Penners
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You might want to give these ones a miss:-
http://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com/
http://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com/
- Thread starter Penners
- Start date
Zebra
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Lots of fun, that.Penners said:
LadyArowana
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Zebra said:
Awww, but I like the one with the black dog staring at the camera, good plan by the agent to include that
Bayliss
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Reminds me of the agent that would describe his clients house in such derogatory terms that it was found to be a successful M.O. Then the 'good old days' when agents would get away with all sorts of descriptions :lol:
Talking of Estate Agent Listings...
In the listing for the house we have "bought" (9 days to go), there was a photograph and a description of a certain 'bespoke feature', yet when we got the fixtures & fittings list, this particular item was on the list of things that the current owners were taking with them.
Since we were trying to come up with a tactful way of asking if they would like to take it with them, we are very relieved that we now don't have to remove the wretched thing. But it could have been something that we really liked and one of the reasons for buying the property.
It struck me as a bit odd that you could advertise a property, make a big point of this particular feature in the text and a large close-up photo, and then not leave it.
Are there no rules on listings?
In the listing for the house we have "bought" (9 days to go), there was a photograph and a description of a certain 'bespoke feature', yet when we got the fixtures & fittings list, this particular item was on the list of things that the current owners were taking with them.
Since we were trying to come up with a tactful way of asking if they would like to take it with them, we are very relieved that we now don't have to remove the wretched thing. But it could have been something that we really liked and one of the reasons for buying the property.
It struck me as a bit odd that you could advertise a property, make a big point of this particular feature in the text and a large close-up photo, and then not leave it.
Are there no rules on listings?
Flyfisher
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I think that sort of thing comes under the 'subject to contract' heading. Photos and estate agent listings are primarily an 'offer' (after all they usually show a fully furnished house, even though the contents are rarely for sale) but the contract of sale is then subsequently negotiated in detail (hence the 'fixtures and fittings' list, which forms part of the contract).
But, as in any contact, everything is negotiable. You can make whatever offer you want and can impose whatever conditions want, however the other party doesn't have to agree to your requests or terms and may wish to impose their own, which you may or may not agree with. Thus, the contract bounces around until there is a mutual agreement and all is acceptable - or not, and the sale falls through.
My parents once moved to a house where the previous owners took every light bulb and toilet roll. Hardly a deal-breaker or something to sue over, but rather petty and certainly inconvenient on the day . . . or evening in this case in the days before 24 hour supermarkets and nowhere to buy lightbulbs until the following day!
But, as in any contact, everything is negotiable. You can make whatever offer you want and can impose whatever conditions want, however the other party doesn't have to agree to your requests or terms and may wish to impose their own, which you may or may not agree with. Thus, the contract bounces around until there is a mutual agreement and all is acceptable - or not, and the sale falls through.
My parents once moved to a house where the previous owners took every light bulb and toilet roll. Hardly a deal-breaker or something to sue over, but rather petty and certainly inconvenient on the day . . . or evening in this case in the days before 24 hour supermarkets and nowhere to buy lightbulbs until the following day!
I thought it would be something like that.
Obviously you don't expect that people plan to leave their tables and chairs - and I don't even assume that curtains are included. I do expect that built-in furniture is included - and was a bit surprised that the vendors are taking the integrated washing machine with them (again listed in the particulars).
It was more the agents making such a big thing about it during the viewings, yet it wasn't even available as an option open to negotiation. It wasn't quite the equivalent of removing the bathroom tiles, but not far off! Turned out that even the agents didn't know it wasn't included!
We're taking our wall and ceiling lights, but from the start, we told the estate-agent that these were not included in the purchase price, but could be available for separate negotiation.
We are replacing them with basic, inoffensive fittings and light-bulbs - and I always leave a new loo-roll! I even left our last buyer a bottle of the local gin
. I've heard of people coming in to find nothing but taped off wires and even the bathroom taps missing!
I must say that our vendors agents were amazing and went the extra mile. One of them, a new graduate, even used his day off to come round with me and the surveyor as he was really interested to learn about old buildings.
Obviously you don't expect that people plan to leave their tables and chairs - and I don't even assume that curtains are included. I do expect that built-in furniture is included - and was a bit surprised that the vendors are taking the integrated washing machine with them (again listed in the particulars).
It was more the agents making such a big thing about it during the viewings, yet it wasn't even available as an option open to negotiation. It wasn't quite the equivalent of removing the bathroom tiles, but not far off! Turned out that even the agents didn't know it wasn't included!
We're taking our wall and ceiling lights, but from the start, we told the estate-agent that these were not included in the purchase price, but could be available for separate negotiation.
We are replacing them with basic, inoffensive fittings and light-bulbs - and I always leave a new loo-roll! I even left our last buyer a bottle of the local gin
. I've heard of people coming in to find nothing but taped off wires and even the bathroom taps missing!I must say that our vendors agents were amazing and went the extra mile. One of them, a new graduate, even used his day off to come round with me and the surveyor as he was really interested to learn about old buildings.
xanthe said:
Was it not discussed between yourselves and the vendor/their EA xanthe?
We have had a few instances during sales where there has either been a *feature* we were prepared to take or leave depending on the buyer's inclination to purchase it (high-end hot tub is one example) or negotiate for it to be included as part of the F&F (£2k range cooker being another)......
Where the EA has conducted viewings, it has then been passed back to us that the buyer is offering on condition that said item is included. We then take a view whether to accept, decline, negotiate further etc.
There was one instance however, where our buyers stipulated that they wanted the *Aga* to be included, to which we readily agreed as we had no intention of going to the trouble and expense of removing it. We informed our agent that this was acceptable to us and everything proceeded. Fast forward to a few days before exchange and our buyers popped round to measure some things, whereby conversation turned to our Rangemaster oven and how our buyer was looking forward to cooking on it - cue puzzled looks all round, at which point we realised our EA had got confused (the guy that took their offer over the phone had never been to our house) between Aga and range cooker :roll: Despite it being no fault of ours, our buyer threatened to withdraw from the purchase unless they got both Aga and Rangemaster. Eventually we conceded but our EA was forced to make a monetary contribution towards the cost of a new oven :wink:
On our most recent sale (offer accepted October, completed December) we were quite delighted when our buyers not only made an asking price offer, but also expressed interest in the aforementioned hot tub. We had already forked out massively to have it moved 150 miles from our last house on a custom-built *dolly*, then re-installed at our new home and tbh we were getting tired of the faff of keeping it ready for occasional use. We happily included it in the F&F
Otoh, we always take curtains, expensive poles and (majority of) light fittings - although at the last place we had a mahoosive (around 1.5m high) light fitting in the vaulted-ceilinged kitchen that we knew would never fit anywhere else, so that was left :wink:
It does seem that however carefully one fills out the Property Information forms, there are still some grey areas where mistakes occur. We always try to cover everything when completing these, but invariably items are overlooked.
I'm convinced the whole buying/selling process in England is in need of a massive overhaul.
Good Luck with your move btw, you must be getting very excited!
It seems that the vendors had led the agents to believe that it was included (was also the kind of thing that isn't easy to remove). I think they were a bit worried when the fixtures & fittings list came through that I would have a total fit over it - whereas we were just couldn't believe our luck that we didn't have to insult their taste by asking them if they wanted to take it with them, (can't believe it was cheap to remove).
If there is something I particularly want then I generally ask the agent during the viewing if it's included or not so that there are no nasty surprises.
I'm regretting leaving the curtain-poles at the moment but part of that is because I really dislike our buyer. He's annoyed that we are taking our totally free-standing fridge-freezer!
Ouch on the Rangemaster - and I'm glad that the EA coughed up.
The house-buying process in this country is horrendous and I am convinced that Conveyancing Solicitors are a separate species. We had to sell 2 properties - both leasehold - and buy one, so 4 of the wretched things in the mix, and the buyer's one is just horrendous.
I'm very excited to get into the new house, but dreading the process which is spread over 3 days. We have paid for a packing service which makes things much easier, although the house is already full of boxes where I'm packing all the stuff I don't trust them not to drop!
I'm also sad to leave this house and to leave London and adjusting to a whole new routine is going to be odd - we're keeping our daughter at her London primary school so she will be commuting with us and I will now have to work from a library or something rather than from home (bang goes my background war-movies ).
If there is something I particularly want then I generally ask the agent during the viewing if it's included or not so that there are no nasty surprises.
I'm regretting leaving the curtain-poles at the moment but part of that is because I really dislike our buyer. He's annoyed that we are taking our totally free-standing fridge-freezer!
Ouch on the Rangemaster - and I'm glad that the EA coughed up.
The house-buying process in this country is horrendous and I am convinced that Conveyancing Solicitors are a separate species. We had to sell 2 properties - both leasehold - and buy one, so 4 of the wretched things in the mix, and the buyer's one is just horrendous.
I'm very excited to get into the new house, but dreading the process which is spread over 3 days. We have paid for a packing service which makes things much easier, although the house is already full of boxes where I'm packing all the stuff I don't trust them not to drop!
I'm also sad to leave this house and to leave London and adjusting to a whole new routine is going to be odd - we're keeping our daughter at her London primary school so she will be commuting with us and I will now have to work from a library or something rather than from home (bang goes my background war-movies
).Gosh, my mind is boggling now over this mystery item :lol:
Know what you mean about not liking your buyers - we've had a few horrors in the past - but our most recent ones were lovely, not least because they paid asking price and we established a friendly email relationship which helped the process along when those conveyancing solicitors were doing their worst! I don't envy you having to deal with several sets of each.....
I feel your pain over the three day move too - ours was possibly even worse at five days! It involved three days for the removers to load up, including one full load of garden *stuff* (and we left all our garden furniture - plus that hot tub - behind!), then two days to unload at the other end. We didn't have the lacking service though as I'm afraid I don't trust anyone not to break our treasures - I even insisted on moving several large boxfuls of the most precious items by car :wink:
Once you're settled in and used to the new routine I'm sure you'll all be fine - kids adapt very quickly, it tends to be us grown ups that take a while to adjust to changes.....or at least, I do!
Know what you mean about not liking your buyers - we've had a few horrors in the past - but our most recent ones were lovely, not least because they paid asking price and we established a friendly email relationship which helped the process along when those conveyancing solicitors were doing their worst! I don't envy you having to deal with several sets of each.....
I feel your pain over the three day move too - ours was possibly even worse at five days! It involved three days for the removers to load up, including one full load of garden *stuff* (and we left all our garden furniture - plus that hot tub - behind!), then two days to unload at the other end. We didn't have the lacking service though as I'm afraid I don't trust anyone not to break our treasures - I even insisted on moving several large boxfuls of the most precious items by car :wink:
Once you're settled in and used to the new routine I'm sure you'll all be fine - kids adapt very quickly, it tends to be us grown ups that take a while to adjust to changes.....or at least, I do!
Once the house is 100% mine, I will reveal all! :twisted:
The breakable irreplaceables are going in the car with us rather than the van - along with the pet python :lol: . If they smash glasses then it will be a PITA, but they're probably better at packing that kind of thing than I am and therefore less likely to end up with breakages.
I've also packed all the faffy small things - the contents of the 'emergency presents' cupboard, medicine cupboard, kid craft supplies and so on.
I wish we'd been able to talk to our buyer, but he insisted that everything had to go to his lawyer - wouldn't even speak to the EA. Basically said he wanted nothing to do with the process except to come in and sign the forms on exchange! We've had to have a 5 week minimum between exchange and completion due to our vendors complying with the process overseas, and he 'forgot' about this and suddenly got in a state the day before exchange because his mortgage offer (which he said he'd sorted but hadn't when he made the initial offer) would expire and he had to get an extension. The fact that his lawyer had faffed about for week after week on irrelevancies didn't seem to register - we were just all being difficult apparently. Even on exchange date, I had to read the riot act to the EA over the buyer's lawyer being a total ****. Our lawyer has black-listed her!
NEVER AGAIN!
Sadly, I think my biggest ugh over moving is having to get up an hour earlier in the morning! I am so not a morning person - and neither is daughter, it's going to be grim.
The breakable irreplaceables are going in the car with us rather than the van - along with the pet python :lol: . If they smash glasses then it will be a PITA, but they're probably better at packing that kind of thing than I am and therefore less likely to end up with breakages.
I've also packed all the faffy small things - the contents of the 'emergency presents' cupboard, medicine cupboard, kid craft supplies and so on.
I wish we'd been able to talk to our buyer, but he insisted that everything had to go to his lawyer - wouldn't even speak to the EA. Basically said he wanted nothing to do with the process except to come in and sign the forms on exchange! We've had to have a 5 week minimum between exchange and completion due to our vendors complying with the process overseas, and he 'forgot' about this and suddenly got in a state the day before exchange because his mortgage offer (which he said he'd sorted but hadn't when he made the initial offer) would expire and he had to get an extension. The fact that his lawyer had faffed about for week after week on irrelevancies didn't seem to register - we were just all being difficult apparently. Even on exchange date, I had to read the riot act to the EA over the buyer's lawyer being a total ****. Our lawyer has black-listed her!
NEVER AGAIN!
Sadly, I think my biggest ugh over moving is having to get up an hour earlier in the morning! I am so not a morning person - and neither is daughter, it's going to be grim.
Zebra
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Flyfisher said:
A friend of mine bought a house, and the previous owners had not only taken every light bulb and toilet roll, but had left a note saying they would come back to harvest their runner beans in a month.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, he went straight outside and pulled the damned things up out of the ground.
Feltwell
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It can work the other way too of course.
Here, the previous owners left some bits that their daughter had outgrown that they thought our kids would like - so the wendy house was left, as was a slide, a rather nice rocking horse and a few other bits. They wanted to take the curtains but agreed to leave them with us for 6 months as they were moving into a rented house, time for us to get ourselves sorted with new ones. We had them for 2 years in the end!
My parents house, which was in a state when they bought it, had some less welcome items left behind. Top of the list has to be the broken freezer in the garage - this had been broken for over 3 years apparently, and was still full of food........
Here, the previous owners left some bits that their daughter had outgrown that they thought our kids would like - so the wendy house was left, as was a slide, a rather nice rocking horse and a few other bits. They wanted to take the curtains but agreed to leave them with us for 6 months as they were moving into a rented house, time for us to get ourselves sorted with new ones. We had them for 2 years in the end!
My parents house, which was in a state when they bought it, had some less welcome items left behind. Top of the list has to be the broken freezer in the garage - this had been broken for over 3 years apparently, and was still full of food........
Feltwell said:
Charming :lol:
But, oh gosh yes, we've had our fair share of those vendors too......
Most notably was when we bought our biggest project (a Victorian house on the South Coast that had been converted to four flats in the '50s/'60s) and the vendor (a friend's dad who lived overseas and let the flats out to various tenants) left behind some 50-odd pieces of rather disgusting, bedsit-type furniture in the house as well as a weird rigid, cartwheel-like set of plastic garden furniture that was so well hidden by brambles we didn't even realise it was there till we ventured outside to strim them back :lol:
This house came with slightly fewer *surprises* left behind on completion day - a large safe in the cellar that I guess was too heavy/difficult to remove (we haven't attempted it either......yet!) and piles of parquet flooring in one of the outbuildings. There was a rather sturdy sack truck in the shed when we viewed, that would have come in extremely useful for moving our many large garden planters - typically that had been removed :roll:
As we no longer required it we left a whole lot of hot tub paraphernalia (chems, floating drinks holder, booster cushions, rubber ducks etc) at our last house for our buyers and their kids :wink:
LadyArowana
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The people we bought our house from were also slightly odd, and we came very close to walking away from the deal because of them. They wanted us to pay 500 quid for a water softener that was far from new ( and indeed we found out subsequently had been shut off for ages ) and various other bits ( 2 of which actually were part of the house and should not have been subject to removal as it's G2 ). We reluctantly gave them a bit of extra dosh for the 2 special things and were glad they had to deal with removing the others. Every issue was a fight over miniscule details. I subsequently found out that one set of neighbours disliked the previous occupants so much that they avoided each other as much as possible. They had a quick chat having seen the moving van, mainly to make sure that they were actually leaving! When asked about the buyers our vendor described us as "very secretive" which gave us both a good laugh when I moved in and went round and rung the bell to introduce myself.
Of course His Lordship always says it was actually a good thing they were difficult, because there had been an offer on the place a few weeks previously and normal people would have got the deal done.
Of course His Lordship always says it was actually a good thing they were difficult, because there had been an offer on the place a few weeks previously and normal people would have got the deal done.
Loving this thread!
Our delightful vendors apparently felt we had got such a bargain and reduced the fat profit on what was actually their holiday home which they had never maintained, apart from cement smear attempts at pointing and lots of magnolia paint chucked around to try to conceal the horrific damp and water ingress that they felt the need to leave us kitchen cupboards full of mouse droppings, carpets so clogged with sand they could probably have bagged it up and used it repoint not to mention general dirt, fluff where beds used to be and dog hair...this is all despite very kindly leaving us a crappy old hoover! Bathroom carpets which gave off the tell tale aroma of being used for many years by someone with terrible toilet aim! The oven was so dirty it should have been condemned, we came out of rented so not only did I have to clean the one in our rented house, I also had the pleasure of cleaning a stinking, greasy crusted one as well. 1 Broken washing machine which very luckily one of our lovely removal men took away to recycle and finally the most priceless item 1 heavy duty plastic 15 foot rowing boat...complete with large hole in the bottom!!!!! When I complained in no uncertain terms to the EA/our solicitor apparently all the vendors said was "well they knew what state it was in when they bought it"...I wish I could have sued or something I was that hopping mad.
Mickey
Our delightful vendors apparently felt we had got such a bargain and reduced the fat profit on what was actually their holiday home which they had never maintained, apart from cement smear attempts at pointing and lots of magnolia paint chucked around to try to conceal the horrific damp and water ingress that they felt the need to leave us kitchen cupboards full of mouse droppings, carpets so clogged with sand they could probably have bagged it up and used it repoint not to mention general dirt, fluff where beds used to be and dog hair...this is all despite very kindly leaving us a crappy old hoover! Bathroom carpets which gave off the tell tale aroma of being used for many years by someone with terrible toilet aim! The oven was so dirty it should have been condemned, we came out of rented so not only did I have to clean the one in our rented house, I also had the pleasure of cleaning a stinking, greasy crusted one as well. 1 Broken washing machine which very luckily one of our lovely removal men took away to recycle and finally the most priceless item 1 heavy duty plastic 15 foot rowing boat...complete with large hole in the bottom!!!!! When I complained in no uncertain terms to the EA/our solicitor apparently all the vendors said was "well they knew what state it was in when they bought it"...I wish I could have sued or something I was that hopping mad.
Mickey
We knew our vendors were leaving all the appliances and the pretty nice pine dresser in the kitchen but when we me met the chap and his son who were working flat out clearing the place one hot weekend shortly before completion (they were both down from Scotland - it had been his mother's cottage) I suggested they could just leave anything that might be useful rather than taking it to the tip - expecting a few half bottles of cleaning materials and maybe the potentially useful filing cabinet in the study to remain...
When we arrived on moving day there was indeed all the cleaning stuff, dishwasher tablets, loo rolls, the filing cabinet and a few surprises. The dresser had a lovely collection of ancient blue and white plates on it (that still live there), there was a nice set of mahogany dining chairs (since ebayed), two full boxes of cutlery (including quite a few solid silver pieces and my now favourite carving set), a wonderfully Gothic Victorian sideboard that we use, various side tables, a beautiful large rug that covers most of the dining room, a couple of nice glass fronted cabinets, a useful chest of drawers and pretty much a fully equipped kitchen (admittedly some of the crockery was a little miss-matched!).
Opening the (above ground) bomb shelter also revealed a reasonable collection of garden tools and a couple of great two-man wood saws.
A few extra upright chairs, two fully upholstered chairs, a couple of rugs, various ornaments and pictures that had obviously been there as set dressing, plus the crockery we didn't like all went to the charity shop which was much better than simply being thrown away.
I guess it could have been a little too much for some but was perfect for us - we were combining a flat and a house into the new place and since my house still hadn't sold I was able to leave that fully dressed to help the sales process and the contents of the flat fitted in with what we inherited. It also saved having to make any decisions about what went where in the kitchen, since everything already had a place established!
And I haven't opened the 1947 vintage bottle of port that was tucked in the bread oven yet...
When we arrived on moving day there was indeed all the cleaning stuff, dishwasher tablets, loo rolls, the filing cabinet and a few surprises. The dresser had a lovely collection of ancient blue and white plates on it (that still live there), there was a nice set of mahogany dining chairs (since ebayed), two full boxes of cutlery (including quite a few solid silver pieces and my now favourite carving set), a wonderfully Gothic Victorian sideboard that we use, various side tables, a beautiful large rug that covers most of the dining room, a couple of nice glass fronted cabinets, a useful chest of drawers and pretty much a fully equipped kitchen (admittedly some of the crockery was a little miss-matched!).
Opening the (above ground) bomb shelter also revealed a reasonable collection of garden tools and a couple of great two-man wood saws.
A few extra upright chairs, two fully upholstered chairs, a couple of rugs, various ornaments and pictures that had obviously been there as set dressing, plus the crockery we didn't like all went to the charity shop which was much better than simply being thrown away.
I guess it could have been a little too much for some but was perfect for us - we were combining a flat and a house into the new place and since my house still hadn't sold I was able to leave that fully dressed to help the sales process and the contents of the flat fitted in with what we inherited. It also saved having to make any decisions about what went where in the kitchen, since everything already had a place established!
And I haven't opened the 1947 vintage bottle of port that was tucked in the bread oven yet...
Bayliss
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Delightful looking 'typical' Suffolk thatched cottage currently 'on the market'. Strangely the selling agent uses the line 'in the style of a longhouse' when describing the upper level bedroom layout. The rooms are entered one though another, all four of them (THANKS TO ALL THE TIEBEAMS BEING BUTCHERED)
Flyfisher
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We seem to have been quite fortunate with our house buying and selling. Our first house was being sold by a chap who had already moved in to his girlfriend's house so there was no chain involved, which obviously made things easier. This was just as well because we struggled a bit to find a mortgage but the buyer was quite relaxed about the whole thing and was very nice and patient about the whole thing.
Another house was a probate sale and priced quite low for a quick sale. We tried to knock a bit off the price but the agent said the seller wouldn't reduce the price because there were others interested - well, they would say that wouldn't they? Anyway, not really trusting the agent, the following day we viewed the house again, this time with the seller (it was his Mother's house) so we could deal directly and after some discussion we offered the asking price. He accepted on the spot and we shook hands on the deal. A couple of weeks later while visiting again to measure up, the agent told us that we were very lucky because a previous couple had delayed their offer while they enquired about the likelihood of getting planning consent to extend the house. By the time they made their offer, ours had already been accepted and the seller even refused their attempts to 'gazump' our offer, which was rather nice of him.
Selling can attract some strange people sometimes. We've had a few couples viewing who spend ages looking around and asking seemingly trivial questions (such as 'is the heating system on a timer'!), never to be heard of again. Then there was one chap who called every week for a month or so to arrange a viewing, each time only to cancel a few days later because he was so busy but assuring us he was very, very interested. He never did view. Perhaps the strangest viewer was a woman who, as soon as we opened the door, exclaimed 'oh, I don't really like stairs' . . . at which point I suppressed a sudden urge to tell her to go forth and look for a bungalow!
But perhaps our strangest move was a house swap. We had bought a new house without selling the old one with the intention of renting it out. FF junior had just been born so our minds were not entirely focussed on sorting out a tenant and the house was empty for a few months. We then received a note through the letterbox from a neighbour with a smaller house asking if we would be interested in swapping houses. When we mentioned out plans to rent out the house, the neighbour said he could arrange everything as he was an estate agent and offered to leave his house fully furnished and find us a tenant as part of the deal. Because it was a house swap, the value of the two properties was sort of notional in that the only thing that really mattered to us was the cash portion of the offer. This helped him because he admitted he could not borrow enough to buy at the prevailing market prices, so we valued both properties at rock bottom even though the 'difference' to be paid was what we would normally expect, which was obviously good for him and why he was so keen to help with the rental arrangements. And sure enough, he left almost all his house contents (right down to pots and pans and cutlery!), decorated and cleaned the house including having the garden tidied up professionally, found a tenant and sorted out the short term tenancy agreement including a fully detailed inventory.
Mind you, that's perhaps not quite as strange as a school friend's parents who moved from one side of a semi-detached house to the other. My friend said it was because it was better decorated though it was odd getting used to the layout being a mirror image!
Another house was a probate sale and priced quite low for a quick sale. We tried to knock a bit off the price but the agent said the seller wouldn't reduce the price because there were others interested - well, they would say that wouldn't they? Anyway, not really trusting the agent, the following day we viewed the house again, this time with the seller (it was his Mother's house) so we could deal directly and after some discussion we offered the asking price. He accepted on the spot and we shook hands on the deal. A couple of weeks later while visiting again to measure up, the agent told us that we were very lucky because a previous couple had delayed their offer while they enquired about the likelihood of getting planning consent to extend the house. By the time they made their offer, ours had already been accepted and the seller even refused their attempts to 'gazump' our offer, which was rather nice of him.
Selling can attract some strange people sometimes. We've had a few couples viewing who spend ages looking around and asking seemingly trivial questions (such as 'is the heating system on a timer'!), never to be heard of again. Then there was one chap who called every week for a month or so to arrange a viewing, each time only to cancel a few days later because he was so busy but assuring us he was very, very interested. He never did view. Perhaps the strangest viewer was a woman who, as soon as we opened the door, exclaimed 'oh, I don't really like stairs' . . . at which point I suppressed a sudden urge to tell her to go forth and look for a bungalow!
But perhaps our strangest move was a house swap. We had bought a new house without selling the old one with the intention of renting it out. FF junior had just been born so our minds were not entirely focussed on sorting out a tenant and the house was empty for a few months. We then received a note through the letterbox from a neighbour with a smaller house asking if we would be interested in swapping houses. When we mentioned out plans to rent out the house, the neighbour said he could arrange everything as he was an estate agent and offered to leave his house fully furnished and find us a tenant as part of the deal. Because it was a house swap, the value of the two properties was sort of notional in that the only thing that really mattered to us was the cash portion of the offer. This helped him because he admitted he could not borrow enough to buy at the prevailing market prices, so we valued both properties at rock bottom even though the 'difference' to be paid was what we would normally expect, which was obviously good for him and why he was so keen to help with the rental arrangements. And sure enough, he left almost all his house contents (right down to pots and pans and cutlery!), decorated and cleaned the house including having the garden tidied up professionally, found a tenant and sorted out the short term tenancy agreement including a fully detailed inventory.
Mind you, that's perhaps not quite as strange as a school friend's parents who moved from one side of a semi-detached house to the other. My friend said it was because it was better decorated though it was odd getting used to the layout being a mirror image!