I'd definitely move them out fot he bedroom, and if possible,the sooner the better, as the "hay" smell might go away,and if it doesn't it will alow you some time to "air it out"...

Can you move the rabbitts to the basement? or perhaps a crockpot? joking :)

there's always a faint hay smell in that room. I think it's kind of nice, actually, but will it turn off potential buyers?

YES!

ditto!

Sometimes you don't have the option to create the ideal house for showings. If you were having an open house, then yes, I would say find another place for the bunnies. But for a house that could be on the market for weeks or months, do the best best you can with the bunny room and don't sweat it.

Cages that are 2 feet high will still allow the buyer to see the room adequately. Put something striking in a corner of the room to catch the buyers' eyes before they see the bunnies - maybe a nice drapery, a large stuffed bunny sitting on a chair, something. A good stager can always come up with a way to distract the eye.

I'm speaking as someone who went house hunting and purchased a house in the past year. There is a lot worse out there than bunnies.

Just be careful of them if you decide to rehouse them - they're hugely sensitive to their places and can get really stressed out if displaced (I speak from experience :-).

Do you live in LA? A realtor acquaintance very recently described a house they saw that had bunnies!! She described their housing as very high end and didn't mention it as a selling problem.

In my offer I would deduct money for replacing the carpet. I hate carpet and one that had animals living on it (over it) would provide additional yuck factor.

Thanks to everyone for the responses so far!

The room we could move them to in the basement is also carpeted (we actually JUST put carpet in there as we prepare to sell) and we're using it as an office. There are no windows so it can't be used as a bedroom (legally, anyway) - would that be better than the bedroom or is it pretty much the same difference? The cages won't be placed directly on top of the carpet; my husband built a little wooden/vinyl platform for them and we might even put a carpet remnant under THAT. Of course they would have their play time on that carpet, but they don't dig or pee on it, so a quick vacuum should pick up any traces they leave?

We also have a cat, a small dog and a cockatiel, so there's no hiding the fact we do have pets. But we keep the house very clean and there have never been any accidents or damages so I'm hoping it will not be too much of a problem!

Chispa, we don't live in LA, but our house does have several high-end features that we hope attract buyers who might otherwise skip it because of animals - especially as our price will not be too high-end for our area! But I'm glad that bunnies are not always considered a problem. They're the 3rd most popular pet so I know other people must have sold with them! :-)

There is absolutely no doubt that a dog, cat, bird, and rabbits all in one house will be a negative for many buyers. You are only a couple of animals shy of a petting zoo! Obviously, you aren't going to be able to "hide" them all, but I would do whatever you can to minimize their impact and keep them out of the main living areas. Whatever room you put them in will certainly be remembered as "the room with the rabbits" so I would pick whatever place you have that would be the least desirable - storage room, utility room, unfinished basement area etc.

Well, you know, it is what it is.

If you have pets, you have pets.

If I my own self were looking at a house that had pets, I don't think it would matter to me whether the pets were in the bedroom or the office, but...
if they were in a windowless basement, I wouldn't like the seller.

& regardless of what we all know about being rational, we do behave according to emotional responses.

People will offer less on a property where they don't like the seller's behavior.

& pets aren't the only trigger;
deer head trophies on the wall,
bear or cow skin rugs,
political banners or pictures,
even books,
will provoke emotional responses.

& we needn't even go into the effect of a chart I saw on one wall where the parents assessed merits & demerits for their hyper-active 6-year-old son's behavior.

If you have to have that, keep it in a notebook in a drawer.

If at all possible rehouse or remove pets especially for open houses or if a buyer returns for a second look. When I had our open house and serious buyers coming over, I took my parakeet to work with me! We sold in 6 weeks...Id like to give credit to the house or the parakeet but I think it was the realistic price and the serious decluttering/cleaning... good luck and I love bunnies but would find that a turn off when house hunting.

The only benefit to moving the bunnies downstairs is that it gives the buyer more time in the YES/NO decision that they make early on in a walk through. If there is flexibility, you want the bunnies to be seen later rather than earlier.

Yes, there are people who are put off by pets. But there are people who are charmed by them. If I were a potential buyer of your house, I would think well of you for having pets. The house I bought had a couple cat doors and a dog door.

Thanks so much for everyone's opinion! It's so helpful to get different points of view!

I think what we'll do is the option I'm most comfortable with - putting them in not-as-huge cages and leaving them in the downstairs bedroom with windows. Then they're not too stressed and I can open the windows for a few minutes in the morning to let fresh air circulate. I realized last night - duh - that if I close the hay bag, the room magically smells much less hay-y. Funny how that works. :-) So there will still be animals in the room, but it should smell (and look) very clean. We'll also put a chair and a small bookshelf in there too so it has a cozier feel.

My husband or I will always be getting the dog and cat out for showings, so they won't be a distraction/underfoot at least. I would LOVE to take the buns and bird to work with me, but I can't see my boss approving of me waltzing into the office with two frisky bunnies and a wolf-whistling cockatiel in tow. :-(

Hi again, for what it's worth, we sold a very ordinary and not particularly updated 4-bed+inlaw suite 2 yrs ago that had 2 huskies, 4 cats, 5 parakeets and our bunny. It wasn't easy to keep things neat (dogs outside, cats wherever, bunny in created enclosure - though there still seemed to be hay everywhere, but some people have kids that are horrors and make messes all over, and if you don't like it, too bad!

Easy solution:

Here is a link that might be useful: Try this

Not funny.

I would have been relieved if one house I bought had hutches of live bunnies in it. The people who abandoned the house (sheriff's sale) left the poor rabbits in an upstairs bedroom to die and petrify.

You do what you have to do, but if it were me, the bunnies would stay where they are, happy and healthy. Be aware you will get some lookers who will be paranoid about it....aroma or not. They're the same ones who would spaz out at a spring water supply in a farmhouse and ask where the chlorinators are and be aghast when they find out it we drink it just like it comes from the spring head..... pure and excellent. But you get lookers with issues no matter what you are selling. If one isn't obvious they'll keep looking until they find one. LOL.

"But you get lookers with issues no matter what you are selling. If one isn't obvious they'll keep looking until they find one."

Ain't that the truth?

I often tell my sellers, if buyers really like the house, they'll usually overlook one snag.

If something else comes up, they get a little iffy.

but strike 3 means you're out;
they just can't overcome 3 things.

& since we don't know what may come up ("oh,there's a bat cave under the foundations?"), we need to control for everything we can.