Frugal Ways of Moving?

[PauletteGoddard]

Changing residences this spring/summer. My spouse works at home, and we have cats.

Our agent suggested that we, in order: move out, clean house, stage house.

A family we know moved in November: they did not move out before showing the house, and they have three cats and a dog. Their house sold in three weeks. No, they did not have our agent.

An idea I am considering -- to clean house: move everything but the essentials (clothes, furniture, two weeks' worth of food) out of the house, maybe have the spouse sublet some office space that he can commute to in better weather.

The spouse thinks of moving out to an apartment for six months (who is going to rent to a family with three cats?), while paying the mortgage on the house until it sells, then look for a new house.

If you're a family with small animals, and you've changed house, how did you do it without paying tens of thousands of dollars before even putting down a downpayment on your next home?

[scfr]

Perhaps pay a friend or relative (or Saving Advice acquaintance!) a small fee to board your cats until the house sells? As a pet owner & lover, I know this would be very difficult. But it would ensure a house free of litter trails even if a showing occurs in the middle of a work day, and it would be a safety precaution for the kitties (so they wouldn't accidentally get outside during a showing).

We sold our last house in 2006 while living in it with a dog in residence, but we both had home-based businesses and could swoop the dog in to the car at a moment's notice.

[snafu]

I suggest you start preparing for your move today. Is this a DIY move or professional packer/mover paid by employer/business? Are you changing residence locally or moving to another other city? I hope you've chosen a very experienced agent with a long history in your specific district. However, understand you get a lock box and other agents show their clients your home.

It helps to schedule time each and every day to prepare your home for selling. It's important to go through each room and look for anything that needs to be cleaned, tightened or fixed. Serious purchasers look in nooks and crannies and anything than needs fixing can jinx an offer or request reduced pricing. You're selling square footage so review every shelf, drawer, cabinet and closet to see what you can identify as no longer used, worn, expired, wrecked or important to your life. It's a lot of work to pack, move and unpack so you don't want to take the stuff that's no longer used needed and loved. Start now to re-sell, re-gift, consign, donate or toss excess and you show off your space and avoid packing useless stuff. One rule of thumb is 12 hangers for each foot of closet rod for example.

[FaceYourFinances]

You could get lucky and end up selling to a pet owner who finds the fact that your one is currently inhabited by pets charming but I wouldn't count on it!
I agree with the option of boarding. While difficult, this gives you the option to thoroughly clean or have your place professionally cleaned and staged properly. It's best to have prospective buyers not even think about whether or not animals currently reside in their potential home.

[Retired To Win]

Keep The Cats and Dump The Real Estate Agent

Changing residences this spring/summer. My spouse works at home, and we have cats.

Our agent suggested that we, in order: move out, clean house, stage house.

A family we know moved in November: they did not move out before showing the house, and they have three cats and a dog. Their house sold in three weeks. No, they did not have our agent.

An idea I am considering -- to clean house: move everything but the essentials (clothes, furniture, two weeks' worth of food) out of the house, maybe have the spouse sublet some office space that he can commute to in better weather.

The spouse thinks of moving out to an apartment for six months (who is going to rent to a family with three cats?), while paying the mortgage on the house until it sells, then look for a new house.

If you're a family with small animals, and you've changed house, how did you do it without paying tens of thousands of dollars before even putting down a downpayment on your next home?

Paulette...

I've done the sell-a-house-with-pets thing twice. And I have to tell you that your real estate agent shows no regard for your money or your needs, and you need to get another agent.

Here's what my wife and I did... TWICE.

First, come up with a way to keep the cats outside the house. Once we did it by keeping them (6 of them) in very large kennels in the unattached garage. The other time we had a roofed wood-frame-and-chicken-wire enclosure built in the backyard and kept the (18) cats there while the house was for sale and being shown.

You do NOT have to move out in order to list and show your house. You DO have to clean, make minor repairs, freshen up, and declutter... declutter... declutter. Both times we went through this, we rented a storage space to keep the stuff we would want later on but could not keep in the house while it was being shown. (The accumulated junk we just threw out.) This worked just fine.

Neither time did we have to move out of the house to have it shown. Your agent's suggestion that you do this is r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s. Just pick up and clean up after yourselves and you'll be fine.

Oh... and did I mention that you need to get a different real estate agent?

Good luck on your house sale!

Retired To Win
making the most of my time and my money

[creditcardfree]

I've had a cat or two each time we had our house on the market. I sold one in five days, and the other in 5 weeks. Guess which market those were each in? I agree with the above poster, cleaning and decluttering are your friends.

Your husband DOES need to leave for showings. If the nature of his work, does not allow him to leave during the work day he should look for temporary space. I would not pay to move and then stage home. That could be putting you in a bad place financially.