Fecking estate agent rant - is this normal?

Phone them back and tell them that you want to view them before then - if you can view during the day there shouldn't be a problem, unless the vendors only want viewings on Saturdays

Ask why you can't view before then

Can't do this afternoon or Fri afternoon now anyway so it'd only leave Thurs and we're hoping to view another 2 with another agent. I'm not firm enough but MrSun doesn't want to be point of contact because he drives which I guess is fair enough. I need to get tougher don't I? We've only had dealings with agents once and that was as first time buyers and wasn't a great experience. Just not sure what the 'norm'.

It could be because the sellers dont want anyone to view then?

When my property was on the market I refused a few viewings as I was working from home and had them re-arranged.

Then again it could be your estate agent!

Hate to say it but with the market the way it is some sellers won't want to show to people who aren't even on the market - we prefer people who have nothing to sell tbh. That might be why there was the initial delay

plus any offers that you might want to make won't be taken that seriously until you have an offer on your house.

TBH I think you are getting wound up very early on in the process.

It really bugged me when people came to view our house when theirs wasn't even on the market, it said to me that they weren't really serious and that I'd spent hours getting the house ready for nothing. Some people are strict about their viewings, my friend who is a childminder was very strict about her viewings, she stipulated that she would only take viewings from people who were in a position to move i.e already sold or cash buyers as she couldn't have people coming to view all the time when she was working. Unless your area is selling like hotcakes, I'm sure they will all still be there on saturday, and if they're not you wouldn't have been in a position to buy them anyway as you've not sold either. You are far more likely to have an offer accepted if you are in a position to move aswell, if you're not then the offer isn't really worth the paper it's written on.

Sorry if I am coming across as being a bit negative, it is exciting putting your house on the market and looking at new ones but we just moved in April having been on the market for 2 years, we sold 3 times but buyers pulled out twice, we lost 3 houses we'd offered on but it all worked out in the end, I think that;s the way it was meant to be as we've ended up with a really nice house.

Get at least 3 valuations, put your on the market, then start looking, try to stay calm and good luck. When it comes to estate agents save the big ranting for when you're paying them, at least you have an idea of what this agents service is like before deciding whether to use them or not.

The sellers probably know that your house isn't on the market yet, so feel there is no urgency to arrange a viewing at what is likely to be an inconvenient time. When I've sold in the past, I've wanted to know the situation of any potential purchaser prior to them coming, and would feel that, if someone was in your situation, waiting until the weekend was perfectly reasonable.

I have to agree with what others have said, we always get asked by our agent if someone wants to view our place if we want them to come and see it and they give us the position of the viewers. If theyre not even on the market then its a no from us, we want people on the market, cash buyers or people with offers on their places.

We didnt start viewing places until we had been on the market a couple of months, and didnt think about putting an offer in to just test the waters until we had a tentative offer on ours. Making a house look like a showhome takes time and isnt worth it for someone who can't proceed in any way. We always try and be there when someone views as we have 3 housecats and the EA has been known to leave the front or back door open and we dont want them to escape. So viewings are usually kept for Saturdays and evenings. I doubt very much that what youre hoping to see will be snapped up in 3 days.

Chill out, it is an exciting time, and Ive enjoyed house viewings but after 9 months it wears thin!

Sorry but I agree with what everyone else said. I think you're getting really wound up with the estate agents over nothing, just wait until you found out how bad some of them really can be! Sorry, I don't mean to sound flippant, but unfortunately there are some inept agents out there and what has happened to you sounds reasonable so far for the reasons that the others have said.

Good luck with the process.

I see your point but these are agents that want our business too and they've already lost the sale of our house over this. If i'm a prospective seller then I want buyers through my door as much as possible, they've already shown me that out of 4 houses for sale there is a delay of at least 4 days, that's not good enough.

The other agent who has another house on we want to look at rang me first thing this morning with a viewing arranged for Thursday, i'm already in the process of arranging a valuation with them because that's what I want as a seller.

Ours isn't on the market because in 12 months or so of looking we haven't seen anything worth putting it on the market for but now we've decided to view a few and see if we're being too picky, if we see something we want then of course it'll go on asap and if we miss out then it wasn't meant to be.

yes - but surely you can see our point - I have 4 small children in the house all the time at the moment due to holidays. It is a huge effort to get the house ready for viewings. There is no way i would want to do that for someone not even on the market at the moment and i would prefer to only show to people who have an offer on their house tbh.

We have missed out on viewing loads since we have been on the market - because we didn't want to view before we had an offer on the house.

The agents are protecting their clients tbh - will you want a huge amount of people traipsing round your house who are not in a position to buy? Cos if you do you are probably a rarity...

But people here have already said that it may be the sellers that are making you wait until Saturday, not the agents? So the 4 day delay may not be their fault? People may not want weekday viewings or they may just not want you to view (because you're not in a position to buy just now).

If you want as many people as possible to view yours, at any time, then I'm sure there wouldn't be that delay. Estate agents want to sell your house too, you know, they make money that way. I have no idea if these agents are good or bad in grand scheme of things but your moan doesn't seem justified to me.

Oh yes swampy, obv. I see your point too. I just find the whole process frustrating, we could be in a position to purchase and not sell our house, MrSun is on about wanting to rent it out and the delay could mean someone gets in there first.

It could well be the sellers, but all 4 wanting to wait until saturday? All this just tells me i'm not cut out for this buying/selling melarky, maybe i'd be better staying put ?

Give me 6 months of being on the market and i'm sure i'll be singing from a different hymn sheet.

Have you made it clear to the agents that you might not need to sell? that might interest the sellers more tbh...

plus it is wednesday now so not so long til saturday... if the EA are doing the viewings the might be arranging a batch for then, if the sellers are doing the viewings then the might only be able to do weekends.

good luck - it gets worse you know...

Yes I can imagine ?

All that you've all said has sunk in though, i'll get a couple more valuations.

Hey you - yes it is stressful particularly when you're not in control and you have to put your trust and house in the hands of EAs who aren't always the easiest people to work with - so many agendas, so much commission!!

Personally we told the EA that we wouldn't allow anybody who wasn't a FTB or buying to let through the doors given our timescale and the price of our property. To be involved in a chain wasn't an option and usually we sell our property with no upward chain, go into rented, and THEN we buy to avoid getting involved with a chain situation at all.

We're only assuming, of course, that that is the reason the agent wouldn't book you in until Saturday after your Friday valuation. I tried to be flexible and allowed mid-week viewings (and had a few) - in fact, I got p!ssed off having to do the viewings myself on the weekend (8 on the Saturday!) and I wondered exactly what the EA were being paid their commission for!! They asked me to do one on the Sunday too but I drew the line at that I'm afraid. ?

Anyway, rant away if it helps. That's what us House Kleeksters are here for - the fun will really start when you get people through the door! ?

I'd make it clear to people that you don't have a place to sell (if you're keeping it to rent out) as I'm sure that'll make a difference, especially when it comes to offering. We're keeping our place to rent out so when an agent asks 'And is your own property on the market?' I always make it clear that it's not because we're not selling it, not just because we haven't got round to it.

If you're having it valued for sale though, then I guess that won't work.

Oh the other thing you have to be mindful of trying to get midweek appointments for viewings is how busy the EA is. Not necessarily doing other viewings but doing valuations for potential customers. Your valuation is on a Friday, and it probably wont be a 5 minute in and out job either, it takes longer than a viewing. So if someone was eager to view a property on that EAs books on Friday, theres a possibility even if the vendor said yes, the EA wouldnt have spare capacity time wise to take the viewing.

It works both ways!

What exactly is involved with a valuation? We had one a few years back but it didn't seem to take long. I'm not going to get the hard sell am I? I'm on my own for one of them.

No hard sell, they just (from my experience) take their time in every room and write stuff down as they go along, then sit down and have a chat with you afterwards, asking you what you think its worth and then telling you what they think its worth. Ive not had an agent spend less than 45 minutes on it. Again i suppose it depends on the size of the property too, a 1 bed flat isnt going to take as long as a 5 bed monster house!

Thanks for that, gives me a bit more of an idea - is the valuation time when they'll tell you about their fees or should I have already asked about fees?

When we were selling, we gave the estate agents 2 slots per week that we wanted viewings in (weds evening and saturday lunchtime) - with a toddler, a newborn & a rather messy personality, it wasn't much fun getting the house to a viewable state and no way I could maintain it constantly.

and when we were looking, the estate agents were often booked up, so we had to wait until they were available to show us around. Or they happily agreed to a number of viewings & we'd turn up on the day to find out that half of them weren't happening.

irritating, but then the whole process is.