A parent that wants to come along with their "kid" to help them select a house can be good and it can make the process difficult. A parent that is familiar with the geographic area the kid wants to buy in will be accepting of the prices and types of properties being viewed. I once had a mom and dad come in from Minot, N.D. They lived in a 1972 rambler with new steel siding and vinyl windows. They saw our first house which was built in 1915 with original siding, windows, and the floors did slant. Charm was everywhere from leaded windows to oak buffet. The kids loved it. The dad pulled me aside and wanted to know what kind of Realtor I was trying to sell his son this crap at $350,000.
I took some buyers house hunting and their engineer father joined us. Dad took about 30 mins. in each house checking out the plumbing and elec. The buyers were trying to see if they liked the floor plan, neighborhood, and general feel of the house. After he flushed the 10th toilet, I suggested he might want to wait to do his "inspection" on the house the kids decided to buy. We sure wasted a lot of water that morning.
I had a mom who the minute we walked into a house needed to know how long the house had been on the market, when was the last price change, and what did I think the house was worth. I suggested we walk through the property first and see what was up with it. She was irritated and set her jaw. I did not want to make her angry, but I saw little reason to analysis a house that her kids might not even like.
Last weekend I had a dad come along. He sat in the back seat and was pleasant. He would go through the house and ask open ended questions of the two buyers. He would affirm the position the kids took. If he had a concern he would quietly ask me. He told me the kids were buying this on their own and he was along really just to have a good time with them. He wanted them to feel good about the house they selected, but he wanted it to be their decision.
A parent who encourages their child to be a good decision maker and helps that child stand by their decision is helpful. The parent who undermines the decision is not helpful In many cases these buyers have important jobs where they make decisions on a daily basis without their parents. Why not let that same child make another decision on their own?
Parents can be supportive and parents can be such a pain to the kid that the kid tells the parent they cannot come again. I just want the buyers to be happy and not end up in tears because "daddy said it was a stupid house."
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