I was asked to take down a post I’d made about a pretty property in Devon. I’d not given away any information that wasn’t freely available online but apparently the owner was upset about the info being available.
I did take the posting down because I’m a nice person and don’t want to cause anyone upset.
Should I have done? Well the information was all available on the original estate agent advert which is still available to see if you have the right browser plug in.
However there’s a bigger question here. If you want to sell a business (as it was actually a business not just a house for sale) then you will have to at some point tell the person how much money you’re making, what your occupancy rating is, and let them visit you.
If I was serious about spending acouple of million pounds then I’d make sure I was doing lots of online research first. Buying a holiday business would involve lots of research to read reviews about the place, and this would require knowing the name of the place.
A quick look at the owner’s website got me data for their income for the current year and some spreadsheet magic got me a total and that’d be enough to put me off their price tag!
Maybe they’ve not realised what selling a business means – that someone will want to make sure it’s a sound financial business before they set foot in the place.
Or maybe people just rush headlong into buying beautiful holiday parks because they can afford to spend the money. I did say in my post I’d love to own it but wouldn’t want to share it!
What did they expect when they advertised their house? That someone would just buy it without asking any questions? Or perhaps they weren’t prepared for how public that information is when using a general estate agent. There are specialist estate agents who don’t advertise on the main property websites. I’d never thought of it as a negative before, always a positive. But perhaps if you’re looking for a serious buyer only and not a ‘tyre kicker’ like me then you’d be best sticking to a business only agent.