Viewers Moving Things

PasturesNew

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Didn't think of that. However isn't it normal to leave curtains of some kind?

Not necessarily. Most would take theirs.

I'll set up a poll... see what most people are saying they do.

The_Palmist

I have the same problem when I am looking at T-Shirts in a shop. I could never fold them back in the same way.
I wish I had checked these things as in moved curtains, blinds, checked under wall decorations for signs of repair etc. I didn't and found out that window frames are in a right state and need changing asap......after moving in.

namecheck

You should see the damage some people (and their little darlings) cause in show homes.

Some people have no respect for anyone else's belongings (cars, houses, whatever).

Although if you are thinking of buying a house I think it is fair enough to look behind curtains, see if the windows open and close and even flush the loo!

phoebe1989seb

PasturesNew wrote: »

When the owner's out of the house for 13-14 hours a day at work, travelling long distances and in a stressful job ... and the house is in an out of the way place, so limited market and on the market for a few months .... they still have to live in it.

I'm sure most people have matches lying beside their candles; especially if they have quite a few candles in, say, the fireplace area. It's all perfectly normal. As for the sheep, it's a small item, standing in the corner of the room, it's a footstool, out of the way.

You can't strip your house bare every time you might get a viewer and they might bring a child and they might be so ill-mannered that they'd set it loose.

Many people have things that aren't there to be touched, played with... what if it'd been a small crystal lamp?

Of course people would be annoyed the kid played with it .... it's just f****ing bad mannered.

Totally agree with PN - we collect a certain era of stuff (including pottery, lamps, metalwork etc) and our last two houses when sold were full of these things......the previous one was 3000 sq ft so not easy to put it all away before each viewing! If we had 'decluttered' and put it all into storage our house have been stripped completely bare, which would have felt very strange.

The buyers of our last-but-one house actually bought £5k worth of items on display that we would have no room for in our new home. If they'd been packed away they would never have seen them

When we sold again last year our buyers did bring their two kids to the second viewing, but I have to say they were very well-behaved and didn't touch (or break!) anything.......woe betide them if they had!

Denene

I'm viewing houses at the moment, mostly with the vendors present (which makes me feel too uncomfortable to touch any of their stuff!) However, I did a viewing with the agent the other day as the vendors were on holiday. I opened one of the kitchen cupboards and a load of stuff started to fall out...oops.

Then the estate agent invited me to sit down on their sofa to "see what the house feels like". Ended up sitting there for 20 minutes while he told us how wonderful the neighbourhood was.

I don't think I'd re-arrange anyone's soft furnishings when viewing, though, unless they'd fallen down or something. I'm dreading doing second viewings. Poking my nose in peoples' wardrobes and checking the water pressure in their shower sounds very awkward

Valli

well look at it from a buyer's view.

When I viewed Villa Valli there was a small (young) apple tree in the garden. It wasn't here when we moved in. But my word against theirs - so no point trying to get it back!
There were doorbells to front and back doors - and no batteries left in the boxes.
The oven was filthy
Can rings in kitchen cupboards
We were charged an arm-and-a-leg for the curtains, carpets and shed -- after the vendors had faffed about for months trying to come up with a price for them.
Mildew round window frames - I wish I had moved the curtains!
And as for the bathroom plugs - UGH!


And I KNEW the previous owners!

J_i_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

Of course people would be annoyed the kid played with it .... it's just f****ing bad mannered.

Absolutely.

However, there's always a fair chance someone viewing a house to buy has a young family. That being so, then there is an equal chance of children being present at a viewing. Now even well behaved kids can be still be very excitable and anything within reach (and ocassionally out of reach) is viewed as a toy through those eyes.

It's just good sense at the end of the day.. The best way not to have the problem of valued processions becoming unintentional toys is to remove the opportunity in the first place, take them out of harms way prior to a viewing.

Mistral001

The OP must remember that often houses are worth several hundred thousand pounds and thus vendors need to have a chance to properly inspect what they are going to invest what amounts to tens of years of their hard earned salary in.

The surveyors have guidance notes on what they can and cannot move to allow an inspection to take place. As far as I know they can move say a chest of drawers away from a wall to check for dampness etc.

However, the person viewing the house should ask before moving things as a common courtesy in my view as they are a guest in the house. If the vendor or estate agent refuses, then that just raises supicions and is likely to affect the sale but they certainly have the right to refuse as it is their home afterall.

Better_Days

I must admit I usually move curtains and nets saying 'I just want to see the view from this room'. No one has ever objected but I have seen some revolting window frames. The worst was UPVC - which is so easy to keep clean.

We looked round a probate sale which had a very old electric cooker in and DH just had to flick one of the switches on it which of course broke (the plastic was brittle).

PasturesNew

J_i_m wrote: »

However, there's always a fair chance someone viewing a house to buy has a young family. That being so, then there is an equal chance of children being present at a viewing. Now even well behaved kids can be still be very excitable and anything within reach (and ocassionally out of reach) is viewed as a toy through those eyes.

It's just good sense at the end of the day.. The best way not to have the problem of valued processions becoming unintentional toys is to remove the opportunity in the first place, take them out of harms way prior to a viewing.

Not all places are big enough/suitable for families, or in a good location for families... and it's about time parents learnt to bring up their children properly, rather than relying on everybody else to constantly accommodate them.

When I was a kid we were never allowed to viewings. The house was viewed/chosen by the parents alone - and the first time we went in it was moving day.