Is this acceptable for a house sale?

[Hrhpd]

Actually the prospective buyers didn't mind at all after they were done looking they all came to me with any questions they had about the property. It all worked out good for everyone because there wasn't all the back and forth most all of their questions were answered before they left.
The people who ended up buying it stuck around and talked to me about the house for quite a while after the actual showing was over. I don't understand how anyone would buy something as expensive as a house without an extensive conversation with the owner.

I am not a realtor, but I would think having a long, extended conversation with the buyers could open you up for all sorts of liability after the sale.

Since it is law that a seller must disclose problems, it would be your word against the buyer's word if something went wrong after the sale. The buyer could say that they asked specifically about the problem during the long conversation and that the seller assured them it was ok.

I prefer to have any conversations about the house documented and between the professionals. That is what you pay your realtor for.

As a buyer, it also gives me some protection as my realtor would have it documented that a problem was not disclosed if it was not.

 

[ChristmasElf]

We have sold several homes over the past and I have always had security cameras up in every room except bathrooms and guest rooms, and I don't worry if it's ethical or not.
I look at it as protecting my investment against loss due to theft as the reason for the cameras and not to spy per se on people.
Although on at two house listings we had , the buyers realtors had told the buyer wrong information about the home that really aggravated me like price' square footage, and how much we paid for the property even though she knew what she was saying was inaccurate.
We had another realtor tell a prospective buyer to pretend they really didn't want a pool so that we would take their ridiculously lowball offer!


Not all realtors play fair either.

 

[HM]

We had another realtor tell a prospective buyer to pretend they really didn't want a pool so that we would take their ridiculously lowball offer!
.

My mom was a realtor. She told me about a sale of a house with a pool. The people who bought it said they didn't want a pool and would be filling it in, so asked to change the price based on that. They did end up buying the house. Turns out their daughter was a championship swimmer and used the pool every day.

 

[Hrhpd]

We have sold several homes over the past and I have always had security cameras up in every room except bathrooms and guest rooms, and I don't worry if it's ethical or not.
I look at it as protecting my investment against loss due to theft as the reason for the cameras and not to spy per se on people.
Although on at two house listings we had , the buyers realtors had told the buyer wrong information about the home that really aggravated me like price' square footage, and how much we paid for the property even though she knew what she was saying was inaccurate.
We had another realtor tell a prospective buyer to pretend they really didn't want a pool so that we would take their ridiculously lowball offer!


Not all realtors play fair either.

Did you have only video surveillance? Because that is ok.

However, if you had both video and audio surveillance, that goes beyond just ethics. Is is illegal.

I think it is a given to expect some realtors are not ethical.

If anybody lowered a price because somebody didn't want a pool, then they are a fool. The pool is there, I would not be paying for somebody to fill it in by lowering my price. That would be their choice, so on their dime.

However, I live in an area where our home sales never really suffered. And now sellers can't keep houses on the market. They are selling within days and usually well over asking.

My thoughts on selling with a pool might be different if I was faced with either accepting the lower offer or looking at months more on the market.

 

[Disney Doll]

Actually the prospective buyers didn't mind at all after they were done looking they all came to me with any questions they had about the property. It all worked out good for everyone because there wasn't all the back and forth most all of their questions were answered before they left. The people who ended up buying it stuck around and talked to me about the house for quite a while after the actual showing was over. I don't understand how anyone would buy something as expensive as a house without an extensive conversation with the owner.

You were lucky. The one house I looked at the owner was so annoying we left. There's no way I'd have wanted to talk to him and listen to him
Tell me all the things he did to support his ridiculously high price. I didn't need to talk to the owner. I intended to do all the proper inspections so would have been well versed in the house, and its positives and negatives.

After that experience, if I were to be taken into a house where the owner was, I'd leave.

 

["Cinder" Ella's Mom]

And let's face it. How many buyers expect an owner to be 100% truthful. Have you ever had water in your basement...No, never!!

 

[bunkkinsmom]

You were lucky. The one house I looked at the owner was so annoying we left. There's no way I'd have wanted to talk to him and listen to him
Tell me all the things he did to support his ridiculously high price. I didn't need to talk to the owner. I intended to do all the proper inspections so would have been well versed in the house, and its positives and negatives.

After that experience, if I were to be taken into a house where the owner was, I'd leave.

You are in the majority. Of all my buyers, I've only had one that was OK with the seller being there, and he was an International buyer. Most buyers are very uncomfortable, and I would say over half of the ones I have had have refused to go inside. Most of those appointments do not reschedule.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My mom was a realtor. She told me about a sale of a house with a pool. The people who bought it said they didn't want a pool and would be filling it in, so asked to change the price based on that. They did end up buying the house. Turns out their daughter was a championship swimmer and used the pool every day.

Hopefully the people did not change the price of the house based on their "request".

With our first house we bought the owners took the mailbox.

 

[Tigger1966]

You were lucky. The one house I looked at the owner was so annoying we left. There's no way I'd have wanted to talk to him and listen to him
Tell me all the things he did to support his ridiculously high price. I didn't need to talk to the owner. I intended to do all the proper inspections so would have been well versed in the house, and its positives and negatives.

After that experience, if I were to be taken into a house where the owner was, I'd leave.

Well then I guess I'm not annoying then because no one had a problem with it and the realtor was always there to hear anything said between us. If I'm going to give a key to a realtor so they can allow anyone who claims to be interested in my house complete access to my personal property why do I even lock my doors? Maybe I should just put a sign in the yard saying please come in and help yourself to my stuff.

 

[Disney Doll]

Again...worked for you, your realtor and the people who purchased your home.

Wouldn't have worked for me. I wasn't looking at peoples' homes to case them or steal their stuff. I was looking to see if I wanted to buy what they were offering. A seller with a level of mistrust in terms of letting the professional do their job wouldn't be someone I'd choose to do business with, for a variety of reasons. Wouldn't bother me because I'd assume that the seller would find someone else to do business with so I would simply move on to the next house.

That's what makes the world go 'round. Different strokes for different folks!

 

[Skywalker]

I wouldn't feel comfortable with a seller there either. Also, one of the reasons that they suggest de-cluttering prior to a sale is so that the buyer has a clean slate to imagine it being their home with their stuff inside. They don't want to see your stuff, they want to see the house and envision how it would work for them and their stuff. Now having the seller actually sitting there would certainly break that illusion lol. Hard to imagine it being your home when Actual Homeowner is hovering over you so you don't steal stuff.

 

[barkley]

we always left our home when there was a showing-except once which actually worked to our benefit.

I was home waiting for a return call from the doctor and my agent called to let me know he had a request for a showing within the hour. I explained that if I had received the call I would leave, if not for him to explain to the other realtor/potential buyers that I would sit on the front porch with the phone.
the call didn't come through until near the end of the showing so I was just about to leave when they told me they were done and not to bother. the couple that were looking at the house were chatting with the 2 realtors (theirs/mine) and they made the comment that they were surprised that their realtor's out of area office had gotten a faxed announcement of a listing in our town. the other realtor commented that she had been surprised as well because it just wasn't the norm. my realtor smiled, glanced at me and said the out of area faxes were done at my request.

the couple asked if I minded if they asked why. I told them I didn't mind at all and explained that dh and I commuted (and named where we commuted to) and that every time we had co-workers over who lived locally to where we commuted they would comment about the tremendous home bargains, and how much shorter the drive was than they anticipated. the couple's face lit up-they both commuted to the same place (one to a few blocks from my office), and on their individual drives from work to our home that day they both had the same commute time reaction.

we ended up with an offer and sale within 24 hours