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In this seller's market, the time is set for you because there's a line of others waiting to see the house. In the case of the one we decided on and one we viewed before that, the showings were at thirty minute increments. If we overstayed our welcome, we'd eat into someone else's time. Then you have the people who show up early and hang around, causing you to rush through your walkthrough. I've been told that agents deliberately stack the showings like this to get people to throw their cards on the table quickly.
In our case, we had already researched the house online and wanted to see things in person to make sure they were like the photos.
I won't waste the realtor's time if I don't like the look of the place from first entering. Some people will stay and continue to have a "look" see knowing full well they aren't going to purchase it, this bugs me.
If I did like the place, I probably spend about 15 minutes or so but I don't really watch my time. I peruse each room and the outside. I will then speak to the realtor about if I like it or not etc.
I also never got how people will open upper cabinet doors or open drawers in dressers or open medicine cabinets in bathrooms or sit on beds if a place is still fully occupied. I won't ever do that other than a quick glance in closets, under the sink to look at plumbing. But beyond that, I feel like it's an invasion of privacy, why do that? You can tell on the outside how deep a kitchen cabinet is and you aren't buying the furniture!
My gf and I have completely different approaches to home viewing. The neighborhood has to be decent for both of us, however. If it isn't, that's a dealbreaker, because you have no control over it. One important thing I have learned is if you want to buy a home, don't just view it during the day. Also drive through the neighborhood and night and see what's going on. That gives you a better idea of how the neighborhood really is. All neighborhoods are quiet and peaceful looking while the homeowners are at work.
Curb appeal is overrated. The lack of it can be easily remedied. If a home seems good from online pics and description, we go inside. For me, a home really "pops" right away, within a couple of minutes at most. It just sings to me. I want it to feel like the house will be our home where we can make happy memories together. She is much more analytical and has to look in every crack and crevice to determine if the home is worth pursuing. But since she's a home inspector, that's her job, even when looking at her own future home 30 minutes is the minimum for her, even if she's saying no, and ten minutes is the maximum for me, even if I'm saying yes. But when I say yes, I make multiple trips, and the successive trips involve measuments and such.
I also never got how people will open upper cabinet doors or open drawers in dressers or open medicine cabinets in bathrooms or sit on beds if a place is still fully occupied. I won't ever do that other than a quick glance in closets, under the sink to look at plumbing. But beyond that, I feel like it's an invasion of privacy, why do that? You can tell on the outside how deep a kitchen cabinet is and you aren't buying the furniture!
I do that. The quality of construction of cabinets is important to me. With so many houses being flipped using bad materials I want to see the drawer construction (a dead giveaway of cheap cabinets), and how the doors and drawers feel as they open and close. I couldn't care less about the content, but I do want to see if the interiors have solid shelves and quality hinges, and even how well they are installed. Kitchen, bathroom and utility cabinets - I look at them all.
Of course, if you open one kitchen drawer and it has plastic sides or flimsy bottoms, you don't have to open the others to know that they are cheap too. Slapping a granite countertop on crap cabinets can look ok from the outside but you can't hide cheap cabinets once you look inside.
I won't waste the realtor's time if I don't like the look of the place from first entering. Some people will stay and continue to have a "look" see knowing full well they aren't going to purchase it, this bugs me.
If I did like the place, I probably spend about 15 minutes or so but I don't really watch my time. I peruse each room and the outside. I will then speak to the realtor about if I like it or not etc.
I also never got how people will open upper cabinet doors or open drawers in dressers or open medicine cabinets in bathrooms or sit on beds if a place is still fully occupied. I won't ever do that other than a quick glance in closets, under the sink to look at plumbing. But beyond that, I feel like it's an invasion of privacy, why do that? You can tell on the outside how deep a kitchen cabinet is and you aren't buying the furniture!
Quote:
Originally Posted by kab0906
I do that. The quality of construction of cabinets is important to me. With so many houses being flipped using bad materials I want to see the drawer construction (a dead giveaway of cheap cabinets), and how the doors and drawers feel as they open and close. I couldn't care less about the content, but I do want to see if the interiors have solid shelves and quality hinges, and even how well they are installed. Kitchen, bathroom and utility cabinets - I look at them all.
Of course, if you open one kitchen drawer and it has plastic sides or flimsy bottoms, you don't have to open the others to know that they are cheap too. Slapping a granite countertop on crap cabinets can look ok from the outside but you can't hide cheap cabinets once you look inside.
I would open things as well. For one thing, I am very lousy spatially, so I can't tell by looking at things how big they are, what will fit, how to turn things, etc. It's amazing how hard it is for me to complete the simplest spatial task. So I open cabinets, drawers, and doors to find out if they are a good size, because measurements don't help me understand dimensions. I agree with kab0906 about the house flipping thing. Many homes here are foreclosures that have been flipped in a big hurry, and they are flipped with cheap, crappy materials by investors who just want to turnover the homes ASAP. Because Houston attracts so many new residents all the time, there's a huge market for crappy flipped homes, and homes don't remain unoccupied long. Also, if the house is still occupied, the owner has foregone his/her privacy rights in favor of selling their home and avoiding two mortgage payments simultaneously, IMO. Strangers nosing around in their private stuff is par for the course.
As someone who sold a house fairly recently, I anticipated that every closet and cabinet door and drawer would be opened. A buyer is buying those and has a right to look. As a buyer, I probably wouldn't do that at an initial viewing, but definitely would for a second showing because it's possible that an individual drawer or cabinet could have damage that I would want to know about.
I have seen people opening furniture drawers and that is completely inappropriate because that is personal property that doesn't convey, with few exceptions. but IMO, anything that conveys is fair game.
As for time frame, I think you can rule out a home in a very, very short time, but it takes a bit longer when something has some potential. I'd say up to 30 minutes for a first look, and 60 minutes for a second showing would be pretty standard, with of course some individual variation plus or minus those amounts.
I won't waste the realtor's time if I don't like the look of the place from first entering. Some people will stay and continue to have a "look" see knowing full well they aren't going to purchase it, this bugs me.
If I did like the place, I probably spend about 15 minutes or so but I don't really watch my time. I peruse each room and the outside. I will then speak to the realtor about if I like it or not etc.
I also never got how people will open upper cabinet doors or open drawers in dressers or open medicine cabinets in bathrooms or sit on beds if a place is still fully occupied. I won't ever do that other than a quick glance in closets, under the sink to look at plumbing. But beyond that, I feel like it's an invasion of privacy, why do that? You can tell on the outside how deep a kitchen cabinet is and you aren't buying the furniture!
Not long ago I looked at a beautiful new home with very nice cabinets. I like the kind where you can leave a plate or cup handle just a tiny bit over the shelf and the door shuts and doesn't hit it. So I always open a door or two. But I was shocked when I opened this one and it was more obvious once open that the shelves and entire cabinet were much to shallow. So I opened more. All upper cabinet were the same. Lower cabinets were not pullout shelves sort of like drawers which could have substituted. They had the usual since shelf further back.
I finally determined the only place one could put dinner plates or serving plates and bowls was in the pantry closet with deep shelves. The builder wasn't around and I didn't pursue it but I wonder why that was. I even considered it may have to do with the area being extremely family oriented with very busy people. I do know many families no longer have regular meals together and with actual dinner plates or serving plates...or any plating beyond paper plates. So maybe shallow shelving is the thing in some areas.
I say on average around 30 mins. Or more if you're really interested. I recently spent about an hour looking at a house we really liked. But like others have said, you may know its not the right house for you as soon as you walk in...then just leave. No point in wasting your time or others time.
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30 minutes is the minimum for her, even if she's saying no, and ten minutes is the maximum for me, even if I'm saying yes. But when I say yes, I make multiple trips, and the successive trips involve measuments and such.
