Last week I took a young couple out to look at houses in a 3-city area. We were working on determining what areas north of Seattle might be places they’d like to consider moving to. To begin our research my clients had picked 6 houses they thought would be interesting to see and in different towns: north Seattle (near Bitter Lake), Shoreline, and Mountlake Terrace. Four of the houses required a call ahead to make an appointment as they were either tenant or owner-occupied. The Shoreline house I called surprised me with some news that they were on their way to pick up a couple of new kittens that day and we would need to be careful not to let them out when we came to our pre-set appointment the following day.
Hmmmm…. let’s see, you’re selling your house and somehow decide that getting 2 new kittens is a good idea? I can think of several reasons why this is a bad idea.
1. the hassle. the kittens may cause some serious problems in showings when people are attempting to not let them out. Oh, and by the way this family lives on a main arterial in Shoreline so it’s very likely the kittens could get run down if they run into the street.
2. the smell. I’ll mention here that when we arrived to see the house we found that the mother had picked up not only 2 kittens but rather 4 (yes, FOUR) new kittens.
3. They detract from people viewing your house. Sure, they were cute, but we also had trouble managing to not step on them, and then keep them in the laundry room as we attempted to go out the back door to check the yard.
4. The house isn’t in tidy order. When you are home with your two small children and the 4 cats are running around the house you tend to forget things like a real estate agent is coming at 10:30am to show your house.
We literally showed up and found the family at home with all 4 kittens roaming around and the cute little 3 and 5 year old children playing with them. Mom apparently was in the shower when I called ahead a 2nd time to make sure they knew we were coming (the kids apparently are too young to know what the message machine says even though it plays loudly throughout the house when someone calls) and so when I knocked on the door no one answered. Being that this usually means “no one is home” I unlocked the front door to find said children looking with big eyes at me opening the door. I quickly said, “is your mommy home?” to which they replied, “yes, she’s in the shower.” I asked them to alert mom to our presence and we stepped back outside for a bit while mom scrambled to get dressed to come to the door. In the end, we did get a tour of the home and the mom took her kids out for a spin in the car but it was as uncomfortable for my clients as it was for the homeowner. It’s not a great way to make an impression when you’re trying to sell your house. The gal confessed that she “had forgotten” that I’d called the day before as they were focused on getting those kittens.
Note to the wise – DON’T get 4 kittens while trying to sell your home!
