Showing Your Home: What to Do with Your Pets

Showing Your Home: What to Do with Your Pets

You’re trying to sell your house but you have dogs, cats, or some other breed of pet hanging around. While many won’t mind seeing pets around the house, some will, so you’ll need to give careful consideration to what you’re going to do with your pets when your real estate agent is conducting a showing or open house.

General Staging with Pets

Let’s start with everyday staging. If you have small animals that live in cages or aquariums, this won’t be as much of a problem. If you have cats and dogs, you’re going to have to work daily to make sure your rugs are vacuumed and that your furniture isn’t covered with animal hair.

You will want to survey your home to make sure there are no signs of damage caused by your pet (scratches on crown molding, stains on the carpets and rugs, etc). You’ll also want to have a neutral third-party tell you if your home has a pet odor. You’ll need to take care of these things before you can even put the house on the market.

Make sure your pet’s toys are cleaned up – neatly tucked away in a basket or out of sight. Move the cat’s litter box to a more discrete location and make sure you pet’s feeding area is clean at all times. When showing the home, move these things out of sight altogether.

During a Showing

Most real estate agents will recommend that all signs of cats and dogs be removed completely before an open house or showing. This can cause your pet some anxiety, especially cats. If you really can’t get your pets out of the house, try to crate them in a quiet place until the showing is over. Talk to your pet’s veterinarian if you are concerned about how preparations for a showing will impact him emotionally.

If you can take them elsewhere for a while, all the better. Potential home buyers with allergies may not even want to enter your home if your pets are there. Those with animal fears may feel the same.

Some real estate agents will ask you to completely relocate your pets to another home while your house is on the market. We understand that your pets are a part of your family and that this can be especially trying, so we like to review each home on a case-by-case basis. Give us a call for help if you aren’t sure what to do with your pets. We’re happy to answer any questions you may have.