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If you have children under 5 and cats...
DH and I are planning for when we put our house on the market in 2013. We are trying to decide if we should put it on the market while we are living in it or not.
You always hear that homes that are lived in sell better... but with kids, it just seems the opposite.
When we sold our first home, it looked like a model home every single day. Our house is pretty organized and clean, but it is not perfect with the little ones:)
So... if you were a buyer, would you prefer a house that was mostly furnished (kitchen, dining room, living room, family room and office will be unchanged, but perfectly staged as we don't need any of it in our temp housing). Our basement, will only have 1 couch and a chair and side tables (no TV and no loveseat as we need that in our temp housing) and upstairs... the master bedroom will only have a bed and nightstand (we need everything else), the other 2 bedrooms will be empty (again because we need that at temp housing).
So-- the people looking at it when they first come, will think people live there, then when they get to teh bedrooms, likely realize we are not really there.
Thoughts?
Re: If you have children under 5 and cats...
Our cat is easy, has no accidents and all of the cat stuff is in the basement (the unfinished part). there is no smell and no fur/hair anywhere (it is a hairless cat as our son is allergic to regular).
Again, my thought is having him out of the house in our temp housing will be better, but if we decide to stay, he will have to be in the basement during weekend day showings and durign weekends, we can take him with us in a carrier.
Buying a home is so subjective. You really need to figure out what works best for you all and sell when you need to sell - whether that's before or after you move out. Many, many sellers don't have the option of moving out before selling!
As far as staging while living at home w/ a child.... it's hard. Not going to lie! We lived in a small house and our son was almost 2. We had a stager come through and give us ideas on what to get rid of and how to best organize.
we really pared down our belongings (put them in storage) and for DS's stuff - I became creative about hiding it. His toy box was put in a corner and I threw a throw blanket over it. I removed a lot of his bigger toys (he was fine for the couple months until we sold!), and so forth.
I just kept the house in a perpetual state of "clean". We almost always had plenty of notice for when we had to be out, but "just in case", I kept things really, really, really neat.
It actually became a great habit! WHen we first moved, I was constantly keeping the new house really clean too. I've backed off of that a bit, though.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
I would base it on the average DOM for your area and how long your agent thinks it will take you to sell.Obviously it would be easier for you to be in temp housing so you don't have to work as hard to keep the place in showing condition.
We're trying to get our rental rented so we can get out of our lease, and some people are actually afraid of cats. Our cat seems to be able to pick those people out and chases them around the apartment. We try to take her with us when people come to see the place if at all possible so that she does not literally scare away potential tenants. Also, litter boxes are not the most pleasant things for people to see.
Whether the house was occupied or not when we were looking did not matter to me. The house we are buying isn't occupied but they did have it staged with a few beds. It didn't really matter to me.
I do want to see all the details of your house, so the more furniture and stuff you can get out in advance the better.
I sure would have preferred it if we could have gotten a bridge loan so we could have moved before me put our house on the market, but it wasn't to be. Getting the children out everyday was a pita. The cat wasn't a problem though because he is indoor/outdoor and doesn't have a litter box. I think he mostly hung out on the front porch during showings.
One other thought on the cat thing - is he old or sickly? H and I totally judged people based on the health of their pets when we saw houses. We seemed to associate a well cared for animal with a well cared for house. There were two houses that had cats on the last of their nine lives and it really just made us sad. One was basically wailing the entire time we were in the house.
Also, if the pet was particularly affectionate, we sometimes got distracted and paid more attention to it than the house. H is a sucker for dogs.
We listed and showed with 2 kids, a cat and a dog. Our house was clearly a family house and we weren't worried about evidence of children. I did pack away some of the messier kid stuff and I worked to keep everything clean and tidy, but we knew that our buyers would have kids (nobody else needs a 5 bedroom house!) and so our main concern was showing that the property could work well and look nice as a family home.
For the pets, we would pack up and remove all evidence of them for showings. I have major allergies/asthma so we have low allergen breeds, but I am very sensitive and would think twice before buying a house with pets in it. I was able to 'hide' the signs and I think it helped. It made for some fun showing times for us, with a cat in carrier, a small dog on the loose, and two kids in the back seat, driving around and waiting out the showing, but I think it was worth it.
Also, when we were buying, we went to a house (scheduled showing) and there was a huge, angry dog at the door. We didn't even bother going in. I would not be comfortable seeing a home with dogs on the loose. For cats, they can be a pain, especially if they are interactive or if you have to worry about not letting them loose.
It's very possible to list and sell with kids/pets, you just have to take some extra steps. I think it's worth it, especially if there is a financial cost to your owning the home for longer. Good luck!