Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Is it reasonable to tell potential buyers to not bring children along to view a house? I have cameras around the house and have seen some of the damage they do when no one is watching. Buyers are so engrossed with looking that they either don't notice or don't care what Jr is doing.
I don't have to sell so if it means a lost sale, that's the way it goes. If someone wants it bad enough they will do what it takes to see the house anyway.
It's not as if the kids are making the final decision on buying or not.
Is it OK to tell my agent (or buyers agent) - no kids?
Many years ago a couple wouldn't think of bringing children to grown up business decisions. But family connection got more and more appealing, although I think it's not only troublesome but scarey and very boring and not giving the kids enough energy outlet for children to come along to see every house. I do believe they should be included toward the end, once choices have been drastically whittled down. However, sometimes having children along is the only decision. Not so many places to leave them any more. I have seen where one parent stays in the car with the kids while the other one looks at the house and then they switch out. And actually the parent in the car will let the kids walk up and down an area or run a race or something which is helpful.
It is indeed a consideration. I think some parents have the idea of kids in group sports and other group activities having a great time among themselves while parents talk together. And it may be that some carry that to the rest of the day. So a couple of years ago I was told a story that happened to a realtor and a family. She was showing a house and somehow both the parents wound up inside looking...they had broken up and the realtor thought the dad was still out with the kids. But suddenly she saw dad inside too talking with mom and looking around. And then they all heard screaming while the kids left alone had run around to the back yard and got on a swing on a tree branch. Seems two or three were hanging on it and the very thick branch came down on all four of the little kids. After two were in serious condition, one very very bad, I never heard more than that they all went to the best hospital in the largest city...which means it was serious.
We sold a house that was in a great neighborhood for families and we often came back after showings to see that the kids had pounced on the beds (freshly fluffed, thick down comforters squashed flat in places), played on our exercise equipment, moved things around and left them in different places, and generally "made themselves at home."
According to our agent, while the showing agent would walk around with the parents, the children would often be allowed to race through the house doing whatever. She said it was difficult to maintain a good rapport with buyers while reminding them that needed to keep a closer eyes on their kids.
We figured a bit of mess was worth putting up with until the day we came home to find that our computers had been turned on. Enough.
From then on out, when our agent arranged a showing, she let the buyer's agent know that due to unfortunate experiences with children, she would not be able to arrange showings with children.
Our agent told us that she would have no control if the buyer's agent brought the kids anyway. I told her that I could manage that. Usually, I just went next door during showings. If I saw children get out of the car, I would walk over and end the showing.
We accepted an offer a week later, so it wasn't a big problem and that was that.
I feel sorry for those who need to house hunt with children in tow. Been there myself.
But even if you take all your medicine with you, can you take all your cleaning products, everything that would be a danger to kids?
And who wants strangers fooling around with their computers?
While we were carrying the expense of two mortgages and living in another city:
1) buyers pulled carpet out of the floor, presumably to see if there were hardwood underneath.
2) agents routinely left lights on, heat/AC changed, etc., despite polite requests to turn them off. So energy costs were much higher than necessary because we lived >500 miles away and couldn't afford to check frequently.
3) buyers knocked a piece of original artwork of the wall, breaking the frame. We had left a lot of furnishings in the house so that it would look lived in, per our agent's advice. Never again.
No one accepted responsibility. Some people are just rude and disrespectful of others' property.
I liked someone's suggestion of putting the locking device over the thermostat. Unfortunately you can't do it with everything!
I can't believe people act this way! I'm in the middle of buying my first house (husband has been through the drill before) and it never occurred to me to be anything other than respectful of someone else's property. Wow.
We had trash left in our kitchen where they had decided to have lunch, lights left on, latch on front door broken, doors left unlocked, and one group even rearranged furniture in the living room and used our saucers for ash trays. We don't smoke so hated the stinky smell when we returned home. Also the kids climbing trees in the backyard. A real liability.
When we listed our last house we moved things round to make it look more spacious and had some bookcases into the garage. When a couple came to look they just walked up and lifted the garage door from the outside (it was manual) and the top hit a bookcase and it went crashing down. It was a cheap plywood thing and they tried to put it back together and put the books back but they were mortified. Then they bought the house. I didn't give a hoot about the bookcase or the books either...they were bound for the donation bin!
When we looked at our current house we noticed a hutch with a rabbit in the backyard. We made an offer and since the owners were hitting the road in their motor home they asked us if we wanted it as a pet for our kids. We said sure. We made a final visit before signing just to look at the kitchen appliances again, a quick in and out with our agent. Then we got a call from THEIR agent the next day asking if we had brought a dog over (No, we didn't own any animals) because apparently their rabbit had been mauled. I was sad and shocked, we hadn't even gone outside, but I guess I can see why they might think we had something to do with it.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
3,997 posts, read 4,143,759 times
Reputation: 2677
Lesson learned for us. Always be present on the day of closing. We were absentee buyers but requested possession day of closing. Our realtor did the walk-through for us the morning before closing. We signed all the paperwork and overnighted them back to the financial institution. Our house right? The selling agent let the old owners go back into the house, where they STAYED OVERNIGHT, under our insurance, we owned the home, and where they ended up taking a few items that were supposed to remain with the house that were there prior to our signing the documents a few hours earlier. I won't trust sellers or buyers ever again after reading through this thread......
Lesson learned for us. Always be present on the day of closing. We were absentee buyers but requested possession day of closing. Our realtor did the walk-through for us the morning before closing. We signed all the paperwork and overnighted them back to the financial institution. Our house right? The selling agent let the old owners go back into the house, where they STAYED OVERNIGHT, under our insurance, we owned the home, and where they ended up taking a few items that were supposed to remain with the house that were there prior to our signing the documents a few hours earlier. I won't trust sellers or buyers ever again after reading through this thread......
Seems like, apprently, not the agent either. I hope you were able to take this to the broker and higher up at the time. I hope you got your appliances back after the apparent theft. Recently there was a story in our area where a house settled and all went well but at the last minute lots of items were taken from the house that were supposed to be conveyed. Turns out a not properly functioning relative thought the items were hers after the owner of the home died. Took months of convincing by her uncle that the items needed to be returned.
When we bought a house, it wasn't the seller or a realtor or agent that took something....but at least of couple of members of the HOA board. We took the attitude that they stole it and were on their way out of state with it and we were notifying the proper authorities. By speaking calmly, yet jumping several steps ahead, and not starting by just asking for it back, the manager was horrified. I really think she was the weak link and knew we had hit the nail on the head. The item was back a couple of days later.
where was your realtor or who was showing your house.
if you are sending ppl in alone? well ... time to start driving that hour AFTER you meet them or have a long phone chat with them, and ask them many many questions about what they are looking for.
retired realtor, snowbird, phoenix home owner, many tenants, many buyers, i am experienced in all the worst case scenarios, recently refunded rent to incoming tenants because prior tenants left a fridge of food and unplugged the fridge when they left, so the enetered a gross mess and VERY bad smell that was soaked in the fridge plastic so also had to replace the fridge, thank heavens for a good deal on craigslist and wonderful phoenix service people who helped me out
be careful!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
