What Buyers Really Mean When They Give Viewing Feedback
- Posted by Luscombe & Co in Other
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Following a property viewing, we always want to know what the buyer thought.
Sometimes the feedback is wonderfully straightforward.
Other times, it requires a little translation.
After enough years in estate agency, you start to recognise certain phrases. So, in the spirit of helping sellers understand what happens after a viewing, here are some of the classics.
“We really liked it, but…”
Proceed with caution.
Whatever comes after the word but is usually the important bit.
“We really liked it, but the kitchen felt small.”
“We loved the house, but it needs more work than we expected.”
“It was lovely, but the garden isn’t quite big enough.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean the buyer disliked the property.
Often, it means they liked it — just not enough to accept the compromise at the current asking price.
“We have a few more properties to see.”
Translation: You’re on the maybe pile.
And that’s perfectly normal.
Most buyers will compare several properties before making a decision, particularly when there is plenty available within their budget.
The important question is whether your property remains one of the strongest options after they’ve seen the competition.
“It needs more work than we expected.”
Buyers can have a remarkable ability to mentally renovate an entire property during a 20-minute viewing.
New kitchen. New bathroom. Decorating. Flooring.
And naturally every imaginary job costs approximately three times what you think it should.
Joking aside, condition has a major impact on how buyers perceive value.
A seller might see a perfectly usable kitchen that they have happily lived with for ten years. A buyer may see something they’ll want to replace immediately.
Neither person is necessarily wrong — they’re simply looking at the property from different perspectives.
“The bedrooms were smaller than we thought.”
This is why photographs, floorplans and accurate marketing are important.
But buyers can still perceive space differently once they physically enter a property.
One comment about bedroom size probably doesn’t tell us much.
If six different viewers independently mention it, however, we’ve identified a pattern.
And patterns are what matter.
“We’re going to have a think.”
Potentially the most mysterious sentence in estate agency.
Sometimes they genuinely are going to have a think.
Sometimes they’re discussing an offer.
Sometimes you’ll never hear from them again despite our best efforts to contact them.
It’s why we don’t rely purely on what buyers say during the viewing. Their actions afterwards tell us far more.
When does feedback become about price?
This is the big one.
There are certain things about a property that can’t easily be changed.
You can’t make a bedroom two metres wider. You can’t move the house to another road. You probably aren’t going to build a second garden because three viewers wanted a bigger one.
What can change is how buyers perceive those compromises against the asking price.
Buyers will accept smaller rooms, dated kitchens, busier roads and properties requiring work — at a price they believe reflects those factors.
This is why repeated viewing feedback can eventually become pricing feedback.
One opinion is an opinion. Five is a pattern.
Sellers shouldn’t panic because one viewer doesn’t like the kitchen.
Property is hugely subjective. The feature one buyer hates might be exactly what another buyer wants.
What we pay attention to is repetition.
If several buyers make the same observation, if viewings are taking place without offers, or if buyers consistently choose competing properties instead, that information becomes valuable.
Feedback isn’t always what a seller wants to hear, and sometimes we know we’re delivering a message that won’t exactly make someone’s Friday afternoon.
But useful feedback isn’t about being negative.
It’s about understanding why buyers are making the decisions they’re making.
And sometimes that information is exactly what’s needed to turn the next viewing into an offer.