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My house is on the market. I don't mind kids coming to see the house with their parents, as long as they are supervised.
With that being said, we had a realtor tell us that some parents let their kids go wild at houses as they look--running crazy around the yard, swinging on the playsets, climbing trees--things like that. It worries me a bit, the liability, if a child were to get hurt while not being supervised while their parents are focused on looking at the house.
We try to leave our kids with a sitter while looking at houses and only bring them if absolutely necessary. My kids get too excited looking at houses, and my focus is on making them behave and not touch anything (we have twin toddlers) instead of focusing on the house.
If you are selling something you are selling something. You have to act like it aint yours anymore.
I went to look at an expensive home once and the Bit$ch wife who owned it stayed during showing house even though realtor told her not to as she was an anal compulsive nut. So when I look at a house my kids have to see it as I am in a market for a four bedroom house as I have three kids and right now two are sharing a room.
So we go look at house and it lots of snow. So we take shoes off and nut has some tiny rug in hallway that she is chasing my kids everytime they go near it. Tiny little throw rug that was worth a lot, realtor told her several times to store it she follows us room to room with realtor and it is creepy.
I had a three year old, eight year old and eleven year old with me. Mind you house was built 1979 and most of it was original. Powder room on first floor was 35 years old.
So at end of house tour it is snowing and nearest bathroom is four miles away my three year old has to go to bathroom very very bad. So we ask lady if we can use powder room for the three year old. She was like I would prefer if you did not use my bathroom and there is a bathroom up the road.
So we walk out on porch to put shoes on, women shuts door and as we realize car has snow on it, roads are slippery and daughter is now begging to pee. So my wife goes screw it knocks on doors, lady opens and says my daughter really has to go she has to use the bathroom or she is going to pee on your front porch. Lady goes ok but be quick. So the three year old pees in this little 35 year old powder room by front door in and out and lady yells as soon as door is shut CAN YOU IMAGINE THE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE!!
House was on sale already two years and she just cut price, my wife was like that house has bad vibes I dont want to deal with this lunatic in a closing,
BTW the sofa thing is CRAZY. I bought an investment property back in the Spring. I dont have baby sitting so I take the kids with me. They are now older. Plus they watch HGTV so I like their views.
So kids are now six, eleven and thirteen. So anyhow, this place I liked a lot. So the realtor, me and my wife want to talk business. So I tell my kids sit on the sofa quietly while we talk for a few minutes, which they did.
I bought place. What the kids are supposed to stand in front of chairs in an empty apartment.
I tell you folks are SUPER freaky sometimes.
Anyhow I bought this place and I rented it this summer for a few weeks. Fully furnished. Then I got a winter tenant. So my wife meets them there when they move in on a school holiday, they picked move in day. Of course she has kids with her. So anyhow, she comes in for a moment with the kids, there stuff is in the car just to show them circuit box basic stuff, like four minutes. So extremely odd the lady who has no kids is getting nervous with kids there hovering, so wife gets out of there. My kids are like that was very strange lady was hovering. My wife asks the 11 year old what is strange? She was like we own house and everything in it and she is watching me like I am going to break something. Meanwhile we own everything in the place.
Meaning you put the onus of replacement on the seller or the burden on them to unmess the situation. Maybe they don't want to have to replace a broken item.
I thoroughly decluttered my house when it was on the market, putting away knick-knacks, breakables, items that could be bumped .. just generally trying to make it look furnished with what is absolutely necessary. Still, I had a large library of books that could not/would not be packed away.
After being away for a 10 day vacation, I returned home to find that the book covers of two volumes had been torn. I asked the realtor, who apologized profusely and said that two showings had brought children along. She wasn't sure who had done it; probably a child interested in looking at the books. Now, I've been a book worm since I was able to unscramble letters and realize they formed words that told stories, but my books were also precious to me. The realtor offered to pay for the books, meaning I would have to search used book sites to find the out-of-print volumes and hope they matched the condition of my pristine copies. I told the realtor to never mind; it wasn't an issue to start a fire about; but to please advise parents to mind their children better.
I could care less about your offer of repayment. If your kids are so poorly trained that they can't keep their hands behind their back (a gesture both my middle age spouse and I automatically make when in an area of breakables, one we smile about it, remembering how our parents admonished us) then they should not be taken into the homes of strangers.
You know? I'm the mother of 2 children (17,11) and they've yet to see the inside of the home we'll be closing on in next week. They don't get an opinion on where their father and I decide to move because they don't have jobs and they don't pay any bills. They didn't go on any of the showings, they stayed home. Even kids that old get bored, they get restless and I don't want them touching or going in someone else's stuff.
Maybe we're just very old school parents but our parents didn't ask us our opinions on where we lived either. Those are adult decisions and kids don't have the type of insight needed to make housing decisions. Both our boys are set on the subdivision with the water slide. Why? Because it's a water slide and it's COOL to have access to a water slide - however, they don't understand or can conceptualize the meaning of an appraisal or why that street is just bad because of the lack of street lights and how busy the street is during rush hour so dad doesn't have to wait 15 minutes just to get on the road to go to work or why insurance is more money there.
They're not going to read the overly restrictive and down right ridiculous rules in the CC&Rs to find out that if they leave their bike on the front yard for more than 5 minutes that we'll be fined and EVERYTHING is only 5 minutes to the 11 year old. In the end the house we buy is a 30 year investment that is going to be there longer than they will.
I don't give them an opinion on what's for dinner or what cars we buy, so why would I give them an opinion on a six figure business transaction?
Kids are people too with feelings and needs. I think it's very important that the children feel comfortable where they're living and yes, they don't pay the bills, but their happiness should matter as well. I had a great deal of respect for my parents because they understood and valued my opinion. That isn't to say that I got my way all of the time, but you would be surprised at how bright some kids are. Parents aren't exactly perfect either.
I don't have children yet, but if I did, I would certainly want them to feel comfortable in the new home, so I may not show them the house immediately but I would certainly get their input on what they liked or didn't like. You can end up in a situation where your kids resent you because you have this my way or the highway attitude all of the time. I get it. You're there to nurture them and be their parent, but you sound like a slave driver more than a parent.
You can raise your kids however you want, but just realize that things aren't the same as when you were growing up.
I haven't read all 45 pages, so if this has already been mentioned, please skip on over.
When we've looked at houses, we have had no place to leave our kids. We were new to town, didn't know a soul, were not going to leave the kids with strangers or locked in the car. So, if a seller didn't want our kids to tour with us, then we wouldn't look at their house.
Our kids stayed right next to us and behaved or else instead of going to a park at the end of the day, we cut the tour short and went back to the motel room. They were rarely any trouble.
That said, when we've sold homes, there is often evidence that the kids are allowed to run loose through the house. We have down comforters topped with covers on our beds. Makes the beds look puffy. I can't tell you how many times we've come home to find that clearly children, or somebody, had been jumping on our beds.
We always turn our computers off for a showing. Several times returned to find our computers turned on.
We generally bake a sheet of chocolate chip cookies to leave out. Makes the house smell wonderful and seems like a welcoming thing to do. We often found chunks of cookies dropped all over the place.
When these things happen, we always contact our realtor who contacts the realtor who did the showing. They always apologize. But I can see where a realtor would not want to risk a sale by telling the potential buyers they can't let their children run wild.
If you don't want kids in your home, you can always say no kids. Just like sellers say they have to have 24 hour notice, or showings only in the afternoons. That way when a realtor schedules a showing, your realtor can say no kids in the house.
You may miss out on a potential buyer, but if you don't want kids running wild through your house, that's your choice.
Kids are people too with feelings and needs. I think it's very important that the children feel comfortable where they're living and yes, they don't pay the bills, but their happiness should matter as well. I had a great deal of respect for my parents because they understood and valued my opinion. That isn't to say that I got my way all of the time, but you would be surprised at how bright some kids are. Parents aren't exactly perfect either.
I don't have children yet, but if I did, I would certainly want them to feel comfortable in the new home, so I may not show them the house immediately but I would certainly get their input on what they liked or didn't like. You can end up in a situation where your kids resent you because you have this my way or the highway attitude all of the time. I get it. You're there to nurture them and be their parent, but you sound like a slave driver more than a parent.
You can raise your kids however you want, but just realize that things aren't the same as when you were growing up.
If the opinions of kids is so important, why do we still have age restictions on voting ?
Yes, they had them when I was growing up and still do today !
Some things regarding kids are the same.
I know for certain I didn't see the inside of the houses my parents bought. I sat in the car in the driveway, or stayed with sitters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by staywarm2
About the toilet... I know sometimes people REALLY need to use a toilet, so I'm OK with that (don't like it but "stuff happens"). However, if you use the bathroom, please put the toilet seat & LID down and wipe off any water you splash on the vanity.
Don't forget to flush, too! I've come home after showings to find an unflushed toilet ... as well as glasses in the sink, and muddy footprints tracked throughout the house.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dmk31088
I'm never selling my house. The one thing this thread has confirmed is that some people are nasty
Don't read the Rental forum. You'll never want to be a tenant again, either.
Are your kid(s) incapable of learning and retaining the same lesssons we older people were taught?
It's pretty damned simple, though the current generation seems to have hard time comprehending the principle: you do not touch what does not belong to you. Doesn't matter if it's cute or fluffy or interesting. Not yours - don't touch. Four words.
I swear, the movie "Idiocracy" wasn't a comedy, it was a prophecy
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