I'm a pretty easy going guy. If my home were on the market I wouldn't be bothered if a buyer and his agent decided to sit on my couch. Relax, talk about my house. Get yourself a beer if it helps. I love to entertain. But this is my attitude and personality. I understand how some people can be more puckered than others.
When I was growing up I had a few friends who had that furniture you weren't allowed to sit on. I also had a friend who had plastic coverings all over his couches. I don't get that either.
But what is considered appropriate when showing a house? Is it okay to plop yourself down on the sellers fluffy new recliner? Just how comfortable can you get? The subject of this blog may sound really nonessential when it comes to the home buying/selling process, but it actually is a lot more important than you think.
Here are some examples of what I have personally witnessed when showing houses:
1. A buyer sat on a sellers couch and his keys slid out of his pocket and into the sellers recliner. My buyer and I saw 10-15 homes that day and it took an enormous amount of frustration for him to retrieve his keys. I had to drive him home when we got back to the office. The sellers daughter found the keys a few days later in the couch and eventually I was called by the listing agent to see if the keys belonged to me or one of my clients.
2. I personally sat on a lawn chair in the backyard and crashed right through it. I bought a new one. I also didn't eat much that evening. It can be quite a humbling experience for a chair to give right from under your own weight.
3. I watched a lady I was showing homes to sit on the bench of an antique piano and break it. It snapped like a twig. It held together, but it was clearly damaged and not meant to be sat on.
4. One of my buyers sat on the sellers couch and was stuck in the right-rear love handle with what he said was a sharp object. It turned out to be a pair of scissors.
Be smart about where you sit and what you're sitting on. It's not yours.
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