Buyers touching personal property

[Jennifer Shaw]

My husband and I are selling our house that we are currently still living in. We have security cameras set up inside and outside, that are on the disclosures so buyers are aware of them, and that they are being recorded. We do not watch or listen to people as they are in our house, but we recently had some things out of place and went back and checked our cameras. One of the groups viewing our house let their children have free range in our home. The realtor stayed downstairs, sitting on the arm of our couch, while the family (one of which who had a backpack) walked around our house alone. We don’t have cameras throughout the whole house, so we could not see everything they did, but we did see the kids climbing on our child’s bed and jumping on it. We saw the man with a backpack walk into a room by himself. The kids were grabbing toys, playing with them, and tossing them around, leaving a messy trail wherever they went. Then the realtor left while the clients viewed the outside of our property. I get that people will open closets, cabinets, use the bathroom, etc. and we are fine with that, but is it normal, and more importantly acceptable for people to let their children do the things they did? And for the realtor to leave while their client is still on the property? Maybe I am just easily bothered by these things, but it felt kind of violating.