Anonymous
Post 11/27/2012 09:24     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Nightmare! I put my house on the market several years ago. I gave the agent instructions that no showings would be possible until a certain date to give me time to relocate my dog (a Lab) to my fiancé's house several hours away. One Saturday morning my dog and I went for a run in the rain. When we got back to the house I gave him a bath in my tub and then got in to take a shower. Doorbell rings. Dog is running through the house wiping his stinky wet dog body on everything, and I'm naked in the shower with the door open. I turn off the water and hear voices entering the house. I yell that it's not a good time, and they leave, but only after the agent asks 10 questions about when they can come back. Another time I cleared out of the house before a scheduled showing. The last thing I did before leaving was put a small amount of dirty laundry in the washer. Upon my return I found that I had dropped a pair of underwear on the stairway landing, in the middle of the landing- not discretely balled up in a dark corner. I think I cried when I found it. Those people probably thought I was some kind of pervert, which didn't help my chances of selling quickly.


Why would you put your house on the market and have it accessible to agents when you're not ready to show it?

OP, you should have a bag ready to go with little toys, books, etc. that you can grab and take your daughter to Starbucks or something when people show up to look at the place.


Well, gee, I guess I was naive to trust the sellers' agent when she told me there would be no showings until I gave the go-ahead. Did I not indicate such in my post?
Anonymous
Post 11/27/2012 09:16     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
I had the duplex and we had good tenants. Not friends but tenants. No one is going to miss a sale if a quiet tenant is in view in a neat tidy unit.
Anonymous
Post 11/27/2012 09:12     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
Anonymous wrote:Landlords do this all the time. Landlords just view tenants as an inconvenient ATM. They want their money but hate dealing with the humans that actually pays them. In my many years as a renter, I have had one landlord who has just been awesome. I always made sure the house looked awesome when he showed it. My other landlords I would warn potential renters about!!


I'm a landlord and I don't see my tenants as an inconvenient ATM. That said, I have to sell the house next year. They are aware of that. I'm sorry, it's a part of the deal. I don't want to hold the house on my balance sheet forever.
Anonymous
Post 11/27/2012 08:42     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
Landlords do this all the time. Landlords just view tenants as an inconvenient ATM. They want their money but hate dealing with the humans that actually pays them. In my many years as a renter, I have had one landlord who has just been awesome. I always made sure the house looked awesome when he showed it. My other landlords I would warn potential renters about!!
Anonymous
Post 11/27/2012 08:11     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
We once had a duplex and the tenants were long term. They sat in the LR for showings or were eating or cooking. Just keep the place tidy and you are fine. Don't engage in conversation.
Anonymous
Post 11/27/2012 08:00     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
Anonymous wrote:Nightmare! I put my house on the market several years ago. I gave the agent instructions that no showings would be possible until a certain date to give me time to relocate my dog (a Lab) to my fiancé's house several hours away. One Saturday morning my dog and I went for a run in the rain. When we got back to the house I gave him a bath in my tub and then got in to take a shower. Doorbell rings. Dog is running through the house wiping his stinky wet dog body on everything, and I'm naked in the shower with the door open. I turn off the water and hear voices entering the house. I yell that it's not a good time, and they leave, but only after the agent asks 10 questions about when they can come back. Another time I cleared out of the house before a scheduled showing. The last thing I did before leaving was put a small amount of dirty laundry in the washer. Upon my return I found that I had dropped a pair of underwear on the stairway landing, in the middle of the landing- not discretely balled up in a dark corner. I think I cried when I found it. Those people probably thought I was some kind of pervert, which didn't help my chances of selling quickly.


Why would you put your house on the market and have it accessible to agents when you're not ready to show it?

OP, you should have a bag ready to go with little toys, books, etc. that you can grab and take your daughter to Starbucks or something when people show up to look at the place.
Anonymous
Post 11/27/2012 07:50     Subject: Re:People viewing your house while you still live there.
Expect the unexpected; we had an agent who did not call ahead of time when taking us to view houses regardless of the listing instructions, and it was uncomfortable for us because so often the residents of the homes were caught offguard when we just showed up at the front door. Because of that, when our house was for sale, I would remove the lockbox from the front doorknob when I took a shower or when it was really inconvenient to have a showing (we had small children at the time). Yes, we wanted to sell our home, but we wanted to have at least five minutes of prep time and I definitely didn't want to be caught in a situation like the PP was.

When we sold another home, our tenants were very good about having the place nice and neat for showings. I appreciated the burden it took on them, having to leave when the house was being viewed, but it was part of our standard lease with them.

Anonymous
Post 11/27/2012 06:33     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
Landlord here. We have a clause in our lease that states that we have the right to show the home up to 3 months before the lease expires. Have never exercised the right but its in there.

Im sure the landlord gave OP notice.
Anonymous
Post 11/26/2012 21:55     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
Nightmare! I put my house on the market several years ago. I gave the agent instructions that no showings would be possible until a certain date to give me time to relocate my dog (a Lab) to my fiancé's house several hours away. One Saturday morning my dog and I went for a run in the rain. When we got back to the house I gave him a bath in my tub and then got in to take a shower. Doorbell rings. Dog is running through the house wiping his stinky wet dog body on everything, and I'm naked in the shower with the door open. I turn off the water and hear voices entering the house. I yell that it's not a good time, and they leave, but only after the agent asks 10 questions about when they can come back. Another time I cleared out of the house before a scheduled showing. The last thing I did before leaving was put a small amount of dirty laundry in the washer. Upon my return I found that I had dropped a pair of underwear on the stairway landing, in the middle of the landing- not discretely balled up in a dark corner. I think I cried when I found it. Those people probably thought I was some kind of pervert, which didn't help my chances of selling quickly.
Anonymous
Post 11/26/2012 21:46     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
Take down any photos and make sure your sex toys are put away.
Anonymous
Post 11/26/2012 21:44     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
Just leave the house during the visit, then there will be no awkwardness for either party.
Anonymous
Post 11/26/2012 21:34     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
I once had to sit in the parking lot waiting for people viewing my house to leave. DD was 2 1/2 at the time and was really wondering what we were doing sitting in the car...

I'm sure the kind of thing you describe happens all the time.
Anonymous
Post 11/26/2012 21:33     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
I rented a condo and the owner put it on the market. I had no connection whatsoever to any prospective buyers. I would feel a little awkward if I were you (or your dd) for sure. But why can you do? Just keep it neat and hide anything incriminating!
Anonymous
Post 11/26/2012 21:32     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
Surely you are given notice when someone is coming for a viewing. Can't you leave when they come by?
Anonymous
Post 11/26/2012 21:30     Subject: People viewing your house while you still live there.
We rent our house and the owner is trying to sell it once our lease is up so people have been coming by to view it. Today someone from my dd's 3rd grade class was viewing it with his parents. It was kind of awkward to be honest. lol

Has anyone ever had something similar happen?