House viewings and jumping on beds?

[PoppyPopcorn]

Watching "Wanted Down Under" with a very normal family who are considering a move to Aus. They are viewing various properties and in each one their children (who are about 3 and 5) launch themselves onto the beds.

Just WHY? I would never let my kids jump all over other people's furniture.

My previous landlord decided to sell the house I was renting. Because this was Zone 2 London there were many viewings right from the off. I used to leave whenever there was a viewing.

One time I came back and the viewers (and the estate agent) had helped themselves to my Nespresso machine and biscuits. They'd rifled through the cupboards, pulled out Nespresso capsules and a pack of bikkies and scoffed more than half the pack. Four used coffee cups on the side, sugar all over the floor and biscuit crumbs everywhere. When I called the estate agent to complain, she brushed it off with something about 'making the place feel homely to buyers'.

plausible

How rude of them! Though, I imagine the "making the viewers feel at home" line might have sounded better to you if you owned the flat! Still rude though as it was your stuff they pinched, not the owner's.

Very true Decaff. I also tend to go to very child-centred places where standards are perhaps a little lower (it's quite ok to run around at soft play for example.)

Breakfast badly phrased. I meant the estate agents should speak to the parents and explain, in words of one syllable if necessary, that they need to discipline their children.

Decaff I think if the machine and biscuits had been out I wouldn't have minded so much. It was that they went rooting through the cupboards.

I hope they didn't do the same in the bedroom.

Years ago when we sold our last house, a couple came to a viewing with two young boys similar in ages to my then little DDs. They charged around the house picking up things and playing with ornaments. When they went into my DD1's bedroom, I could hear a crash, I raced upstairs to see the eldest boy tipping out my DDs box of Disney princess toys and helping himself. These were little tiny things that took ages to put together and needed gentle handling! I immediately asked him to leave them alone in a polite but firm manner and he proceeded to empty another box of things whilst the parents smiled on! I then said that it was unacceptable to touch my DD's things and could they remove the children from her room. They sighed and tutted and made a fuss. there were comments about 'thought it would be child friendly'. They then went downstairs where the boy proceeded to go through my DD's dvds. At this point I politely asked them to leave and perhaps return without the children. They left followed by a deeply apologetic estate agent.

He phoned me five mins later to apologise again. I took my DDs on some house viewings but they stayed with us, held our hands and did not touch anything!

miaow

That would drive me mad! The problem would be that my toddler would think it all looked such fun and when I prevented her joining in, she'd have a tantrum and I'd be the one getting death stares and thread on MN about that bloody screaming toddler .

She opened people's wardrobes and bathroom cabinets right in front of them

I think how cheeky that is depends on the type of wardrobe / cabinet - if it's built in, then it's reasonable to assume it's part of the property, and reasonable for a vendor to want to know how much storage space is in the built in cupboards / wardrobes. I've asked to see inside built in cupboards etc when viewing properties, because space inside them isn't something that can be accurately judged without actually looking inside.

Freestanding wardrobes and cabinets are an entirely

My toddler is famed for being wild and every house we have ever taken him to view has been a deceased estate (so odd bits of furniture but no one likely to ever sleep in them again) and I would never let him climb or sit on beds, let alone jump on them. It's just disrespectful.

....Freestanding wardrobes and cabinets are an entirely different matter, no justification for a buyer looking in those.

I've seen someone flick through a calendar on the wall! Unbelievable!

On a house viewing that is. A total strangers calendar!

I opened a built-in freezer on a viewing and drew a gasp from the estate agent. Bet she would have discouraged poking in cupboards.
We bought the house.

MsPassepartout Yes, I see what you mean about fitted storage (although I'd still ask first) but she didn't make a distinction- she opened freestanding stuff as well.

Mind you, she also sneered about 4-bed houses being 'poky' knowing full well I lived in a studio flat, so sensitivity was not really her strong suit in general.

OP that episode was on in the changing rooms while I was getting ready this morning. Did they move to Oz?

It's the fault of the parents.

I was on a train not long ago and three out of control children were running up and down the carriage, grabbing hold of peoples' arms (I had a cup of train coffee, AKA, molten lava). The mother was oblivious and on her phone. An old man in front of me told off one of the children - not harshly, just told him that he was going to injure himself or somebody else. The mother suddenly took notice and got defensive. The child, who was about four grinned and shouted 'you're a cunt!' to the old man and the mother was in hysterics. Worst parenting I've ever witnessed and I don't care how judgy this makes me.

I can understand people opening fitted wardrobes and cabinets which could potentially be left when the house is sold.

The rest is just rude.

I took my DDs on some house viewings but they stayed with us, held our hands and did not touch anything!

My kids are sick of me constantly reminding them that we "look with our eyes and NOT with our fingers"

My kids are sick of hearing that too! But it seems to go in one ear and out the other. My worst parenting moment was when DS aged 2 and 1/2 took a large apple from a fruit bowl in a house we were viewing and ran off to hide under the kitchen table. It was wedged in a corner and it was very hard to drag him out, as I had to go under there myself, very heavily pregnant!

(The fruit bowl was on a low shelf, below bump level so I didn't spot it. I did manage to retrieve the apple, but I wonder if replacing an item pawed - and possibly almost certainly licked - by a greedy toddler was really the right thing to do... poor owners!)

Poppypopcorn.

That was a common phrase when my DD's were small. Would never have entertained the idea of them touching a strangers possessions on a house viewing!