintained it properly.

When I viewed my home I quickly gauged the guy was a professional of some sorts. An accountant or the likes. I noticed he had intellectual books in the office, etc. He also was a HUGE car nut and had a Lotus Elise in the garage as well as a lot of car memorabilia. He wasn't a chav in a tracksuit and cap with a souped up Corsa with 8 exhausts. Basically I read him as a person and he came out very highly as a genuine nice bloke. So I asked about why he was selling, where he was moving to, etc and again his answers never skipped a beat. He also had bought several new appliances that he was leaving, etc. He had also spent quite a bit on renovation and upkeep looking at the difference in his garden to when he had bought it, it was completely different.

He was easily in the top 2 of the nicest of all the previous owners we had met of other homes and he also had the second nicest home out the lot too. The nicest home we saw was a lot further afield and we needed somewhere closer to the city. It ticked all the boxes.

I did the deal with him there and then. Something that would never have happened had an EA shown me around. They would have said. What is your top offer. He wants X amount. Middle man stuff basically.

If you don't want to be rude about the house in front of the owners then it's simple. Talk quietly or reserve them for after you have left and gotten into your car. It's not hard is it? Even if you don't like the house. Just spend 5 mins looking about then say thanks and leave. I honestly don't see what the issue is with having the owners are there unless they are weird. If they are weird then It's probably best you don't go for a second viewing anyway.
 
coupe69 said:
I prefer the owner not being there because, as others have pointed out, you can be more honest without hurting anyone's feelings and you can walk straight back out again if the house is really not for you.

As for estate agents being terrible at selling then you've clearly come across some truly woeful agents. It's their job for goodness sake, they want to sell for the best price possible so they can make some decent commission.
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They get an upfront fee usually regardless of if the house sells or not.

Now think about this. EA commissions are what? around 1%? Let's say your house is worth £400K. 1% of that is £4,000. What is 1% of £380K? £3,800. It's not a huge difference, it's £200.

They care about volume of sales not maximising a sale. For example let's say you took the shotgun approach and sold 10 houses by quickly showing people about and then moving onto the next one. All 10 sold for £380,000 instead of £400,000. You now have £38K in commission. Let's say you do a really great job, take longer to learn everything, do a proper tour and answer questions, book in second viewings, etc. You manage to sell 6 homes at £400,000 because of the extra work. Now you have £24K in commission. Which is £14K less than the shotgun approach.

So tell me what incentive is their with commission? They aren't on your side. They are just middle man who want a good deal for both sides. I have found they waste time. Take days to get back to you on anything. They are a waste of time. When I sell my home I won't be employing one. I will just deal with the buyer myself and my solicitor.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
They get an upfront fee usually regardless of if the house sells or not.
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Not so, we moved estate agents 3 times when selling our last house and each estate agent worked on a strictly no sale, no fee basis. We only paid fees to the final agents that actually sold our house.
 
coupe69 said:
Not so, we moved estate agents 3 times when selling our last house and each estate agent worked on a strictly no sale, no fee basis. We only paid fees to the final agents that actually sold our house.
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why did you have to move estate agents 3 times? i thought they were all pro's at selling homes according to everyone in this thread?

FYI you don't need any qualifications to become an EA. it's just random folk off the street.

"
1. Entry requirements
There are no formal entry requirements but experience in customer service and a good knowledge of the local property market will help you get a job.

You'll need a driving licence."

https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/job-profiles/estate-agent

"
2. Skills required
You'll need:

  • negotiation and selling skills
  • organisational and administration skills"
Like I said before. Anyone with half a brain should be able to sell their own home without one. It's not as if they have magic skills nobody else has.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
why did you have to move estate agents 3 times? i thought they were all pro's at selling homes according to everyone in this thread?
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To get the job done. You're right there are some that are good at their job, but equally there are some that are not so good. Just like in life really, you get professionals and wannabes. Lucky for me I only had to pay the decent ones that actually sold my house!

Psycho Sonny said:
Like I said before. Anyone with half a brain should be able to sell their own home without one. It's not as if they have magic skills nobody else has.
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Unfortunately some of us have more important things in life to sort out. For example My wife and I both work full time and we have 1 year old twins. We really didn't have the time or inclination to go about selling our house on our own and it was far easier, quicker and less stressful to get a third party to sort it out. Not everybody has the amount of spare time on their hands as you clearly do!
 
I justy don't like the idea of forking over thousands of pounds for something I can do myself for free.

Set up viewings for weekends or evenings. Possibly even take 1 day off every 2 weeks from work and set up all viewings for that day if need be.

House hunters tend to work also so likely they will want viewings in the evenings/weekends anyway.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
This IMO is the best way to do it. Give them the full tour. Tell them all the work you have done, etc. How old the boiler is, how it's serviced, etc. Then say feel free to take as much time as you like looking around. I'll be downstairs having a coffee if you want to ask any questions feel free to come and find me.
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Conversely that was the worst house viewing we had when looking. Someone doing their own home sale took us round and told us what HE had done, what HE was planning on doing and his whole life story. Difficult to leave as well without just cutting them off.

It was significantly better having our agent take us round, she could talk frankly about things like resale issues, what may need fixing etc without someone hanging around.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
I justy don't like the idea of forking over thousands of pounds for something I can do myself for free.

Set up viewings for weekends or evenings. Possibly even take 1 day off every 2 weeks from work and set up all viewings for that day if need be.

House hunters tend to work also so likely they will want viewings in the evenings/weekends anyway.
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If I get a few spare hours at the weekend I'm off to play golf :p

Our estate agents cost us £1600 all in, not bad value really when they did all of the viewings and all of the advertising which eventually created a sale. Doing it yourself will probably save you a few quid, but it's not going to be free and you also have the major problem of where do you advertise? Any estate agent worth their salt will make sure your house is listed on both Zoopla and Right Move, something you simply can't do if you're selling privately.
 
I'd view a house differently if the homeowner was present and always prefer them not to be there if possible.

It's kind of a big decision so you should do what ever the buyer wants imo.
 
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