When it comes to selling a property, many vendors do not consider the frustration of time wasters.
Often known as “carpet treaders” in the industry, these are people who have no intention of buying, are unable to buy, or unable to commit to something and see it through.
If you put your property for sale with an estate agent, you will have to virtually put “living” in your home on hold to ensure that your home presents well to prospective purchasers and that you are always ready to a potential viewing at your home.
Clutter will have to be cleared away, you may have to re-decorate, and personal possessions and unsightly items such as laundry drying will have to be out of sight.
This is to show your property in the best possible light for the viewings. You may find viewings become a constant bug-bear for you - if you even get any!
Both you and your house, children, and pets, will have to be on best behaviour.
You may have to stay in for them, or, if you don’t want to do this, then you will have to give your estate agent a key for access.
When the viewings happen, strangers will troop through your house, commenting on the decor and often criticising it. They may want to come after work or at weekends, disrupting family life.
Sometimes viewings are just undertaken by nosy neighbours or other vendors in the area who have no intention of buying. It depends on your estate agent and whether they “vet” prospective buyers to find out what their intentions are.
Of course, selling a property is a numbers game. The more people who view your property, the more chance that you are going to get an offer.
Viewings tend to be disruptive, and you may experience time wasters during the marketing process.
This could be someone who does not turn up for their viewing, and does not have the courtesy to let you know. So you have waited in all afternoon, and they are a no-show.
The other type of time-waster is someone who comes for multiple viewings, asks hundreds of questions, and then it turns out that they cannot get a mortgage or their mortgage offer falls through or they admit they are just “browsing” the market.
There are also couples where one half loves the property and other is not so enamoured. They dither and then seem to be heading towards making an offer when suddenly the dominant one in the couple will enforce their view and they will suddenly disappear.
The final type of time-waster is someone who puts in an offer which gets accepted by the vendor, and then gets cold feet, or has a change of heart or circumstances, and drops out. This is especially frustrating bearing in mind that a buyer is not committed to a property purchase until exchange, so there is a large window of time for them to change their mind and say they are not proceeding with the sale.
When this happens you are right back to square one to start the marketing and viewings process all over again.
This is all part and parcel of selling a property to another owner occupier via a High Street agent.
However, for some people - perhaps shift workers, those with health issues, or with a new baby in the home, the viewings can be inconvenient.
Open Property Group can buy your property for cash within a timeframe to suit you.
We can often do what is known as a “drive by” viewing, where our local representative will view your property from the outside.
We then make you a no-obligation offer within 48 hours.
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As professional property buyers with over 30 years experience, we can make the sale of your property as painless as possible for you.
We are a family-run property buying business, and pride ourselves on our high level of service, providing a straightforward solution for many people with many different sale circumstances.
We will make an instant offer on any type of property in England and Wales, in any condition. We buy properties with sitting tenants, short leases, and other problems too.
We offer a fast and professional service and invite you to give it a try.