What Does Property Viewing Etiquette Look Like In 2026?

TorontoRealtyBlog

About twelve years ago, there was a new agent with my firm whom I tried to take under my wing.  She was eager, friendly, very good with people, and willing to help!  At this point in my career, I hadn’t yet established my “team,” so I was always looking for agents to help with a showing here or there, or a buyer visit.

I asked “Stacey” if she could do a buyer re-visit for me, and she was happy to oblige.

I forwarded her the appointment confirmation and lockbox information and sent an email introduction to my buyer clients.

They met at the property, the showing took place, and that was that.

After the showing, Stacey sent me a note:

“Everything went well!  Buyers are happy.  Excited to buy furniture!  I locked up.  Turned off the lights.  Brought the cat in.”

I acknowledged the message and moved along in my mental “to-do” list.

Later that evening, I received a phone call from the listing agent.

He was livid.

“What the hell happened at the house today?” he asked me.

I was a bit worried.  Did a pipe burst or something?  Did one of my clients break a vase without telling Stacey or me?  What happened?

The listing agent said, “My clients just called me, and they were frantic!”

I asked what happened, and he said, “They came home and found the cat sitting on their duvet, in the master bedroom!”

What was the issue?  Was the cat not allowed upstairs, I wondered?

I apologized, not knowing what I was apologizing for just yet, and said, “Look, I’m really, really sorry, but what’s the problem with the cat being on the bed in the master bedroom?”

That’s when I got the answer that I never saw coming:

“They don’t have a cat,” he said.

Ah.  Right.

That is a problem!

I suppose Stacey was thinking a bit too far outside the box when she saw the neighbour’s cat on the back deck and decided to bring it inside.

There’s no way to conclude that the problem created in this story was anybody but Stacey’s fault.  However, as I tell the next story, which is a follow-up to the first, you may feel free to say that it’s my fault for having allowed it to happen…

I chalked up that cat “incident” to a complete coincidence.  Happenstance.  “It could happen to anybody,” I thought, and I continued to mentor young Stacey, and she continued to help me with some of my overflow.

A couple of months later, I asked Stacy to do another pre-closing buyer visit for a couple who purchased a semi-detached in the Greenwood Park area, and she was happy to help.

Our appointment was from 1:00pm to 2:00pm, and around 1:30pm, I received a frantic call from the listing agent, which was eerily reminiscent of the call I described above.

“David, are you at the house?” the listing agent asked.

“I’m not, but an agent from my team is,” I told her.

She continued, “Well, the dog-walker just showed up at the house, and there’s no dog there!  The dog-walker called the sellers, and they’re freaking out!”

While I hadn’t yet learned my lesson from “the cat incident,” a small part of me wondered…..could lightning have struck twice here?

I told the listing agent I would call her back, and I immediately called Stacey.

She answered and sounded a bit out of breath.

“Hhh….hello?” she muttered.

“Stacey, are you at the house?” I asked, since she sounded like she was outside.

“No, I’m not,” Stacey replied, and my stomach began to twist and turn as I thought, not only about her leaving my buyers in the house, but also what I feared was coming next.

“I’m just taking the dog for a quick walk,” Stacey said.

“Who’s dog?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

“The dog at the house,” Stacey replied.

I asked, “Stacey, are you telling me that you went to the house with my buyer clients and then impulsively decided, for some reason, that you needed to take the sellers’ dog for a walk?”

I’ll never forget the tone of her voice when she said, “David……this dog looked sad.  Cooped up in that house all day, alone?  That’s cruel!  It needed to go outside.”

“BRING THE FUCKING DOG BACK, STACEY,” I shouted into the phone.

To this day, I have no idea why the sellers and the listing agent didn’t file a RECO complaint against me, not only for Stacey taking their dog for a damn walk, but also for leaving my clients alone in the house, without a registered real estate salesperson present.”

“Okay,” Stacey said, “But it’ll take me a few minutes.  I’m at the dog park,” Stacey said.

Spoiler alert: Stacey didn’t make it in the real estate business.  She was gone a few months later, and to this day, I cannot believe that I trusted this person with my clients – and my reputation!

Maybe this is why, among other reasons, I’ve become so mistrusting of people these days.

In any event, this story serves as a lead-in to what I wanted to discuss today, although the lead-in was much longer than I anticipated.

I was thinking last week about showing etiquette in today’s market, and just how much trouble we’re having with something so simple.

The “trouble” stems from the fact that we can no longer count on mankind to do the very most basic things, unfortunately.

Consider the following personal skills, for a moment:

-common sense
-courtesy
-critical thinking
-adaptabilty
-logic

In the absence of these things, we have problems.

Common sense is, rather unfortunately, an oxymoron in 2026, since common sense is less common than ever before.

When it comes to the problems with property viewings in 2026, most can be traced back to a lack of the five items noted above.

Here’s what’s really bugging me so far in 2026…

Should double-bookings be permitted?

I had never even considered the possibility of not allowing two buyer agents to show a property at the same time until we entered that magical time in all our lives, circa March, 2020.

COVID.

It changed a lot of things in our daily lives, and affected many, if not most industries, and real estate was certainly no different.

Aside from wearing masks to proeprty viewings, the biggest change was that we did not allow two groups of buyers to view a property at the same time.

Up until that point, it was common, if not expected that when you went to view a house from 5:00pm to 8:00pm on a weeknight, there would be another group there with you.  Maybe two.  Maybe three!

Then along came COVID, and suddenly we were fighting to “reserve” a popular time slot, ie. 5:30pm to 6:00pm.  Once a spot was booked, nobody else could attend during that time.

This meant that many buyers couldn’t get in to see properties when they wanted, and I have no doubt that this caused some buyers to skip the property altogether.

But COVID was six years ago, right?

So why in the world are some agents still refusing to allow double-bookings?

In my humble opinion, it’s absolutely ludicrious that in 2026, a listing agent for a popular Toronto property would not allow two agents to book a viewing at the same time.

For condos, I understand.  Lockboxes are often left in underground parking garages, stairwells, or behind the building, and it makes no sense to have two agents showing up at the same time, with one already up in the unit, and the other putting together a search party to find them.

But for houses, where there’s a front door, there’s no messing this up.  It’s not rocket science.  All it requires is a basic level of common courtesy between one group of buyers and the next, and there’s no reason that we can’t have two, three, or four groups in a property at the same time.

While some of you might say, “If I’m looking at a house, I want privacy,” I understand.  But without allowing double-bookings, it means when you ask your agent to show you the house at 5:00pm on Tuesday, he might say, “Sorry, guys, but the property is booked until Thursday.”

Listing agents who don’t allow double bookings are costing their seller-clients showings, and thus costing them exposure, interest, and ultimately, money.

–

“Divide & Conquer”

Again, this is a very basic concept, and yet some people just aren’t getting it.

When you show up to a propety and there’s another group viewing, give them space.  Don’t follow them.  You’re not co-buying the house, nor are you forming a rock super-group, so do your best to divide and conquer.

They go upstairs, you go downstairs.

It’s simple.

And if one group is quicker than the other and you find yourselves all on the second level at the same time, don’t push past the husband to join the wife in the walk-in closet.  You can wait thirty seconds, geez.

I see this all the time and it’s mind-boggling.

It might make you say, “David, you just told us there’s no problem with double-bookings, but now you’re showing us a problem!”

Yeah, well, maybe I’m naive for expecting the best from people?

Consider that if you were at an open house on Saturday afternoon and there were five groups in the house at the same time, you’d probably be patient.  So why do people act competitive when they’re viewing a property at the same time as another set of buyers on a Wednesday evening?

–

Should you bring your children to the showings?

I think the feedback on this question might differ depending on whether the reader had children or not.

Then again, for those people who do have children, we can divide them into two categories:

1) Those who realize children are their responsibility.
2) Those who do not.

Many of you know what I mean by the second point, right?

They’re the people who would bring children to a property showing, and when one of the children breaks something, they would minimize and defend the action by saying, “Well, what the hell am I supposed to do with my kids then if I can’t bring them with me?”

Never mind that they could have hired a babysitter, had them stay at a friend’s house, or dropped them with gramma and grampa.  I just mean: we all know the parents who play victim at every opportunity, and they’re usually the ones who have the annoying kids at open houses and showings.

Don’t get me wrong: I believe it’s totally fine to bring kids with you for showings and open houses.  But you can’t expect that they’re going to get into trouble just because you can’t contain them.  That’s a “you” problem; it’s not the seller’s problem.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people walk into an open house and let their children run free like it’s Gymboree or Sky Zone.

A family house is going to be bought by a family, and a family has kids, so there’s no suggesting “kids shouldn’t attend property viewings.”  But here’s where common sense, courtesy, and respect go a long way.

–

What do you do about the pets?

Having read the intro to today’s blog post, perhaps we can answer this question, first and foremost, by answering, “Don’t take the dog for a walk,” but I think there’s more to it.

This question should be asked to both sellers who want to list their house or condo, while leaving their pets in the property, and to buyers who are viewing a property with a pet inside.

Last week, I was showing a house in the west end, and posted on the door to the basement was a photo of a cat along with the note “Please do not let me go downstairs.”

I didn’t make anything of this at the time; however, when I was in the basement, I noticed there were two cats.

When I went back upstairs, I looked at the photo of the cat on the note, and realized that he was the cat in the basement!  Well, one of them.

I thought about what to do, and then I realized something:

I’m not a cat herder.

Once I saw the note on the upper level with a photo of the second cat, and instructions on where he could go, I realized that none of this was my problem.

With all due respect to the seller, it’s unreasonable to assume that people coming to look at your house should also be tasked with looking after your pets.

On that note, what advice do I have for buyers in this regard?

Don’t touch the pets.

They’re not yours.  Don’t play fetch with the dog, don’t pet the cat, don’t feed the fish, and don’t tap on the glass of the lizard tank.

You’re there to see the house.  That’s it.

You wouldn’t jump in the shower, so what gives you the right to roll around on the floor with the cat?

I wish somebody had told Stacey this, but I digress…

–

What’s the etiquette on buyer home inspections?

This is a major sticking point for buyers, sellers, and agents alike in 2026, and if we were doing today’s blog in order of importance, perhaps this would have come first.

Many listings agents (the good ones, anyways…) will do a pre-inspection as a marketing tool for the property and leave it out on the kitchen table along with the floor plans and feature sheets.

Having said that, there are situations where a buyer wants to do his or her own inspection, depsite the presence of that pre-inspection.

In this situation, I’ve seen both buyer agent and seller agent do wrong:

1) The listing agent doesn’t allow the buyer agent to do their own inspection, claming that an inspection already exists.

2) The buyer agent believes he or she has the right to book a three-hour window for the inspection, on a Saturday morning, and locks the door so other buyers and buyer agents can’t come inside.

In the first scenario, for a listing agent to suggest that a buyer can not do their own pre-inspection is ridiculous.  It makes them look guilty, first of all, but it also pretty much guarantees that buyer isn’t going to make an offer.

In the second scenario, the buyer agent is acting incredibly entitled, let alone clueless and irrational.  Do your inspection.  Go for it.  But it’s not your house or your listing.  There are other buyers and buyer agents who can come through at the same time.

I had that sitaution earlier this year.  A buyer agent asked if he could do a pre-inspection on Saturday afternoon (we had offers scheduled for Monday night), and I told him he could.

The inspection was booked for 9:00am to 12:00pm, and at 9:45am, I received a call from a buyer agent who had a showing booked, and who said the front door was locked.

I called the agent who was doing the inspection and he said, “Of course we locked the door.  We’re doing an inspection here!”

He was acting like they were inside the house, discussing secret preparations for storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

I said, “Unlock the door, please and thanks.  There are two viewings booked for 9:45am and 10:30am.”

He shouted, “But I booked this time!  I booked it!  You confirmed it!”

It was my fault.

Truly, it was.

Because I assumed.  I simply assumed that this agent wouldn’t be naive enough to think he could get three hours of private time for a hot listing, on a prime Saturday, in a prime spring market.

–

Using the bathroom.

I can absolutley see why we shouldn’t ban people from simply “answering nature’s call” when viewing a house or condo for sale.

But I can absolutely see why we should too.

I’m not going to belabour this point, nor am I going to tell any stories.

A simple question should suffice: where do you stand on this?

–

Honestly, I feel like I could do this all day!

When it comes to petty greivances, I am your king.

But seriously, if any of you have sold a house recently, or been out looking to buy one, you know where I’m coming from.  And I have so many other stories I could share if time permitted!

In fact, I have an epic story, one that I would place in my top-10 all time.

Perhaps we’ll pick that up on Thursday…

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