I don't think I'd care if my real estate agent looked thru a photo album I had out in the open, but it makes me angry when I see home shows where potential buyers lay on the sellers bed or sit down on the couch and turn the TV on. I also saw one where the adults were going thru the house to check it out and the kids were playing with the sellers kids toys. And another brought their dog with them. I know the shows are somewhat fake, so I wonder if its actually their own stuff.
I remember as a kid when my parents were buying a house, they sat down at the sellers dining table to write up a purchase agreement. My parents house is for sale and my dad collects toys from when he was a kid--one of the families who went thru let their kids play with some stuff (it was in a frickin glass door lawyers book case cabinet).
I find it rude. My house is for sale, not my stuff. Stay off of it/don't touch it. But it also weirds me out thinking about strange people going aound touching stuff...
So would you sit/lay on the sellers stuff or let your kids play with their toys (not like a swing set in the backyard)?
I wouldn't lay down on their bed, or let my kids play with the toys/touch stuff/jump on the furniture.
I *might* sit down on a couch or something, if for some reason I wanted to get an idea of the layout of the room. Or if I wanted to see how the sun came through the windows when I'd be watching TV or something. But I would do it quickly and then get up, not just plop down and make myself comfortable.
I think most of those home-buying shows are fake, though, if it makes you feel better. From what I've read, most of those people are "touring" a house they've already bought and then look at two other houses to make it look realistic.
I think someone on these boards said that their friend did this show and one of the potential houses was another girlfriend's house, and the friend on the show had to go through it and comment on how much she hated it. Anyone else remember this thread?
I think it's mildly weird to sit/lie on the furniture, but it wouldn't bother me that much. It's not like they were getting under the covers.
As for kids, sometimes it's a matter of limits vs picking battles. When we came through our current house with DD (and the owners were here), there was kids' table and toys in the living room. DD immediately went to them, and we told her not to. The owners said they were fine with it, and it kept DD occupied while we talked to them and our realtor. However, we never would have let her get into cabinets to pay with anything.
I fully expect that people who went through our house opened kitchen cabinets, as well as closets (mostly to get an idea of size/depth), and might have even used the restroom once or twice. As long as nothing was broken or damaged, it doesn't really bother me.
Post by stingsharkruns on Oct 8, 2012 14:15:20 GMT -5
We are getting ready to list our house - I plan on packing up all of our photo albums and personal things up.
I don't care about our couch. We aren't taking it with us - mostly because we literally can't get it out of the house .. We will have to cut it into pieces to get it out. (yes, really). Laying in my bed? that is creepy.
We just sold our house. I expected people to sit on chairs, at the table, etc.
What we found really weird was when we went into our bedroom, someone had moved the comforter around on our bed (it was lifted up at the bottom), so who knows what happened with that.
I see no problem with people sitting on a couch. It gives you a feel for the room that you can't really get standing up.
I definitely see no problem with someone sitting at my dining room table to write up an offer. That means they want to buy it.
The bed... that's weird. There's no reason to lay on someone else's bed unless you're buying a furnished house.
Toys... gray area. I wouldn't purposely dump DS in a kid's room and tell him to stay there and play while we look at the rest of the house, but sometimes kids see new toys and beeline for them before the parents notice.
Bathroom - Eh, as long as you clean up after yourself I can deal.
There's a reason people get a storage unit for personal stuff (photo albums, jewelry, guns, adult toys, breakables, etc) when their house is for sale.
Post by hbomdiggity on Oct 8, 2012 15:46:14 GMT -5
This is what drove me insane when LL sold the condo we were renting. He called having to show it a "minor inconvenience". Excuse me? Strangers are going to be going through my house, opening shit, and lord knows what else. And as a short sale we knew there wouldn't be an attentive REA at the showings. We practically packed our cars with valuables.
I think sometimes on those shows the buyers spend a little too long on chairs, on couches, etc. One time, they sat so long adn were getting so comfortable, it seemed like they were shopping for chairs and not a house.
I broke the sellers' chair when we went for the inspection. Sat down normally in an arm chair and the front legs just slid out and collapsed. So embarrased.
Apparently, it was already questionable and only the very tiny dog ever sat in it. Thankfully they weren't upset because it was ugly and I didn't want to buy an ugly, broken chair or lose the house over pissing them off.
i would pack away and put valuables into storage if i was showing my house. And from things i have read, open houses are like asking for people to steal shit- and rarely result in a sale- so i wouldn't want them in my house.... since often people are walking around and the realtor is nowhere near them watching, etc. I know none were when dh and i went to open houses.
as for sitting down - i don't mind that.. but on my bed? no- that is gross. They can do anything i'd expect a guest visiting me to do... use the bathroom, sit down on the couch, etc- but on my bed is just creepy.
No, I would probably not do those things. I WILL open closets (pretty typical) because closet space is important. I'll also open things like fridges and cabinets because that's part of whether or not I want to buy a house.
The one exception would be, if furniture or appliances are listed as coming with the house, I will probably check them out at least on a second walk-through if I'm serious about the place. Listing your big screen TV as part of the deal? Yes, I want to see that it actually works. The house is coming furnished (not common around here)? Then I think sitting on the bed or couch is reasonable.
When we sold our house, I made sure that anything valuable or anything that I didn't want people rummaging through (like my underwear, haha) was removed. It was easy for us though because we had physically moved already, so we just left stuff to stage the house.
I don't really care if someone sat on the sofa or kitchen table. Sometimes people can visualize themselves in a space better like that.
It kills me when I see people on those shows flop on the bed with their shoes on! I mean you should never flop on someone's bed in the first place. Shoes just takes it to another level.
Speaking of shoes...as much as I complained about my RA, I have to say there were things she did that I really appreciated (like making prospective buyers take off their shoes --she provided slippers). Especially since it was the middle of winter and there was tons of snow and slush. I know how much this board loves the shoes on/off debate.
I don't think it's odd to use furniture that is in the more "public rooms" - like couches or dining table.
When we got the safety inspection if our house done it took 3hrs and we we're supposed to hang around. we sat in the living room - it's not like we were going to spend 3hrs sitting on the floor or outside in our car in winter.
Playing with toys, and going through belongings is weird and rude though
. My parents house is for sale and my dad collects toys from when he was a kid--one of the families who went thru let their kids play with some stuff (it was in a frickin glass door lawyers book case cabinet).
This is weird since the toys were old and in a glass case. It isn't like they were tossed on the floor or something. I'd think it would be obvious it was a collection!
I always thought it was normal to put personal items away when you're selling your house - so things like photo albums shouldn't be laying out. From a staging perspective, it is probably not a great idea to have the house covered in your personal pictures, mementos, etc because it makes it harder for the buyer to envision it as their home when it is obviously decorated as YOUR home with YOUR family and YOUR stuff. Obviously if you are living there you can't strip the entire house of your belongings, but it is a little odd to me that there would be an open house or scheduling showing where that kind of stuff was so accessible anyway.
I always find it really odd when I look at listings and there is sports team memorebelia (other than for the local team) and personal stuff everywhere. It could be a huge turnoff if someone who hated your team wanted to look at your house!
Of course I've never sold a house and I dread the day that we put ours on the market. Sounds like a PITA. Also, I don't care if people sit on my furniture or use my bathroom or whatever when the time comes. As long as they aren't damaging anything I don't see the harm. I also don't really care what strangers think of my underwear or pictures so it's not a huge deal to me if someone looked through those anyway. Maybe I'm too trusting, lol.
We removed all valuables from our house when it was listed, except for our desktop which we needed to keep out in order to use day-to-day.
One time after a showing, the browser history (I checked, because the webpage I know I had open had been closed) showed that someone had checked their e-mail. Weird.
DD's toys were frequently played with. Again, not the end of the world but I think it is rude.
Final weird story is that one time I came home from a showing and found a dirty sock in my kitchen. It did not belong to anyone in my house. ewwwww.
I am LOLing at all the comments about photo albums being a definite item to not leave out. I literally removed every personal item out of my house and packed it away in the basement .... Save for this 1 album because it has a classic library book binding and made for good staging material for a nondescript shelf at the back of my living room. It never crossed my mind that BUYERS would look at it. I didn't realize I needed to worry about my realtor, too. Besides this 1 thing, my house doesn't freaking looked lived in. In fact we are all uncomfortable here because it feels so sterile and unfamiliar. Of course my realtor found the album, it was the only thing to find. it was either that or count tissues in the Kleenex box.
Now, if potential buyers want to sit on my couch to see how the room feels from that vantage point, that is totally fine with me. Same goes for the dining room table. That's about what it feels like to see yourself living there.
I think it makes more sense for buyers to do this than the realtor. The buyer is trying to get a feel for whether or not to buy your house; the realtor in the other post was just rifling through stuff out of boredom.
If my house was on the market and a buyer wanted to get a feel for the room while sitting on the sofa, at the table, etc., they can be my guest. And if they want to write me a good offer, they can do it on any friggin' surface in the house as far as I'm concerned.
I think it makes more sense for buyers to do this than the realtor. The buyer is trying to get a feel for whether or not to buy your house; the realtor in the other post was just rifling through stuff out of boredom.
If my house was on the market and a buyer wanted to get a feel for the room while sitting on the sofa, at the table, etc., they can be my guest. And if they want to write me a good offer, they can do it on any friggin' surface in the house as far as I'm concerned.
Lipstick on the mirror works for me, so long as it is a real offer! Ha.
I came home to find clear mud tracks from the front door, through the living room and dining room, and halfway back
That's on your realtor IMO. She should have shut that down at step 1 and asked that person to remove their shoes. We've gone to quite a few open houses that don't allow shoes at all (which I hate btw). I hope she paid for the carpet cleaning (if you have carpet).
I had a raging headache when we were looking at houses and took some Advil from the medicine cabinet. And another time DH ate something bad at lunch and pooped in the bathroom, then couldn't find air freshener so he sprayed the dude's cologne. We had bad luck with house hunting.
I can count on one hand the number of times a buyer touched a seller's stuff in the 6 yrs I've been doing it. And non of it was get on the bed type stuff. It was mostly kids touching something before they could be stopped.
I had a raging headache when we were looking at houses and took some Advil from the medicine cabinet. And another time DH ate something bad at lunch and pooped in the bathroom, then couldn't find air freshener so he sprayed the dude's cologne. We had bad luck with house hunting.
wtf on the Advil. You couldn't have your agent swing by a store? That's crazy cakes.
I had a raging headache when we were looking at houses and took some Advil from the medicine cabinet. And another time DH ate something bad at lunch and pooped in the bathroom, then couldn't find air freshener so he sprayed the dude's cologne. We had bad luck with house hunting.
wtf on the Advil. You couldn't have your agent swing by a store? That's crazy cakes.
This makes me so glad I removed all prescription medication from the medicine cabinet. Don't want potential buyers to steal my Prozac. Lol.