to ask house viewers to remove shoes before going upstairs?!

[HollieHelen]

I am really new to this as have never sold a house before. We are having the first estate agent round today to value our house, and then I want to get it on the market as soon as. Just thinking ahead to viewings ... would it sound awful to ask prospective buyers to take their shoes off before going upstairs?! It's bound to be terrible weather when they view and muddy etc. We have beige carpet ... fairly forgiving but does show marks. As a family we do no shoes upstairs but I know that might not be fair on visitors!!

The estate agent should ask them. It is a totally normal thing to do unless the house was a real do'er up'er.

You could also leave a row of shoes next to the front door so that it is more obvious that its a no shoes house.
I also think it is ok to ask people directly too.

Obviously, if someone was elderly, pregnant, carrying a baby or disabled you don't ask.

YANBU at all. I would be happy to comply as it our house rule anyway and it would make me think the house has been kept clean and I would'nt need to rush out straight away to buy new carpets!

I have sold 6 houses in my time and have always told the agent from the get go that viewers would have to take their shoes off so they knew before coming. Maybe that's an idea so the viewees make sure they have clean socks on?

If it offended anyone, well mehhh, that would show whether they were serious about looking around. Why would I want to have to clean the floors after viewings to avoid a tiny inconvenience to strangers who would probably not put an offer in anyway.

Hate, hate shoes in the house. I like my DCs to be able to crawl/lay on/pick food up off the floor without worrying what crap has been walked in from outside. I am a bit anal though me .

I like it. It would make me consider the fact that the carpets should be clean and therefore won't need replacing.

I don't do shoes on in the house either though but evidently there's loads of people of MN who do get offended.

We sold a home that we had recently put solid wood floors in, we always go without shoes so it was in really good condition. However, during oneof the viewings, someone wore stilletto heels and really badly damaged the floor, they were either doing a dance or extremely heavy on their feet, and the damage couldnt be fixed. Even though we were selling, it was still pretty upsetting to see that someone could be so disrespectful of what was still our home, and we subsequently had an offer on the house that was significantly lower than we had asked for-the reason given was that the wood floors were in shockingly bad conditionand would need to be replaced.

You are NOT being unreasonable here OP, its still your home so make allthe requests you like!!

well it would suck if one of the viewers got the carpet dirty and stained when you are trying to sell it, would they want to move into a new house with a dirty carpet..

perfectly reasonable, especially on wet days. I wouldn't tramp mud through my house, why would I through anyone else's? You say 'wipe your feet' but it doesn't always get mud, or worse, off. Unless the car is parked so you step out of it and straight into the house, you will be walking through puddles if it is raining.

House viewing at the moment and the ones who clearly have lovely new carpets have asked for shoes off.

most normal people wear socks or tights. You aren't on their carpets barefoot. And even if you are, you won't catch anything.

when you buy it, you can do as you like.

If it was raining, I would remove my shoes. But I would not like being asked to do so.

It would definitely put me off - I'd take my shoes off without complaint but I would be very unlikely to buy that house.

I honestly don't know why this subject offends people so much!

Well, it's fine to ask, and it's still your house, but there is a fair contingent here saying it would put them off... So, there are the facts and it's your call!

It would piss me off,

I would do automatically. Don't think it is unreasonable at all

It happened a lot when we were looking. One house provided disposable shoe covers!

I don't know why a lot of subjects about the littlest things really offend some posters.

I think some people think things are a reflection on them when it's just a standard ask.

Op, I wouldn't be offended if you asked but I'd probably already have offered. It's been raining loads here, it's common courtesy imo.

It would put me off. I'd think if you were strict on such a small thing, you'd be a difficult seller to work with.

And I have to say - anyone who refuses to buy a house because the previous owners politely asked them to remove their shoes is a bit of a nutter anyway, so forget them!

We've asked at every viewing if the house owners would like us to remove our shoes.

We didn't make our viewers remove shoes as we have no carpet anywhere.

I think YANBU - and it would make me more keen on house as it shows care is taken to keep things clean.

But it does amaze me how this issue completely polarises people. There have been a couple of threads where it got really quite heated when the issue of shoe removal was discussed!

Yabu. Totally.

I've bought a few houses, done loads of viewings and never been asked to take my shoes off.damn g

Damn good thing too.

I think it's a class thing though and the sort of people that own the type of houses I look at aren't the precious-about-the-carpet types.

Yes if course it's ok. The prospective purchasers are not visitors and the "welcome" they receive will have no impact on how they see your house. They're not moving in with you; you as a person are fairly irrelevant.

If you don't mind Hyacinth Bucket buying your house I'm sure it's fine

It is not unusual to be asked to remove your shoes - I gave a lift to a friend going to view a house and the estate agent asked us to remove our shoes and she did also