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?

oh, I edited my post and now that (if that makes sense) now makes no sense at all!

Yabu but it is up to you if you want to risk perhaps losing out on finding your dream home

Grennie, and toilets are there to be dumped in but doesn't mean id be ok with shit stuck to the sides after someone has been in and not cleaned up after themselves (yes that's another rule).

Since it's unlikely someone will get out the mop and clean the muddy floor after they've walked on it, they should try not to make the mess in the first place. I just think that's common courtesy.

dear oh dear. When it is your house, you can tramp as much mud and dogshit through as you like. Until then, you are a guest and you behave like one.

unless you are a precious princess type who never sets foot anywhere except polished floors, you WILL have crap on your shoes. That's what shoes are for. So if asked, you take them off. The sellers can't really say 'wipe your feet', can they?

up to you if you don't want to buy - but please make it clear when booking viewings, because you are wasting people's time like this.

Tea a muddly floor is totally different from walking from a car into a house, with clean shoes. Sorry I just find people are so OTT over this. And often not the people with the cleanest houses either.

What planet do people live on who feel 'uncomfortable' having to take their shoes off?

You wouldn't get as far as objecting if you were booked to view my house as you wouldn't have got across the threshold with your attitude. I like my neighbours and for that reason wouldn't sell my house to someone who exhibits such little respect for others.

OP in what way do you feel exposed without your shoes?

YABU I've just sold my house and the viewers and EA all took there shoes off. Especially in this wet and muddy weather.

Op how smelly are your feet?

Yabu.

Take your shoes off, you'll miss a great clean house with clean carpets and your dream home, just because you're stubborn.

We viewed rentals in Oz, and always took our shoes off, though I lived in flip flops whilst living there.

I don't know in what way, i just feel really exposed in a strangers house without my shoes on - i honestly hated the first one we did that I took my shoes off, I don't know why just felt exposed and vulnerable, like I wasn't dressed (not asking whether this is right or wrong, it is what it is).

And goodness me - all the assumptions about me from not wanting to wander around in socks in a strangers house

• a nightmare to do business with (wrong - actually quite strict about treating people the way I expect to be treated, i.e never gazumped / refused to participate in bidding war / refused to try to buy new house that was already in part exchange because apparently as we were ready to buy, we'd take precedence over part exchange)
• disrespectful to neighbours (again, totally wrong).

Imagine where those shoes have been though, Grennie.
I find it quite disgusting actually, when people DO walk around their houses with shoes, then their children sit on the floor etc.. I went to collect dd from play date once and went to take my shoes off as soon as I entered the house.
The mother looked alarmed and quite forcefully asked me not to, so I didn't

I saw that everyone had shoes on except four year old dd who had taken off her boots and neatly put them to one side .
I saw that the carpets were filthy though. Don't see how people who keep shoes on in house can have cleaner floors than those who remove them.

We looked at properties recently. We took our shoes off in all of them - as did the estate agents.

I'd just take slippers if you're worried.

And yes I realise that makes me sound like a judging wank.

Never mind.

YADBU. If you want to buy the house that a million people have traipsed their dirty feet all over the carpets then be prepared to foot the bill of carpet cleaning when you move in! A seller asking for viewers to remove their shoes suggests one who takes pride and care in their home and I'd rather buy off someone like that as when it's your home it'll be in much better condition.

I hate being asked to remove my shoes but I absolutely would not let such a small issue stand in the way of a potential house I wanted to buy.

I never ask people to remove their shoes when they view my house, but sometimes I wish I had when they trail leaves & mud through it or let their kids leap all over the furniture!!!!!!

In the great scheme of things, it should be a trivial issue iliketea - why is it such a big deal for you?

If someone cancelled a viewing of my house because they point blank refused to take their shoes off, I'd think I'd had a lucky escape. If someone is that intransigent about something so insignificant, can you imagine what they'd be like when it came to the survey and the general negotiations surrounding house-buying?

Of course, who is cutting whose face off depends on the state of the market. Round here, you'd have a little sign on your file at the estate agents marked 'hahahaha', and very little chance of buying a house of any description if you pulled a trick like that.

Sometimes I don't think sellers realise how badly they can come across. Even in a slow market, people dont want to sell to someone they perceive as unreasonable. When we were selling, someone made a laughable low offer saying they'd need to extend the kitchen to make the house habitable for them!!! They then upped their offer to asking price, but were we then going to go with them as opposed to the other three asking price offers we'd received from normal, reasonable buyers? Were we hell.

Op, as a child, were you made to wear your shoes all the time and told off if you ever removed them for no reason?

I'm not being sarcastic, it's a serious question. I see mothers like this, actually I have someone in my family like this who tells her dd off for taking shoes off because her shoes are always matchy matchy with dress and mum wants to show them off

I meant buyers, sorry, not sellers!!!

I would never expect a person to remove their shoes if it made them feel uncomfortable. I would just ask them to wipe their feet on the mat at the door.

They are viewing their potential new home, they need to feel comfortable in that home. To insist someone remove their shoes which then gets them feeling uncomfortable then they dont buy your house because it didnt feel right really isnt a good idea. So what if you have to hoover between viewings, if it sells your house whats the issue ?

I would think it odd that I had to remove my shoes because this then means I cant view the garden very easily without having to collect my shoes, put them back on at the back door to remove them again to walk back through the house, its awkward doing it like that, it wont make me feel relaxed and comfortable so I wouldnt be looking favourably at that house.

I once attended a house for work purposes , I was asked to remove my shoes which I did only to find the entire house was full of cat litter (used) and they had nails sticking up through their 'solid wood floor boards'. I have viewed several houses some of which were in the same sort of presentation. Not many are spotlessly presented, most have various items left on the floor that can be a hazard to bare feet.

I would definately just purchase those shoe covers.

when she comes to my house I say, such gorgeous shoes and they match your dress too! Just leave them in the basket on the stairs sweetheart

Many many cultures take their shoes off indoors for very obvious reasons - they think its dirty to track outdoor dirt into your home so have outdoor shoes and indoor shoes/slippers.

It is peculiar when you think about it that we walk dirt from the pavement, road, garden into our floors and then happily let children sit and play on them.

But no I didn't make people take their shoes off when they viewed my house and I don;t make guests take their shoes off though many see the pile of shoes by the front door in the hall and take them off automatically.

I do think it very odd to be so self conscious about not wearing shoes that you wouldn't view a house though. You obviously haven't got to the desperate stage yet!

Not at all teajunky and I have no problems taking my shoes off in friends homes, just a strangers home.

I don't know whether it's my work training (I work in people's homes, absolutely do not take shoes off as they are part of ppe e.g you drop a needle on your foot, it's your own fault if you get a needlestick injury / get disciplines for being unsafe).

But I do know that I hated the house we viewed in socks, and I don't know if it's because I hated how I felt going round the house (because of the sock issue) or if it was the actual house (DH loved it).