Tell me what to expect- putting condo on the market
slukd79
member
With a cat and a baby. 
As a reminder, my DH is at training right now so he is out of the picture for helping me through this process. We received word last week that we are moving to another city in approximately 3 months (which we are happy about for various reasons, but now the stress of selling/moving/packing needs to begin.)
My concerns:
1. No one will want our place due to the cat (due to the large population of people who have allergies to them.) I keep the condo as clean as I can, but lets face it, I don't have loads of extra time to clean. And there is no one who could temporarily take her. Part of the problem with living here is that we don't have family in the region.
2. People will want to come when the baby is sleeping. Her bedtime is 7. But usually I start her night night routine around 6:15/6:30...Also, I am off on Wednesdays. Should I start taking her to daycare on that day so the place is free for visits?
Help! Any suggestions? (I have heard things like don't cook to avoid smells in your place, but I am not sure what I would feed LO. She can't try peanut butter yet and I feel like PBJ would be the ideal back up meal.)
Re: Tell me what to expect- putting condo on the market
I wouldn't worry about the cat. I sold a condo with a cat and I've looked at several houses with them. As long as the cat box is clean, it should be fine.
I think the main thing is to de-clutter and take down all of your family pictures.
Your Realtor should be able to give you advice.
In my experience, you always get a warning before anyone looks at your place. at least an hour, sometimes 24+. You also have the ability to say no. If someone wants to come by or not leave. If someone wants to come by at 7, you can say no or yes, but I'll be here putting my baby to bed.
As long as you're not boiling cabbage every night, I wouldn't worry about the smell thing. Maybe crack a window. SOme people use scented candles that smell like baking cookies.
I have to disagree about the cat - as someone with severe cat allergies, I know the second I walk into a house if there is a cat or not! I would recommend you do what you have to do to put the cat elsewhere until you sell. I realize it would cost $$, but could you board your cat for a few days? That might be all it takes to get a buyer.
I wouldn't worry about people coming at all hours - like PP said, you can always decline. Declutter as much as possible, do some very clean/minimalist "staging", and make sure it's clean.
Good luck! The market is picking back up, and I hope you get a buyer quickly. Selling is so stressful.
I have severe cat allergies and honestly it wouldn't matter to me whether the cat was there or not when I viewed your place. I would look for a litter box and if I didn't see one, I would ask and that would be it for me. Either the cat lives there or it doesn't. So I don't know that you can do anything to change that. If your cat is one to bolt when the door is opened, I would consider crating him/her during showings though.
As for showings with a baby - that's hard. Most people will want to come after work or on weekends. I would definitely be prepared to vacate on weekends. As for weeknights, I'm not sure.
We're in this exact same position, except with our townhouse, which will hopefully go on the market in 2 weeks...we have a cat, and a baby. Honestly, I'm willing to be pretty flexible about things like bedtime a couple times, but we don't start our routine until 7, so the likelihood is we would at least know someone was coming and could get out, not worry about waking him, etc. I'm home all summer and know we're going to miss a few naps, etc. I'm a person of serious routine, but I want to sell the house, so out we'll go, whenever!
As far as the cat goes...We're planning on taking us with her whenever we know someone is coming and have to leave, and for open houses of course. We have friends we can just take the crate to. It's not perfect, but people do sell houses with cats all the time. Our realtor isn't too concerned about it. We keep her litter box really clean and out of sight - I've seen houses with dogs that are much worse, with hair, etc. If people have severe allergies, like pp said, it'll be a deal breaker and not the right fit. We had the carpet cleaned and did not put in new carpet, that way if someone does want all new carpet due to the cat, we can potentially work with that.