Potential Home Buyers Letting Kids Mess up Our Playroom

Don't leave trains, puzzles or coloring books out. People will get the idea of a well staged playroom without you having to place those things out. When leaving in a rush, just dump all the kids toys in a cute box or bucket and put it in the corner or in a closet. Putting toys away will look much nicer to potential buyers than nicely staged toys... especially since it's the first room in the house. It may even be better to stage the room as a sitting room, and put the toys in the children's room.

I'd put it all away. Pack it into bins and put it in the closet. I know you want to sell ASAP and that's the first thing I see the designers doing on HGTV's Designed to Sell shows, etc.

Glue the stuff to the table, just kidding. A framed sign may or may not work, but it is worth a try and wouldn't offend me a bit.

I forgot to mention...you may not want small children to swallow a small piece and then have someone point the finger. You may want to put the toys up just to be safe.

When we tried to sell our home, we had signs on the kids toy room that asked parents to clean up after their children. We also made a note on showings.com (the website that set up our showings *It's the CSS that was mentioned below*) that realtors were responsible for cleaning up the toys that their clients' children got out.

This stopped the mess that we were coming home to.

I would put the toys up. Its obviously not serving the purpose you intended.

Perhaps a little note that says something like this:
Your children are welcome to play in this room, but please return it back to its original state before you leave. We have multiple showings today, and want each of our prospective buyers to enjoy the beauty of this room.

This may have a dual purpose of giving the message that your home is hot on the market.

I would put the toys away - personally....don't give the potential buyers kids anything to play with...

I think it's poor parenting on the parents part to NOT teach their kids to NOT play with someone else's belongings...the rule in our home is "if it's NOT YOURS DO NOT TOUCH IT". PERIOD...you aren't there to ask for permission so they shouldn't even touch it...that's MY take.

I would the stuff away...you can stage the room with the train table - but put all the toys in a box to bring out for your kids...

I'm sorry that potential buyers aren't more respectful of that.

I would drape something across the entry of the room, like crepe paper (so at least your kids can play in their own room!), with a sign that says - for display only - that way it is marked as off limits but they can still view the room from outside. Also, there has to be some sort of showing service through your Realtor (in Texas it is called CSS) - as part of the showing instructions, insist that the playroom is not available for play.
Plus, who knows if the kids have runny noses, coughing, etc. all over your toys. ick. You aren't running a daycare!

Where I'm from if a playroom with toys out (not matter how neat) was the first thing people saw when looking at a home the home would never sell. Not sure what your realtor thinks but I've heard you want people to make their own minds up about a use for each room and first impressions are super important. Maybe having no toys at all would actually be a better idea and save you the trouble as well.
I do agree that people are rude not to have their kids clean up before leaving but the idea of putting a gate accross any room in a house your trying to sell seems like a bad idea. It's supposed to feel warm and welcoming not off limits.

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The baby gate idea sounded great at first, but upon further thought --- they might put their kid in there and think "Cool. Let's put Joey in the playroom while we look around. He'll be safe in there b/c the gate's up."

Instead, I'd put the toys away. You don't need to stage anything special. One room staged with toys won't sell or not sell your home. Price and neighborhood and smell of your home will have more impact.

Put up the child safety gate with a brighly colored, happy, cheerful looking paper that says "Thank you for coming in to see our home. We hope you feel welcome to browse but please be respectful by keeping out of this one room. Thank you!".

Easy for you, potential buyers and the realtor. It is hard for parents to really look at a home and constantly monitor their kids when the kids are looking at toys that scream "touch me...touch me...come play with me!" They can see your beautifully staged home but not touch. And, it is h*** o* a realtor too.

Good luck..that is frustrating all around.

I have to admit that when we were looking at houses we would let our kids check out the playroom if there was one (its so hard to look at houses with kids). BUT we would ALWAYS tidy up when we were done and we didn't let them play with more than one think. Like get out a book or move the train around the track...sounds horrible now, but it made it easier.

I think putting up the sign would be great. Something inviting like "Please feel free to check out the playroom, but be courtious and leave it clean for the next guest" or something like that???

I just quickly scanned and didnt see anyone suggest this so I will since I'm an insurance agent and have some idea about home sales. Ask your realtor to update your MLS listing in the "notes" section to say something like "please do not allow children to play with toys in play area". Tell them you don't want to be "liable" if one of them were to be hurt. Good insurance term and that scares everyone! Good luck!!!

Put your kids toys up.
Get a few spare toys from a 2nd hand store so other kids can play with those and no one will care if they get lost or broken.

I would suggest not having the toys visible to potential buyers, if my kids saw those toys right away when we get to the house, id rather let them play then wine the whole time that they want to play. You leave it as eye candy for children and it's gonna get devoured. I'd be less likely to get enough of a good few of a house to purchase if this was a battle I would fight. To have the toys right in the beginning makes it hard and I know you want to showcase your home but this sounds like it is NOT a good option to do with toys.

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I was in my home when a couple with tween kids came to look at our home. Those kids jumped on my kids beds, played with their toys etc. I was fuming. the Kicker was they entered the house with muddy shoes and jumped on my kids beds. needless to say I escorted them out and asked their realtor to never bring clients to see my home again.

I would gut the room. Put everything your kids like to play with in plastic bins and stash in a closet. The truth of the matter is, you don't want a "playroom" as one of the rooms agents are trying to sell. What if the couple is older, has no children, is allergic to toys? You want a "bonus room" what can be anything the potential buyer can imagine it to be.

That is why you're supposed to take down personal photos, paint neutral colors, clear the clutter. You don't want anything in the way of the potential buyer imagining their life in the house, as opposed to looking at the way you live your life there.

Good luck.

**ETA*** Let's not be too harsh to judge the parents looking at the house. A lot of agents bake off cookies in show homes to give the kitchen a homey smell and offer the cookies to the viewers. It is very possible that the parents are expecting the toys are left out for kids to play with to try to help the sell. While a sign would be off-putting, I think the burden is on you to not make such a tempting sight. Sorry.

I am so sorry to hear that this is happening to you. How awful. I feel it is the parents responsibility to correct their own children when viewing a prospective home. How tacky that so many people view your home, use the toys and leave it in a mess. I can only imagine how much work it is to keep a home in show condition while having small kids of your own. When we were home shopping with our kids, they never even asked to play with the toys because I always reminded them before entering a home that they were not to touch ANYTHING. Since this seems to be a recurring problem, I would put most of the toys out of sight, I know that is a pain, but you have learned that you can't leave it to the realtors to have respect for your property. Only leave out toys and things that you don't care if they are touched and can't make a big mess if played with. That is unfair to your children, but hopefully you can make it work until the house sells.

I agree with Ali Always and momma L.

A child gate says leave your kids here while you look at our home. Only leave toys out you don't mind kids playing with.

EDIT to Add: I just thought of this. You can buy a piece of clear plastic plexiglass and screw it to the door jam. They can see in, but can't get in.

Good luck on selling your home.

If you want to sell your house, put the toys up. If this space is designed to be another room but you have turned it into a playroom, turn it back into the original purpose room. My husband and I are able to look at the "big picture" when looking at houses, but some aren't.

Do NOT put a baby gate up so potential buys can't walk into the room. If I were looking at a house and there was a gate and I couldn't get into the room to look at it, I would leave right then. I would think the owners had something to hide.

Talk to your realtor. If they can't control this situation, then you need to let your contract expire and find a new realtor. Good luck! Selling a house with kids is not easy.

The first house we sold my husband had moved to the new location leaving me with a 2 year old. The realtor didn't call, we had just finished dinner and I was getting the princess ready for bath. Needless to say, she opened the door when she was butt naked! I was running right behind her but it was too late. The look on everyone's face was priceless! They ended up buying the house!

I hate to say it but in this market, if a couple can have a look around without worrying about their kids, it might be a benefit for you. Yeah, it sucks, but it could get your house sold.

I'd say put up a sign but a lot of people are turned off by stuff like that.

How about a sing that says something like: "Enjoy our home, but please leave this room in the same condition that you found it in."

I think it's cool to have some toys out that visiting kids can play with. It will give the parents a little break. (But they should definitely clean up after them!!)

Good luck!

I would put up a child gate across the door. For staging puroses, that's a perfectly legit thing to have there and wont turn any buyers off, the way signs will. But will also keep the rugrats out. I also agree that if it helps sell the house to have the kids busy for a little while, who cares!

Realtors do not want to lose a sale so they are not going to correct someones' children. You have to put the toys up.

Plus, are you using what should be a dining room for a playroom? that is a huge turnoff. Most people don't want a playroom after age 10 and can't visualize a dining room unless there is a table in it.

I FORBID a certain realtor from ever showing one home. Curtains were pulled off the wall, rod included, and there were chocolate(i hope) handprints on our newly painted walls. I called my realtor, that realtor's boss, and the realtor. That was crazy.

IMO realtors should be a lot more professional and leave the house as they found it. When we were selling our house we had 12 showings. For 6 of the showings, various realtors did not even bother to lock the door when they left. It also appeared as though someone was jumping on my bed the covers were that messed up.
I really feel your pain!

As mentioned a home for sale is just that a house not a home and the people coming in are looking at what they can do to the house for their own use.

A good realtor would give you suggestions on a walk through as what you should do when they do a listing. This is why you take all personal identifiers off the walls and put them away. You paint your home in neutral colors and you declutter everything that you are not using into storage units. I know it is a pain but you have to think that it is not your house any more when you put it on the market.

There was a house we would have bought that had all the right things in it but the owner had the garage full of oily auto parts and that was a turn off. AllI could think of was how long it would take him to clean it up if we were to but it. The lot next to the house was also up for sale and that would have been great to have a work shop so close but not attached.

As others have posted many want a "move in ready" house not a staged playroom especially in the front of the house.

When I was a realtor we went on a go see for homes and one of them had three computers in a tight area and filled with lots of knick knacks from their travels. I don't know how long it too that house to sell but it was a while.

I think back to when I had a dog that stayed in the laundry room during the day so that people could see the rest of the house while I worked.

Yes it would be nice if all realtors did what we want but they don't. Sometimes they have three or four more houses they want to show on a schedule and they may not always go and check everything to make sure it is where it should be. But they shoudl make sure all the doors are locked and that they leave a business card behind so that you know it was shown while you were out.

My best to you and your house sale.

The other S.

PS This is a short time in the scheme of things. So just put up the toys and put a table in the room if possible with a few chairs. Sorry.

Oh that's scary. I dread selling next time.

I would tell my realtor that if you come home again witht he playroom a disaster, that you will have someone else show the house. They wont be happy because someone else will be getting there % of the money from selling. if that doesnt work i would leave the door closed and put a note on the door saying, that the toys are your childrens, this is a playroom for them, not the potential buyers. good luck!!

Do you have an armoire in the toy room that you can put the things they play with most often in there with the doors shut...and all other toys could be put in their rooms or closet or even storage? Some people don't think! I would NEVER let my children touch something that isn't theirs...and if it accidentally happened I would definitely make them clean it up. Sorry for the added stress! Bummer!

I would mention it again to the realtor. I would also put up anything (and I do mean anything) I don't want people messing with. I think it's rude of the potential homebuyers to let their kids mess up someone else's home. It's not a model. It's a home and people still live there.

I also like the gate idea. You might get a nice frame and put "please do not play with the toys" somewhere prominent. You shouldn't have to and people might get snippy about it, but it's not their playroom yet.

That's ridiculous. Doesn't their agent have the guts to say, "you can look, but you can't touch"? I'd have a fit, but the only option left I guess is to put the toys away and "unstage" your play room. Hope your house sells soon so you don't have to worry about it!

People are so incredibly rude. We just bought a house and sold ours - with two small kids. At the houses we looked at, I wouldn't allow my son to play with anything at all. It's not proper or polite to mess with the home owner's personal belongings. Would you go in and start trying on the home owner's shoes? Same thing applies and toys are no different... sheesh
I will tell you that we put all my son's toys away. Our family room/playroom was large and one of the selling points of the home. We put most of the toys in storage, and kept a few things which we stored in the closet. We sold our house in two weeks to someone without children. Anyway, good luck with your home!

Oooh, what an annoying problem! I would think that if you put a sign up the potential buyer could either be annoyed, or think, "Wow, these people take good care of their home." Who knows?

I agree with putting your kids' real toys away, and maybe just getting a few 2nd-hand toys to put out for showings.

Yes,If you are in the process of moving have you kids pick out a few of their fav toys and pack the rest of them and put the toys they pick out in a diffrent box and just leave out a few coloring books and crayolas.And when people come over just move the box of toys out of the way like into the closet top shelf.and also buy or bake some cookies and tell them before the leave if they pick up and stack the books neatly then they can have a cookie, that way it gives them posative reinforcment.

I don't like the idea of a gate, because "Hey look not only did they leave us toys out but a corral for the kids too". I however don't have a solution to offer either. I do think you have had some rude and presumptious people look at your house. I am sorry and I hope you find a solution that works for you.

Stress it with the realtor! The realtor is an advisor. And has as much to gain by selling your house as you do. Realtor should be advising viewers that their kids are to stay with mom and dad during the showing. For the very reason mentioned: many others are looking at the house and it has to stay in show room shape. Normally the seller should be gone during viewing. If you aren't there to tidy up after some inconsiderate peoples' kids mess up your house, it isn't going to show well. Viewers need to see potential, not totally lived in. So make it clear to the realtor that kids are not to stray. The realtor can keep the individual viewings short, but needs to insist that the kids don't do their own tour.

We are closing on our house next week and the one thing I can say is remove everything you don't want touched. Unfortunately not everyone thinks like you and I do, you go in to see a home.....you look, you don't touch. Some parents could care a less what their children do while they are wandering around a house, I think we've all witnessed that :( You can tell the realtors all you want til you're blue in the face, but what difference has it made? If it's not there, they can't touch it. Good luck!