How embarrassing: checking under rugs, in cupboards etc when viewing a house?

MissMoneypenny

loopydonna wrote: »

Then 2 car loads of people turned up with him. Apparantly they were having a family get together and they all decided to come!

They were there for nearly 2 hours all wandering in and out of rooms, opening cupboards and testing things. They just spread out all over the place so I couldn't keep an eye on all of them. There's the trust issue when strangers are going through your home - how easy would it be to slip a piece of jewellry or cheque book or something in your pocket. I was concerned about them going through my personal things and it's just not nice when people are opening drawers with your underwear in.

That is just plain bad manners.

You never know with first viewings if the person is genuine or whether they are casing the place, just being a nosey parker or in the case of opening drawers and wardrobes in the bedroom, if they are a perv. If they are going to be spending thousands, then they should come back for a second visit and that is the time for poking about. I have never been that desperate to sell to let people poke about and open drawers on a first visit. Bad manners is a pet hate of mine.

I'm always amazed by people who turn up and let their children wander around the house on their own. It never seems to occur to the parents, that if they don't want their children with them, then others probably don't want them wandering about the house for the same reason.

TJ27

Lift rugs? I've lifted floorboards. (with permission of course!)

Canucklehead

Good morning: We prefer not to throw away ££££££ so tend to concentrate on the utilities eg. age of consumer unit, numbers of power points, age of boiler and evidence of annual maintenance as well as condition of roof, soffit, fascias, windows etc. on the first viewing. We will turn on taps, showers, open kitchen cabinets, examine boundaries and state of surrounding properties. Decor doesn't matter. I'll check out planning online, sale/sold prices of other properties, generally gather as much info as possible before the first viewing.
For us, the head always over-rules the heart when it comes to property

HTH
Canucklehead

RHemmings

What the OP could do is to claim that they are nudists and that they wish to look around the house in the nude to see if they feel comfortable in the environment. The vendor will probably be too preoccupied with the nudity to worry too much about what they are looking at. In the best case, the vendor may prefer to be elsewhere.

Generali

RHemmings wrote: »

What the OP could do is to claim that they are nudists and that they wish to look around the house in the nude to see if they feel comfortable in the environment. The vendor will probably be too preoccupied with the nudity to worry too much about what they are looking at. In the best case, the vendor may prefer to be elsewhere.

It rather depends who's viewing. I can think of a few people that I'd positively encourage to view a house I was selling naked.

mystic_trev

Generali wrote: »

It rather depends who's viewing. I can think of a few people that I'd positively encourage to view a house I was selling naked.

But would you let them test your utilities? :rotfl:

Generali

mystic_trev wrote: »

But would you let them test your utilities? :rotfl:

I'd be interested in any prospective buyer turning things on to check they all work.

dolce_vita

Just make sure they don't pull things too hard.

You don't want them breaking anything.

Generali

dolce_vita wrote: »

Just make sure they don't pull things too hard.

You don't want them breaking anything.

I don't know how I'd explain that to Mrs Generali!

VioletBaudelaire

I can't see why anyone would be opening drawers or wardrobes unless in fitted furniture, since anything portable probably wouldn't be included in the sale.
I would check loo flushes and shower pressure though (and have every intention of doing so when I start looking for somewhere to buy next year)
Also rugs: I've certainly got rugs covering stains on my carpet, so I'd expect other people to have done the same thing. It wouldn't neccessarily put you off the property, but at least you'd know if the flooring needed replacing.