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Not only strange listing times annoy me, but special instructions like "make sure the cat doesn't escape." If you're showing a house, take the cat and/or other pets with you!!! That kind of eliminates all potential buyers with allergies or aversions to animals.
I have lots of pets so collecting them and taking them all out of the house is a major feat. So when I attempted to sell my house, I moved out of it, so pets and kids would not hinder a sale. Guess what? Then people complained because it was vacant. Do you want to view homes with families or vacant? It seems you cannot please anyone.
Yep. On our realtor's advice, we sold our house empty, so we were able to avoid the hassle of strangers rifling through my granny panty drawer But around here, homes sell better empty and it sold very quickly.
I like buying empty houses but in my area, my vacant house would not sell. Even priced low.
This is an issue that I'm struggling with. We'll be putting our home on the market in about a year. The problem? My husband and I both commute (his commute is an hour for work, mine an hour and half for college and work) and we won't be able to leave work and school to get our pets so the showing times will have to be evenings and weekends only. There's just no way around it. I refuse to leave our dogs in a kennel for 8 hours just because a realtor might come by, not to mention our dogs would bark their fool heads off the entire time even if someone did show up in that situation.
Hopefully we'll have understanding people when we sell and can work around the limited showing. If it takes too long we'll probably pack up and just move and leave it empty to sell.
This is an issue that I'm struggling with. We'll be putting our home on the market in about a year. The problem? My husband and I both commute (his commute is an hour for work, mine an hour and half for college and work) and we won't be able to leave work and school to get our pets so the showing times will have to be evenings and weekends only. There's just no way around it. I refuse to leave our dogs in a kennel for 8 hours just because a realtor might come by, not to mention our dogs would bark their fool heads off the entire time even if someone did show up in that situation.
Hopefully we'll have understanding people when we sell and can work around the limited showing. If it takes too long we'll probably pack up and just move and leave it empty to sell.
I understand your issue!
Here's just a thought ...
What if you had a 24-hour notice request on your listing, and then use a petsitter who would come in an hour before the showing to either take the dogs for a very long walk or kennel them, and then return after the showing? We did that once. We were going away for a day and wouldn't you know it we had a request for a showing. So, we called our petsitter and she came and gathered up our cats and actually took them for a ride - which they loved (not!)
We also had a system to know that the showing had occurred, that it was ok to come home. We'd leave many lights on in the house, and most showing agents do turn them off before they leave. But since not all do, just as we'd go out the door we would rearrange the lockbox at an angle. A moved lockbox indicated the agent had come and gone.
We told our realtor we wanted a 2 hour notice. We have 3 kitties and 3 Shih Tzu. I needed to be able to catch the kitties and crate them and the pupdogs. Then I moved the litter boxes to my trunk, picked up the water dishes, vacuumed then put all of the critters in my car and we went and parked by a nearby lake. At first he said no an hour, then when I told him what I was doing he said you sure you don't need 4 hours. He was impressed I took the time to remove the litter boxes from the house.
One thing I did tell him was if we couldn't catch one of the kitties the showing either needed postponed or they could come while I was still there because nobody was coming in my house with any of my furbabies still inside.
We just moved to the Denver area last year. During our housing survey I was shocked at how many cats we found running inside houses. And one even had a loose dog. I just can't imagine leaving a cat or dog in a house to be shown, even if it was crated. I guess I'm too paranoid something would happen to the critter.
You're not paranoid at all. You are a responsible 'owner' of those pets. AND you're a smart seller!
This is an issue that I'm struggling with. We'll be putting our home on the market in about a year. The problem? My husband and I both commute (his commute is an hour for work, mine an hour and half for college and work) and we won't be able to leave work and school to get our pets so the showing times will have to be evenings and weekends only. There's just no way around it. I refuse to leave our dogs in a kennel for 8 hours just because a realtor might come by, not to mention our dogs would bark their fool heads off the entire time even if someone did show up in that situation.
Hopefully we'll have understanding people when we sell and can work around the limited showing. If it takes too long we'll probably pack up and just move and leave it empty to sell.
We have paid a beighbor to house the pets when we were at work. She worked, too, so it was minimal bother for her but a HUGE benefit for us.
And her kid enjoyed playing with the cats and dog (a doberman, btw) when he got home from school. The pets enjoyed the extra attentiin. She got a new clothes washer. Our house was under contract in 2 weeks, We bought the kid a new bike for his kindness. Win win for everybody
I've sold 3 houses. In all cases, we had pets. The new owners never knew we had pets until AFTER closing, which is as it should be.
Those are good suggestions but for the fact one of our pets is stranger-aggressive. Even some family members that don't live in the home get the sharp edge of her attitude. We have no idea why she is that way as we got her as a puppy and have always had people come and go but she's just a fearful pup and only likes her people. Just another layer to the issue. I like the 24 hour notice, that's a good one that we can probably put to use.
Well, that's the silliest thing ever. If I knew I was hosting some sort of event I wouldn't list the house until after, especially knowing that a new listing always generates new interest - which is exactly what a seller wants! "Yes, my house is for sale, but you can't see it" is so counteractive isn't it!
I finally got in the house today. If they hosted a wedding, either a) I feel pretty sorry for the psychological state of the newlywed couple or b) that was absolute BS. there haven't been any guests on that property that weren't sympathetic direct relatives in the last decade. And there are some personal items that have been in the same spot for a decade. Or more.
Those are good suggestions but for the fact one of our pets is stranger-aggressive. Even some family members that don't live in the home get the sharp edge of her attitude. We have no idea why she is that way as we got her as a puppy and have always had people come and go but she's just a fearful pup and only likes her people. Just another layer to the issue. I like the 24 hour notice, that's a good one that we can probably put to use.
This is an issue that I'm struggling with. We'll be putting our home on the market in about a year. The problem? My husband and I both commute (his commute is an hour for work, mine an hour and half for college and work) and we won't be able to leave work and school to get our pets so the showing times will have to be evenings and weekends only. There's just no way around it. I refuse to leave our dogs in a kennel for 8 hours just because a realtor might come by, not to mention our dogs would bark their fool heads off the entire time even if someone did show up in that situation.
Hopefully we'll have understanding people when we sell and can work around the limited showing. If it takes too long we'll probably pack up and just move and leave it empty to sell.
I know every market is different, but where I am (suburb, nearly all families) 24 hour notice is very common. I would talk to your agent about listing on perhaps a Thursday, and having no restrictions through the weekend: including an open house, caravan, whatever intense marketing strategies are popular in your area. That way, you can plan and make arrangements to have the pets away completely for a period of time--and hopefully sell your house during the blitz!! If you don't have an offer Monday, then change the listing to reflect 24 hour notice. Good luck!
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But around here, homes sell better empty and it sold very quickly.
