AIBU to refuse to view a house if I have to remove my shoes?

[iliketea]

I'm happy to be told IABU....

We are currently house hunting. A few of the houses we've requested to view have asked us to remove our shoes at the door. At that point, I've said I'm not viewing a house in my socks and stopped the viewin before it's even started if the shoe thing is non-negotiable.

AIBU? it's not that i mind taking my shoes off when I'm visiting a friend - and generally do take my shoes in friends homes, but I find it weird that if you are trying to sell your house that you expect viewers to take their shoes off.

Or am I likely to miss a really great house and just suck it up / make sure i've got non-holey, matching socks wheb we go to view a house?

I'm not sure where you get "many" from, Better.
I've been into 73 Nurseries in the last 3 years and only once been asked to take my shoes off. I wouldn't call 1/73 "many"

Hmmmm, I haven't had a sick day in 6 or 7 years despite living in a shoe house. I'm not sure passive smoking and shoes on indoors can be considered to be even vaguely related in terms of risk to health. They just don't compare.

I'm sure many could argue that the germ obsession/anti bacterial obsession of the last few tears is detrimental to our wellbeing.

Better, I wasn't really thinking about their shoes at nursery, more their little hands. Imagine all those kids who have dogs & cats at home, who crawl around on floors where people wear shoes, of toddlers who go to the loo & don't wash their hands afterwards, of babies & toddlers who throw up on the floor at nursery & then after it is wiped up, all the kids carry on using that space.

The door handle in a public place will have way more germs & bacteria on it than your floor at home.

The logic of no shoes because of crawling babies / toddlers just doesn't hold up. Does that mean that when your baby/toddler is no longer crawling guests may wear shoes again?

I am only talking about the four-year-olds who attend the school nursery I go to, not the adults.

However, at the all-day nursery that my daughter used to go to, they didn't change their shoes and on two different occasions, we all had to wait outside until a trail of dog's poo had been cleaned up which had been brought in by one of the children.

So, you go to look around a house and take your shoes off at the front door.
Do you then go and carry the shoes through the house so that you can go out the back door to the garden?
Do you then carry them back through the house to the front door again before putting them on?

And all of you with no shoes rules .... do you have pets? do they wear slippers in the house?

YABU and rude to not take your shoes off in someone else's home. Wearing shoes in the house is a vile and disgusting habit. Its not just about mud you can visibly see - just google the invisible shit on your shoes if you don't get it. You can say that is precious or whatever but you cannot make an informed argument that shoes are clean if they are not covered in mud.

These threads always round up those who think your just so ungracious to make guests uncomfortable.....but those people never seem to care if guests make their hosts uncomfortable

I wouldn't want dozens of people walking on my rugs with their shoes either and would make a similar note to the realtors. I have a bench next to my door to help people who may have difficulty taking off their shoes. If your going to someone else's house don't wear your worst socks? Put socks in your purse? Not difficult really.

in DD's outstanding-rated nursery the children have their shoes on all day. But they wash their hands before eating so I don't see the problem. No babies though.

I do think that a lot of the shoes-off brigade must simply not feel the cold so much. Even in my mum's fully carpeted house I'm cold without something on my feet. Not that she cares either way!

I have gerbils.

Wouldn't have a dog or cat, I couldn't cope with the mess

My friend is a nursery manager and children and staff have to wear slippers indoors.

'Wearing shoes in the house is a vile and disgusting habit.'

Bloody hell, calm down lady.

fixitup
Could you answer my question about people going out the back door to the garden please.
As you consider my house to be vile and disgusting.

*Youcancall" - It's a mixture of health and cleanliness. Why introduce what's on the soles of people's shoes into your home unnecessarily? You certainly can't eliminate all dirt (and arguably, for the sake of our immune systems , that may not even be desirable) but we can limit getting some of the nastier stuff on to our carpets. I am just as concerned about adults as children - I sit on the floor all the time.

But it's not all about health - it's about aesthetics. Since so many of us have very light-coloured carpets - and this makes sense in order to reflect as much light as possible in a northern country which doesn't bask in sunshine - why get dirt on them unnecessarily? Letting people walk around all the time in what appear to be "clean" shoes will result in a relentless "greying" of your carpets which is completely avoidable if you don't wear shoes.

When we were viewing properties we went and got our shoes, that had been left at the front door, to put on by the back door. Or we went out the front and walked around to the back. Wasn't really an issue.

I think we must have done this in every property we viewed. Obviously something the estate agent thought was usual.

In our house we have crocs/sandals by the back door in summer and wellies in winter!

(Not that I would think others to be vile and disgusting! My rather lovely grandparents live in a gorgeous village, have always had dogs and are shoes on!)

Very U

Fixitup a bench wouldn't be sufficient for me to remove and replace my footwear so can I ask what you'd do if I came to look round?

YABU. It's their home FFS. Why wouldn't you want someone to take their shoes off, just cos you want to sell it?

Oh and I expect people to take their shoes off when they're viewing my house. I always take mine off when viewing others, before they have to ask.

Do you then go and carry the shoes through the house so that you can go out the back door to the garden?
Do you then carry them back through the house to the front door again before putting them on?

Yes and yes. I live where it is not customary to wear shoes in the house - people manage.

Funny though, in my village primary school (30 years ago), we all had to take outdoor shoes off at the door and wear 'indoor' plimsolls. So it's hardly a new thing. Though I don't know of any local primaries that enforce a rule like that nowadays.

PMSL@ the notion tat wearing shoes in a home is the same as inhaling secondhand smoke. I've heard it all now.

I'd never let anyone stomp their muddy feet around my house, selling or not. If someone threw a strop and left over that, I'd be thankful we didn't get any further in the sale - what else would someone so irrational throw strops and quit over? No thanks.

so do none of you have pets?

I would never bother visiting a house that demanded I remove my clothing before I enter. Shoes are a very important part of my attire. If the hosts want to value their white carpet over hospitality, then they can keep their carpet and shove it up their backsides really.

I would never bring muddy shoes into a house. Which is why I dont go trudging through fields before visiting anywhere

Well, it was your choice, but I do think YABU.