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I have a cat, too. For the "open house," I stuffed her into her carrier and we went down the street to the neighbor's house (she stayed in her carrier). For the next showings, I left her in the mudroom with the door closed and a note. She hid in her tunnel because she's afraid of guests.
Fortunately, I was in a hot market and only had to do that for a couple of days.
This. And when you get notice of a showing, you learn how to tidy up and do some cleaning within an hour. You can require them to give you an hour's notice...
It also helps if you have your house professionally cleaned every other week or so.
1) A good pro house cleaner is worth every penny, especially when a house is in the market. It may help to think of it as a stress reducer, and/or that it will enable you to sell your house more quickly or for a better price, either of which offsets the cost.
2) Price the house slightly below the market to sell it more quickly. For working people with lots of time demands, try to keep in mind that your time is valuable, and the more quickly you can sell it, the more time and money you save. You may even preserve your health and not have to take as many sick days. I have a friend who insisted on a price well above the market appreciation since she bought it, and though she had some significant repairs done, she didn't redo a kitchen, baths, etc. She bought another place so now has the cost and stress of caring and paying for both properties. While we all may be able to handle the insane cleaning, yard maintenance, etc., for a little while, over time it really wears you down.
Put fresh towels on towel rods. Use a towel for showers that you hang on a plastic hanger and put in your closet when done.
Put a shoebox or basket under sink and after showering, put toiletries in it and put under sunk. Get a squeegie, and squeegee shower when done. Keep paper towels under sink, and wipe off sink and counter and mirror in bathroom when done, before you leave house.
Keep a trash bag handy to use to empty trash and put in garage before you go to work.
Load dishwasher before leaving house. Only keep needed items on kitchen counter.
Get a swifter to run over floors before work.
Excellent advice - do this every day and your house will be "ready for inspection" and it doesn't take long. I assume you have no kids messing up the place on a daily basis? Also I would crate the dogs during showings unless they have never been in a crate. If so can you bring them to a neighbor or just put them in the car and take them for a ride if you're home when prospective buyers are coming? You shouldn't be there anyway.
Can I be the voice of reason here? Some of the things being suggested here are, in my opinion completely over the top and unneeded to have a successful sale.
After buying/selling many homes we've found keeping your house neat and picked up is good enough. Most "sane" people realize you live there. Keep dishes out of the sink, try and keep the floors swept and/or vacuumed pretty much like you would if some old friends were dropping by for coffee.
I see no need for the constant "hotel" treatment with new towels, beds you can bounce quarters off of, constantly calling in a maid service etc. If you have dogs take them out of the house with you when showing and make sure poop is picked up in the yard.
If you have cats, there's lot's of good advice on here so far, the only thing I'd say is make sure your house doesn't stink like a litter box. I've smelled some pretty god awful places when looking.
We've done things this way and have never had any issue with selling.
Can I be the voice of reason here? Some of the things being suggested here are, in my opinion completely over the top and unneeded to have a successful sale.
After buying/selling many homes we've found keeping your house neat and picked up is good enough. Most "sane" people realize you live there. Keep dishes out of the sink, try and keep the floors swept and/or vacuumed pretty much like you would if some old friends were dropping by for coffee.
I see no need for the constant "hotel" treatment with new towels, beds you can bounce quarters off of, constantly calling in a maid service etc. If you have dogs take them out of the house with you when showing and make sure poop is picked up in the yard.
If you have cats, there's lot's of good advice on here so far, the only thing I'd say is make sure your house doesn't stink like a litter box. I've smelled some pretty god awful places when looking.
We've done things this way and have never had any issue with selling.
No buyer is EVER offended by a clean and orderly house.
Most sellers want exposure to as many buyers as possible, and picky people are often as well-funded as "sane" people.
I recently sold a home- as a single working parent of 2 kids and a dog. It was very challenging, to say the least! Luckily I was in a bidding war with multiple offers and in contract on day 5- so it didn't last too long. I requested no same day showings. I crated my dog during the day while I was at work, and removed her for the open house and any showings while I wasn't working. The buyers visiting my property was aware I had a dog- on the premise if it was during work hours.
We ate out- instead of cooking at home. My kids slept with me- so I only had to make one bed..lol. I had a container of Clorox wipes under every sink- and wiped down stuff before bed. Kept all our daily use shower/bathroom stuff in a container under the sink, and hung my towel in my closet.
Luckily, you have less hurdles to handle. I wouldn't worry too much about the cats. They will likely hide- during the walkthroughs. I would just be sure your agent makes others aware that cats on premise.. it will work out fine!
No buyer is EVER offended by a clean and orderly house.
Most sellers want exposure to as many buyers as possible, and picky people are often as well-funded as "sane" people.
Plus once you have the house ready in the first place, it doesn't take much extra effort to do the few added touches like putting out clean, dry "showing" towels, putting toiletries in a basket under the sink and things like that. The rest of it - wiping down the counters and toilets, making sure the kitchen is clean and all dishes away or in the dishwasher, making beds, sweeping the floor, all need to be done anyway (at least IMO, although I have viewed homes where the current occupants apparently considered it optional)
Can I be the voice of reason here? Some of the things being suggested here are, in my opinion completely over the top and unneeded to have a successful sale.
After buying/selling many homes we've found keeping your house neat and picked up is good enough. Most "sane" people realize you live there. Keep dishes out of the sink, try and keep the floors swept and/or vacuumed pretty much like you would if some old friends were dropping by for coffee.
I see no need for the constant "hotel" treatment with new towels, beds you can bounce quarters off of, constantly calling in a maid service etc. If you have dogs take them out of the house with you when showing and make sure poop is picked up in the yard.
If you have cats, there's lot's of good advice on here so far, the only thing I'd say is make sure your house doesn't stink like a litter box. I've smelled some pretty god awful places when looking.
We've done things this way and have never had any issue with selling.
People's level of daily cleanliness varies
Even what you said "dishes, sweep, like friends are coming over"...you make it sound easy. I bet your house is clean and tidy on a daily basis
Which is great. But not everyone can keeps their house to that level every day, either because they can't or they choose not to. So showings can be very stressful
I remember chatting with some mom friends and one mom said that she hardly spent any time cleaning. But her house was always clean! I asked some questions and it turned out she was doing at least an hour of daily cleaning but she didn't consider that cleaning. Cleaning to her was scrubbing her shower with a toothbrush
If possible, financially and logistically, I always recommend buying or renting first, moving, then selling the existing house.
You have SO much more control over your destiny and you have a property to market wherein you don't have to "follow people with a paper towel."
We've already done part of this (bought another house), and are in the surprisingly difficult process of packing/decluttering/finishing all the unfinished projects of our house.
I know that decluttering is a must, and since we want to - well, we HAVE to - sell our house quickly, a clean, uncluttered house showing off space is a must. THAT part is fairly easy when we realize that we're simply packing up all our stuff anyway. We clean and stage a room, close the door, don't go in unless our lives depend on it.
But we also have pets (cats and dogs), and will request that our realtor has to give us 24 notice to show. This way we can load everyone in our SUV and practice traveling with our travel trailer. This way you don't have to deal with a barking dog that isn't used to being crated, or worry that the prospective buyer will have a severe allergic reaction to the cat rubbing against your legs.
Both times we have sold (once with four pets; once with two pets and two kids) we have drawn up a list of things to do each morning to prepare the house for showings and things to do immediately before a showing or immediately before leaving the house for an extended time if we weren't sure whether we'd have a showing or not.
The every morning list included things like making beds, opening blinds, clearing up all dishes, and running the vacuum. The before showings list included things like putting away the pet bowls and all other evidence of pets, turning on lights, spot cleaning anything that needed it, etc.
It never felt that overwhelming when broken down into small tasks. We sold within the first two weeks the second time around, so we weren't on the market long enough for it to become that onerous, but the first time we sold it took months and we found that the tasks became routine pretty quickly.
Good luck to you!
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It was very challenging, to say the least! Luckily I was in a bidding war with multiple offers and in contract on day 5- so it didn't last too long. I requested no same day showings. I crated my dog during the day while I was at work, and removed her for the open house and any showings while I wasn't working. The buyers visiting my property was aware I had a dog- on the premise if it was during work hours. 
