Buying or selling a home are both events that don’t come around very often in life for most people. So you’d be forgiven for being clueless about all the things that come standard with the real estate process, viewings being one of those main events. 

If you’re a seller, the viewing is the final part of the pitching process, so it’d do you well to bring your A-game. If your listing images were your first impression, consider the viewing as your second chance at a first impression! 

Getting a sense for the look and feel of a place ‘in the flesh’ is one reason to go out and physically see a property, but there’s a lot more to viewings than that. For potential buyers, it’s an opportunity to interrogate the space by looking out for red flags, and a chance to get face to face with the owners selling the house. You will have plenty of questions, no doubt. 

Viewing tips for buyers

1). Suss out the area

Before heading out, do some research about the area in which the property is located to make sure it’s aligned with your goals, plans, and lifestyle. It’s no use falling in love with a property via the images and descriptions online, only to drive to the viewing and realise that the area is not quite what you’d imagined. What’s more, getting to know more about the area will also help you gauge the worth and potential value of the property. 

2). Be honest

Once you’re physically in the space, ask yourself whether the property realistically meets your needs. Is the number of rooms enough to cater to you and your family, and are they appropriately sized? Are the kitchen and living spaces big enough? Do you love its layout and flow? Do you see yourself turning this space into a home of your own? 

3). Don’t be charmed by the décor and lifestyle

We understand that it’s easy to get sidetracked by the (deliberately slick) aesthetics of a home, but it’s vital to remember that those are not the things on sale. You’re buying an empty house, not the contents and lifestyle of the previous owners. On the flip side, don’t let hideous curtains or an ancient lampshade dissuade you from a property either. Keep an open mind and remember this will be your blank canvas to make your own should you purchase. 

4). Upgrades

When you are looking around, be realistic about the current state of the property and be honest with yourself about what you want to get done and the cost of doing it. Maybe the kitchen isn't quite your style, or the bathroom looks like it's from the 70’s. Don't let this put you off, look at the space and the flow and have a real think about any improvements you want to make to the house if you decide to buy it. If you love the space and the area is right for you, things like a bathroom can be easily changed once you move in. The important thing to consider is how much is it going to cost to get the bathroom replaced, can I afford it? and how long can I live with the current one if I have to? Do your research before putting in an offer if you can, have a look online at prices for a new bathroom or kitchen. Things like paint colours are easy enough to fix in a weekend yourself and won't cost that much, but a new bathroom could run into the thousands very quickly. Also make sure when you are looking at prices that you leave yourself some wiggle room in the budget for any unforeseen events that may occur.     

5). Damp, mould and structural issues

Dampness is another expensive red flag to look out for when viewing a property, and luckily, it’s not that hard to spot. The most immediate giveaway is that mouldy smell once you enter the home. Then look for bubbling paint along the walls or peeling wallpaper, warped floorboards, and discolouration on the ceiling and floors. Also look for cracks in the walls both internally or externally as this could indicate a very costly repair bill. However it's important to not let this put you off. Anything can be fixed with enough time, money and effort, what you need to ascertain is 1. how much of each is required and 2. how much of each you have to spare. These issues may cost less than you think to put right, you need to work with the seller to come to an agreement on how to best go about this. For instance ask if it would be ok to have someone come round and quote on getting this repaired, once you have the quote you will have an idea of cost, time and effort. Note that just getting the quote can cost you money if they need to produce a full report. You should negotiate with the seller on who's footing the bill for this, as other interested parties may also want to have a report done and you don't want to be paying for their negotiation chips.  Once you have an idea of the cost you can then start to negotiate with the seller on this, asking for a discount on the price of the house in order to cover the repair or part of it. Asking for quotes should only really be done for things that are structural and could affect the ability to gain a mortgage or that would require a specialist, not for a new kitchen. 

6). Pictures

Taking pictures can be a great way to remind yourself of the property and help you take note of any issues or things you want to change later, just remember that it is someone's home and to ask the seller permission to take photos, and don't be offended if they say no.  

Viewing tips for sellers 

1). Declutter 

Like we said in ‘Tips on taking the best photos of your listing’, you’re going to have to do a good job of decluttering as step one in presenting the best version of your listed property. When it comes to viewings, the neater the better. Less is more definitely rings true in this instance. You want to make it easy for potential buyers to visualise the space as their own and clearing up the space of all things ‘you’ will aid that process. 

2). Clean like you’re getting paid for it!

Because, who knows? You may just be getting paid for cleaning the property – with some desirable offers. The hygiene and cleanliness of the place could make a lasting impression on potential buyers. More than that, it will give them an indication of how well the previous owners looked after the place – or didn’t, for that matter. 

3). Passing by

Prepare your home for the eventuality that potential buyers may very well do a drive-by viewing of the property before committing to the official viewing inside and out. This is why it’s important to keep those lawns and hedges well-trimmed and inviting. Put yourself at ease by maintaining all the street-facing parts of the property. This includes brushing up on faded paint, removing rust from gates, cleaning windows, etc. 

4). Have the answers to obvious questions ready 

Make sure that you have answers ready for any obvious question buyers might have, being clued up on your property makes you look serious about selling and shows you care about your home. Things like the year the house was built and who built it, the council tax band, what type of heating system you have and when the boiler was installed may also be important to a buyer. If you have solar panels make sure you know the legal status of them do you own them? What happens to the excess electricity produced? knowing all of this will save you a headache later in the buying process. Write down the answers if you can’t remember and refer to them later. 

Also you know that crack above the window you have been meaning to look at, it will come up so make sure you have an answer. If you have mould, damp, subsidence, asbestos, a leaky roof or anything else you major you know about, weather its visible or not make sure you have an answer on it, be honest the likelihood is it will come out during the buying process and is going to cause you nothing but time and money and you could potentially lose the sale because of it. 

Have a plan on how to answer these questions for large issues like subsidence you may need to pay to have someone come and do a report and get a costing from them. When asked about it, say we have had a report done on the issue it's going to cost x to get it corrected and we have reduced the price of the house to cover it already. The person viewing may ask further questions or for the report or they may ask if they can get someone out to look at it. 

Don't be offended that they don't believe your price or solution, would you trust their quote you had no input on? It's entirely up to you how you would handle that situation. You may be happy to share the report with them or to have them get quotes. Work with them as much as you can at this stage. The last thing you want is to get halfway through the legal process only to find out they can’t get a mortgage or decide the fix is too costly and pull out and leave you back at square one. 

Another thing to consider is don't be afraid to say you don't know something. If they ask a really obscure question about something and you don't know the answer then say that, and let them know you will find out and get back to them, this shows you are interested in the buyer and are willing to get them an answer. Also don't be afraid to talk about money and be honest about it, if they ask how much is the council tax? Tell them, you would want to know if you were looking round, it will help the buyer gain a better understanding of what it will be like living there. 

Remember you don't have to answer questions they don’t ask. Just because you have done your research doesn't mean you have to tell them everything if they don't ask. 

5). Open Days

What’s an open day? An open day is where you ask all of the potential buyers to come on the same day, rather than having multiple viewing on different days. You can do this in 2 ways. 1st when you get a viewing request you tell the person you are hosting an open day on X date between 9am and 5pm and they are welcome to come anytime. 2nd you have multiple viewing slots on the same day and show buyers round 1 at a time. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but first let's talk about the advantages and disadvantages of open days in general. 

Advantages:

You have all of your viewings on one day this means you only have to clean the house once. You can even hire a cleaning company to come the day before and thoroughly clean for you.

You can declutter and stage the property for that day and then put everything back after. This means you can make your property look its best for one day and don't have to keep getting things out and putting them away again, or more realistically not bothering. 

You only need to get rid of the kids and dog for one day, and don't have to worry about them following you around getting toys out, and showing buyers all the secret places they have hidden things or where they had that accident on the lounge carpet last week. 

It puts pressure on buyers to put an offer in and normally it will be best and final as they know that everyone saw the property on the same day and will be thinking the same. This means less negotiating for you.

Having multiple viewings on multiple days can also make it hard to know when to accept an offer, or push someone to change their offer. This is because you are always waiting for the next person to come along. Someone may look at your property on monday and make an offer, but you have to think will the person booked to come friday make a larger offer or not offer at all, and will mondays buyer find something better on wednesday and pull their offer. You end up in offer limbo. Having an open day mean you know the interest in the property and you can say to people offers have to be in by X day, you know where you stand and so do the buyers.  

Disadvantages:

Knowing when to host an open day. It's all well and good listing your house on sat and saying we are going to have our open day the following week on sat, only to find on friday you have one viewing. Equally you don't want to say we will have it in 2 months, book loads of people to come only to find out none of them turn up as they have had offers accepted on other properties while waiting to view yours. 

If there are larger issues with your property people may be put off making an offer if they don't have enough time to get the issue investigated before being required into making an offer. 

It's a lot of effort showing people around all day, answering the same questions over and over and going up and down the stairs 100 times. Just remember why you are doing this its one day so you don't have to hover 100 time instead. 

You may lose potential buyers if they can't make it on that day, the slots fill up or the open day is too far or too close to when you listed the property. The thing with this one is that it isn't predictable. If all the slots are full the likelihood is you will get an offer you want to accept or you at least have a pool of people to negotiate with. If no one shows up or books then push the day to another time or go back to the traditional way of multiple viewings. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of the 2 types of open day

As mentioned above there are 2 ways to run your open day. 

1, is to book slots for people to show up and look round and 2 is to just say come between 9am and 5pm on x date. 

The advantage to type 1 is that buyers won't see one another, you get to have a 1:1 show round with them, answer their specific questions and really engage with them about the property. 

The disadvantage is that you can only have a limited number of slots and you will need to keep to the timings so that everyone gets the time they need and don't feel rushed, you also have little control over people showing up late. 

The advantages of type 2 are that you have almost unlimited slots as people show up when they want, they can take as long as they want to look around, you don't need to worry about delays and people being late.

The disadvantages with this are that you won’t always get to show people around 1:1 meaning you will have people unsupervised wandering your house. If one person asks a question everyone else there at the time will get the answer to it even though they may not have thought to ask. You will need to consider where everyone will park. Not everyone will get the chance to discuss everything with you as you may be busy with someone else at the time they arrive. You can easily be interrupted while talking to someone and people won’t want to talk to you about money infront of other people.  

6). Let's talk about money

We all know that it's awkward to talk about our finances with other people, but when selling your house try not to be afraid of discussing money with potential buyers, after all that's what it will boil down to in the end. Now I'm not asking you to show them your bank account. What I mean is if and when they start discussing the price and what you are willing to do, don't be afraid to tell them what you want or what the situation is with the house. 

Again make sure you know your stuff, where did you come up with your valuation? Did you get multiple valuations? What else in your area has sold, when and for what? See our previous blog on how to value your house if you want to learn more. How much will it cost to fix X?

People may want to talk to you at the viewing about the value and make you an offer and you need to be prepared to talk through it with them. If you really want to get out of it you can say please make your offer through the site, or if you have decided to have an open day say we are asking everyone to make best and final offers through Vencasa by X day at X time and we will decide then. 

But if they are willing to discuss it then you should take advantage while they are interested, you will get further with a 5 min face to face than 100 emails back and forth.  

7). It’s nothing personal

Well, yes, choosing a home is a very personal decision, sure. But as a seller, you shouldn’t take it personally when your property simply does not appeal to the next person’s taste and living aspirations. Nor should you take comments to heart about the décor and furniture. Accept and take heed of the fact that we’re all different, and so are our preferences. One thing’s for certain – the right buyer will know in an instant that this is the one.