Viewings with Pets?

stacebkb

Hi All,

I've been lurking on these forums for a few months now and hope you can give me some advice.

We are looking to put our house on the market in the next month or so, however we have 2 house cats. Obviously I would make sure it's clean, tidy, no smells etc, and hide their beds and litter trays, but I'm not sure what to do about them when we have viewings- would cats wandering around put people off? I could keep them in one room while we are doing the viewings, but when I need to show the viewers that room they will see the cats, so there's no way of actaull 'hiding' them.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks

RAS

Do you have any travel baskets? Anywhere outside where the cats could spend 20 minutes in the baskets?

StaffieTerrier

When we were selling a property with house cats, we put the cats in carriers and stuck them in the car until the viewing was over.

yorkshire_terrier_owner

I went through this when I sold my house - my parents took my 5 dogs out for a walk, and I kicked my 2 cats out in the garden for 15-20 mins while the viewing was going on.

One Saturday I had 3 viewings back to back. Being so sick of doing them, my mum did them for me, whilst I sat on the car park of Maccy Ds with my dad and 5 dogs!!!!!!! I laugh now, but not funny at the time!!

DRP

i've been to viewings where the dog was in the car parked on the drive (with the teenage son!)

pineneedles

They don't put me off at all but friendly cats do distract me from actually viewing the property and my partner has to tell me to stop talking to the cat and actually pay attention to the property.

So they could possibly be used as a strategically placed diversion.

movilogo

Not everyone loves animals. Dogs are definitely no no inside the house (garden is good place to keep them as viewers can see you are not hiding the fact that there are dogs).

One cat may be out but make sure you make its presence known (with exact location) so that viewers are not taken aback when they discover it.

For any other exotic pet, e.g. lizards in glass box, make sure you mention what pet is in the box! I once went to a house and saw such box and immediately assumed it was snake (and EA assumed the same too as she was first time in that house) and we both ran away without finishing the viewing.

phoebe1989seb

We've been in this situation and have tried the following -

Taken cats out in carrier baskets - I was home alone with no car and had to wander the streets for an hour till our EA called me to say they'd finished.......not ideal as they are very heavy cats

Taken cats via car in carrier baskets to my parents' house whilst EA did viewing.....a good option, but wouldn't be possible now, although we could just take the cats for a drive!

Left cats locked in conservatory whilst EA did viewing - viewer could see into room but couldn't access it from either side.....definitely not ideal

Had cats in house (shut in one particular upstairs room) whilst EA did the viewings......despite being warned, the dozy EA (or viewer) opened a window allowing one cat to escape and climb down roof into garden. She had only ever been outside on a lead, but was luckily found later on in our garden having come to no harm......worst option :mad:

TBagpuss

I think with dogs, the best thing is to have someone take them for a walk, or alternatively have them in the car (or outside run if one is available)

For cats - this depends a little on the cat - are they likely to be friendly, or not, towards the viewers? (My cat was very shy around strangers, so had he still be alive when I put the house on the market, it would not have been an issue as he used to run away from strangers!)

I would be inclined to tell the agents that you have cats and that you would be willing to put them in their carriers if anyone viewing is scared of cats (you could of course also aim to have at least one 'spot the cat' photo in your Particulars so people are fore-warned!)

If your cars are affectionate towards strangers, or very noisy, then I would try to shut them into one room and let the people viewing know where they are. That way, if someone is scared of cats they have the opportunity to say so, and you can then move the cats (e.g. if the cats are in the spare room, then mention this as you go upstairs and then move the cats into the bathroom once they have seen that, so they can look at the spare room in peace. Also, be prepared to pick up the cat and remove it if seems to be bothering the viewers.

I think cats are generally much less of an issue than dogs. (unless you have huge numbers of cats, or an attack cat, or anything of that sort)

PollyOnAMission

I had my lodger take my two dogs for walks when I had viewings, or when it was raining they sat in my car on the driveway. I was able to maintain this for people's first viewings, but for second viewings (first impressions already made) I asked the viewers if they were happy for the dogs to be there. None minded the dogs being there for second (and subsequent viewings) but I was glad to keep them out of the way for first impressions. I also cleared away all traces of dogs from the house (bowls, beds, toys, leads etc). Luckily they are very short haired dogs without a doggy smell.

I imagine it's harder with house cats but do you still have the option of having them in a pet carrier in the car, as someone else has suggested?

Soot2006

I viewed plenty of houses with pets - EA always asked when arranging viewing if I minded a dog or cat running around my feet. As I didn't we conducted viewing followed by the family dog in several houses.

I think as you long as you have a plan for what to do if the viewers are allergic/etc (i.e. cat into carrier and a warning that animals have been around) you will be fine. Does mean you have to be there though.