They could have a pet like we had. Our dog was houdini. It didn't matter where I put her, she'd get out. She'd even get out of the yard. Or it could have been they chose not to put their animals up because they didn't know the intensity of your fear. Also it may have not been relayed to them correctly. There are several reasons why it could have happened. It's too bad that it did.

It is possible that your broker did not relay your request to the seller's broker, or that the seller's broker did not relay the request to the seller.

I'd agree that is the most likely scenario, especially in the case of a dog. Many people are afraid of dogs, many dog owners will not leave their dogs with strangers (heck, I poked and prodded my pooch when he was little just so would be used to the kids doing it and not react negatively. He hates men, so no way would I leave him alone with strangers. Old as he is ( 12 1/2) you just never know....) and most people would be glad to comply with removing a dog from a home for a viewing.

A cat might be a bit trickier, but the cat carrier is there for a reason.

I suggest that your agent go into the house ahead of you and look around. Any dogs would be visible or heard easily. The cats might be harder to spot, but your agent could go ahead of you into each room. Then you wouldn't be surprised as you were by that black cat.

In the houses where the animals were roaming freely, had the homeowners left just for the showing or had they gone to work? If they had just left a couple of minutes before, perhaps your agent could have called their agent and had the owners come back and secure the pets.

It's extra work for you, I realize, to have to compensate for the sellers not responding to your request, but if you really want to see the houses, you may need to do that extra bit and go back when the pets are not there.

When I was selling my house recently I first let my 2 dogs just loose in the backyard, but my agent told me that people wanted to go out onto the patio (we had a nice covered patio) and get the feel of grilling and hanging out there. So I ended up making a temporary dog run and secured the dogs in there each day before I went to work. We had a lockbox on the house and I never knew when someone would be coming by.

Our cat had already moved out of state with my DH so she wasn't a problem.

Good luck with your househunt.

I don't have a lockbox for the exact same reason boopadoo doesn't. My house must be shown by appointment only, in order to give me a little heads up time to put the dog out in the dog run and round up the cat. The cage with the rabbit and guinea pig gets a cloth cover over the front and top of it (the rear of the cage that faces the wall is left open), and the bird cage gets the night time cover drawn over it. When we made these arrangements with the realtor, we hadn't really taken into account the thought of potential buyers being frightened by the animals, I was more concerned with the thought of our dog running out the front door (she's a beagle and likes to take off!) She can also be pretty insistent with her tendency to love all over anyone who walks in the door! I'm not sure how it is where anyone else lives, but when we listed our house, the disclosure sheet made us list all the animals that lived in the home. I've sold several houses in 2 other states before, and this was the first time I had to disclose that information. I should have asked the realtor if that was a requirement here (carlisle, pa) or if it was just a policy that their agency had instituted.
jiggreen

That is one reason I would not have a lock box and requested by appointment only. We lived in a rural area and most of the time my cats were in the house while we were gone to work and my dog, could be aggressive. We always let the people know we had cats and dogs but did lock the dogs in the side yard and tried to keep the cats in one room, but 99% of the time the people would tell us not to worry, they too had animals. Our dog was our bigest problem. He was a barker and jumper until he got to know you.
I do hope things work out.

I'm highly allergic to cats, I surely wouldn't want a house where they had cats previously! I'd have to rip out any carpeting!
Kathy G in MI

Those sellers with dogs and cats roaming around the house might be burned out, as mfbenson said, or they aren't obsessive sellers like me :-). Getting our dog out of the house for every showing is one of our biggest hassles (we've gone on many long car rides together), but I'd never leave him at the house. I'm an animal lover, but when I looked at houses as a buyer in the past and I saw that an animal lived there, the house became a little less desirable to me. I don't want to take a chance as a seller.

Wow, I didn't expect so many responses!! I should have given you guys a little more background. I only had a little time this morning to get my post in and I needed to vent!!

This is actually our third trip out to Ohio to look at homes. When I first met/talked with the realtor we are using, I expressed my fear and request and she made sure to always let the seller and/or the representative agent know to secure/remove the animals if at all possible. Those who do compley usually put the animals in the garage or the laundry rooms. I don't need to see those:) There are also times when a note is left not to open a certain door because the pets are in the room. Again not a problem.

All of the homes we have seen have been by appointment, it has been easier for us and I hope the seller. Being a fellow seller, we only show by appointment. I don't like surprises!! Anywho, on our first trip out, at the first house after the request was made, I never made it in the house because there was a cat sitting in the window.

The realtor, her hubby (our chauffeur) and my hubby always case the house just in case before I enter. If there is a problem, I don't go in. None of them want to try and herd the animals into a particular room because we all know cats and dogs can react fearfully to a stranger and I wouldn't want anybody hurt because of my fear. Also, of course I don't want to scare an animal if I don't have to so the best course of action for me is not to proceed in.

I understand being burned out, I strongly dislike the whole buying/selling process and will be glad when it is over. It is just frustrating to have to add this additional layer of stress to the process.

Today, we concentrated on specs and new builds. As I indicated I am running out of time and just getting frustrated with the whole process. Again, thanks for letting me vent. My realtor has been absolutely great about one issue and she always inquires before scheduling a showing.

Hi Boopadoo!!

Deborah

I suspect that at least in some instances the sellers never received your requests. When we were selling your house, more than once we had people show up at inopportune times because (1) we were never notified of a showing (2) were given a different time for the showing.

I'm not afraid of animals, but I will say this. When I am considering a purchase of hundreds of thousands of dollars, I DO NOT APPRECIATE being responsible for keeping an eye on the pets to make sure they don't go in, go out, or go into rooms where they don't belong. As a potential buyer, I find that responsibility counter-productive. You want me to really see and enjoy the home??? Don't make me watch out for your pets.

I stopped by a house once to visit a realtor friend who was hosting an open house. The seller had left her huge cat roaming around. It was the largest cat I ever saw, probably 30 lbs! My friend dislikes/fears animals and had to worry about the cat escaping during the open house.

I took care of the problem. There was a large broom closet that housed the cat's litter box. I called the cat over, petted it for a minute, gently pushed him into the closet and closed the door!! I did check for any dangerous things in the closet.

What should a homeowner do with the pets? For an open house, a homeowner can realistically get the animals out of the house.

If a home is on the market though, a homeowner doesn't always have enough notice for showings to get the animal out of the house and even if she does, she might not be able to leave work, take the cat/dog/gerbil into the car and keep them out the entire time the prospective buyers are looking.

It would never occur to me to spontaneously guess that someone is deathly afraid of my cats. (I know there are people who are--I let a cleaning woman go for that reason once it became apparent that she wouldn't clean any room my cats were in and I'd come home to a partially cleaned house)

Why would someone let the buyer's animals out of the house? (I realize that some animals are fast but wouldn't one expect to keep them in if possible?). Asking lookers to keep them out of a specific room could be a lot harder but people *do* have animals and they have to put them somewhere and keep them safe.

--Beth

bethohio3 wrote: Asking lookers to keep them out of a specific room could be a lot harder but people *do* have animals and they have to put them somewhere and keep them safe.

That somewhere safe would be a crate, preferably in a place that is not an absolute necessity for the buyers to see on a first viewing, like the garage, laundry or storage room.

When our house was on the market, I was able to take my dog and leave for probably 95% of the showings. I put a sign with a picture of the room on the door where the dog was crated asking buyers not to go in (our dog is VERY excitable). There were no second showings out of that small percentage of first showings where I couldn't take the dog out, but if there had been, I would have made sure to have the dog out that time so the buyers could see all of the house.

I'm an animal lover but I understand your fears and I agree it's foolish for people not to have the pets confined. My heart goes out to you during this frustrating time. Take your realtor by the ear and speak directly into it, nice and slow and maybe they will get the picture.

Yeah, what Lynski said. My realtor really has been great about the situation and I really don't think she is the problem. I just think some pet owners really don't/can't/won't understand that not all people are pet lovers and just refuse for whatever reason to adhere to the request. I think if it had happened in only one house, I might think it would be an accident but several houses.

As an update because of time, I did not go back and see the houses that originally caught my interest.

We are seriously considering two spec homes and hopefully tomorrow we will have chosen one and will happily be on our way to contract/negotiation H E double hockey sticks.

Deborah

The way I look at it............if you don't like pets, then you don't need to buy my house. Simple. We don't need the money that bad.

JMHO.

So, if you don't want to bother removing your pets, don't say you'll do it. You've wasted the buyers' time by making them schedule an appt for a house they can't look at. That's what's obnoxious about this.

Yeah and what if the pets are somehow let outside and are never to be seen or heard from again?
The only way I would show my house is with the boys in crates and the only way I would let my house be shown if I wasn't there would be with all of my valuables some place else. This includes my pets!

I just think some pet owners really don't/can't/won't understand that not all people are pet lovers and just refuse for whatever reason to adhere to the request.

Here's a good example: The way I look at it............if you don't like pets, then you don't need to buy my house. Simple. We don't need the money that bad.

I will not spend my money on a house that I can not see. Period, end of story. I wouldn't buy a car without thoroughly inspecting it and looking at it, why would I buy a house sight unseen.

Again, my request since it is always made before hand is to adequately secure pets so that I can view the house. This request also includes the assumption that the animals will be securely put away or taken from the property and that we will not have to worry about a pet escaping.

I am selling my house and if the next owner is a pet owner, then it will be their house to do as they choose. While the house is for sale, I would not allow a potential buyer to bring a pet into the house while they viewed the house and I would explain my reasons why. If the potential buyer was insistent, then I would lay out my rules for doing so, I would vacate the house until they were done and try to comply with the request. Why, because in the end it is a business transaction. I'm selling, they want to buy, just like I'm trying to buy a house someone is selling.

JMHO

Deborah

I think it's the realtor who is wasting your time. Half the houses had dogs and cats roaming around? That's a lot - I just don't believe that half of the owners confirmed that they would confine their pets and then failed to do it. The realtor didn't do enough to explain the situation. Or you were not on schedule.

Bethohio3 - How to confine pets for showing? We've done it a couple of ways. Two houses ago we put our 4 cats in the utility room with a photograph of the room on the door and said we would remove them if anyone wanted to come back to see them (the eventual buyer saw the house and offered without ever going in there).

On the last house we sold (last summer) we kept our cats in crates whenever we left. I did worry about people thinking the crates unsightly but eventually just decided not to work about it. Eventual buyers were cat lovers. The buyer's small child was bent that that cats didn't come with the house (But mom! We bought the house. Don't we get to keep the cats?). We have 2 large dogs and crating them was not feasible (we could crate them but at least one of them would have barked at invaders in his house) so we actually boarded them with friends while our house was on the market.

On the house we eventually bought the sellers had 2 dogs and 2 cats. The dogs were mostly in their crates outside when we were there. The first time we were at the house we opened the closet under the stairs and out walked the cat. That actually ended up giving us the idea of converting the closet to be a cat room. We have a contractor who is going to make a pet door so the cats and can come and go from the closet which will be their room...

Since You are afraid of animals then it's most unlikely that you will not be happy living in a house that animals lived before. Especially cats. You will have hair from the animals as you are living there.Just don't look at homes that have pets. Pet owners who are selling their home are going to think you a little strange anyway

One time we went to look at a farm house on a nice size lot. The owner was s single lady, real wacky. She had a pet goat and like 10 cats. she had the cats living in one of the bedrooms. She wouldn't let us in that bedroom at all. The realtor snuck away when we were distracting the lady and peeked inside and she said it was a pigsty from the cats.

If you really want a buyers agent, you need to get a buyer's agent that's really on your team.

Have you considered new construction homes? (or subdivisions?) They really are a lot easier to buy in for a long distance buyer. It's pretty painless. Get the magazines at the supermarket, go visit the ones that are in your price range and area then look at the models, pick your colors and options then sign on the line. Call the movers and be in there in 30 days.

When we sold our last house, we did two things. First, all showings had to be via our realtor, who was under specific instructions not to let the cats out. We had only one negative reaction, from a family with a little girl who was terrified of our little bald sphynx kitty. She thought he looked like a monster, and so she sat in the car in the driveway with the parents' realtor while they looked around. I thought that was fine, anyway - no need to bring little kids on a first house visit. Second, when we had an open house, we put the cats in a small room off the lanai, that had a glass door, so visitors could see into the room but not be bothered by the cats.

It would have been very difficult for us to completely clear 3 cats out for every showing, given that realtors do tend to come over on very short notice. That said, it was mostly a sellers' market at that time. Had we needed to go to more bother to sell the house for a high price, we probably would have figured something out.

Second, when we had an open house, we put the cats in a small room off the lanai, that had a glass door, so visitors could see into the room but not be bothered by the cats.

I have nothing constructive to add here except that I would LOVE to have a house that had a space that I could refer to as the "lanai"...it sounds so elegant!

:) jiggreen

Why are you so afraid of animals?

"The way I look at it............if you don't like pets, then you don't need to buy my house. Simple. We don't need the money that bad."

Yikes. Love me, love my pets? Are you selling the pets or the house? I love my animals but I don't expect the rest of the world to. Some pets can smell people's fear. Sometimes this will cause them to attack or bite. Why should deborahnj be subjected to this? Especially if she respectfully requests in advance that they not be present? In my opinion, uncontrollable animals are an accident (lawsuit) waiting to happen.

"When I looked at houses as a buyer in the past and I saw that an animal lived there, the house became a little less desirable to me."

I always look a little closer when viewing a house with cats. Not so much with dogs. A friend of mine had elderly in-laws who took in a stray female cat. The cat was pregnant and had 4 kittens. They didn't have them fixed and they urinated all over the furniture, TV, baseboards, etc. The house stunk. The in-laws didn't notice because their sense of smell had deteriorated. When the new owner moved in they had to replace all the wood floors and baseboards to get rid of the smell. You can bet that cost them a pretty penny.

Deborah,
Sorry that you had such a lousy experience. I just returned from a relocation trip and had a wonderful experience with my realtor, but noticed that despite the time & effort that went in ahead of our visit, it was tough going. For instance, I believe it is Coldwell Banker that does not advertise a listing agent. There were a couple of CB houses that we were trying to visit, but that required a call to the CB toll-free number, where some call center rep took down the info to have the agent call back. There was no way to contact the agent directly or make an appt with the call center, so these particular houses were more difficult to schedule.
So I imagine a request such as yours would go something like: you tell your agent, your agent calls the clearinghouse, they eventually contact the selling agent, who finally calls back your agent, gets the pet request, now has to locate the seller and get an answer, then back to your agent and then you get to see the house. I think we never did see one of the houses because we never heard from the agent.
Okay, next topic. My agent would not show us more than 5-6 homes in a day because she thought buyers would mix them all up. We thought that was silly. She was right. We mixed them up anyway, even though we had listing sheets and took notes and pictures. We used the afternoons to check out the schools and bike trails and local area (and the FSBOs).
We had no special requests, but all the pet owners had secured their animals well. Dogs were in crates, birds were in a corner of a room, etc. Didn't see any cats or litter boxes (which I think are gross, even though a necessity). I thought that was very professional for a seller to spiff up for a potential buyer. I would never subject a buyer to my scary-looking-but-harmless dog or my squawking parrots and their poopy cage (even if it was just cleaned). I love them, but they can put people off, and we need all the help we can get to sell our old home.
Good luck!
Lisa A.

Hi all, before I tell you the conclusion to my story, I just wanted you to know that the very first house my husband and I purchased was from a family that had a dog. It didn't deter us from buying the house. We loved it and thus bought it. I never meant to imply that if a house has pets I won't buy it. My issue is that I need to see the house in order to make a determination on whether we want to buy it. If I can see it, no way am I going to purchase.

Well now that that is cleared up, we actually made an offer on a spec house and it looks like things are going to work out. We originally saw the house when we first started looking but it was at the very top of our price range. Well, the builder has significantly reduced the price so we have put in an offer. Hopefully by this time tomorrow, we will be all set. The house has everything that we were looking for, is 10 minutes away from work and has a nice size lot that has already been landscaped.

Dreamgarden and c9pilot, thank you so much for your support and words of encouragement, I appreciate it.

Hildegarde, about 10 years ago I was severely bitten by a dog and not a very big dog. That zapped the little courage that I had regarding dogs. I was actually on vacation in SC and there had been a really bad storm that washed away much of the dune area at the resort where we were staying. My son and I went out to the boardwalk to look at the churning Atlantic. There was a family there with a medium size dog on a leash. I thought all was fine. I stood watching the water and the son had the dog on the leash and I didn't think anything of it. I turned my body and moved my foot to walk away from the boardwalk towards the hotel and I kid you not, the dog growled and suddenly lunged at me and latched onto my knee and took a huge chunk out of it. I swear to you, I did nothing to the dog. For those of you who will say, I looked at it funny or I must have done something, trust me, I did nothing. The mother and father got the dog off of my leg and claimed that it had never done that to anyone before. So that is my dog experience.

As far as cats are concerned, when I was a young girl, we lived in a row townhouse in the second floor apartment. The family downstairs had a cat, a rather large cat that I presume they did not treat very well or whatever. Anywho, the cat would come up to our apartment and sit outside and everytime we would try to leave or open the door, it would hiss and hunch up or whatever it is to attack. There were times that we couldn't leave the apartment because the cat would not go away and we had french glass doors so you could see the cat outside and it would just hiss and hiss. A couple of times of that, and I was done with cats. My next experience was when I was 12 and in the girl scouts and we had a sleepover at the girl scout leader's house and she kept her animals in a separate part of the house. One girl who knew I was afraid of cats thought it would be a good idea to get the scout leader's cat out of the room and decided to dangle it over my head while I was sleeping. Of course I woke, screamed bloody murder, freaked out the cat who went into attack mode and again I was done!

I've never gotten over those incidents and while that is my fear, it is something that I have to deal with. However, I try to minimize my contact with animals because I don't want to be frightened and I certainly don't want to frighten them.

DeborahNJ

Deborah,
It was strong of you to post your dog and cat stories. But don't ever feel like you have to explain your reasons for disliking animals. You don't have to have a reason.

I am teased by my family for hating monkeys (all primates, actually). THEY didn't watch a zookeeper get attacked by a baboon. And THEY have never been singled out of a crowd and chased by a monkey in the jungle. I'll spare the details. Fortunately, I don't typically have to avoid monkeys in my day-to-day living.

Best of luck in your new house. I've never lived in a new house so I don't think I'd know what to do without things to be fixed right off the bat!
Lisa A.

C9pilot, thank you for the good wishes on the house, we are very excited and glad that the process is about over. Good luck to you in your house search, I will be rooting for you! Relocation can be grueling and exciting at the same time. Neither me or my husband are DIY people so a new home is better for us. I really tried with an existing home, but a new home is better for us. As it turns out, the builder is being very accomodating with us on some requests we made so I don't feel like I'm missing out by not building from scratch. That is a process I really wanted to avoid, especially being so far away and not being able to oversee the build. This is the best of both worlds for me.

Your story made me smile and I promise I won't ask for details.

My new mission will be decorating!! I get the opportunity to do some things I didn't do in our present house and repeat some old things that I love.

BTW, our present house sold in less than a month and we are blessed for that!! I was able to get a bonus from my company for selling within 60 days of listing. We decluttered and priced it realistically. The house came out of attorney review yesterday so we now have a end of January closing. Now I do the hold your breath thing until closing. After reading these boards, you never know what can go wrong.

Deborah

You are afraid of animals then it's most unlikely that you will not be happy living in a house that animals lived before.You are afraid of animals then it's most unlikely that you will not be happy living in a house that animals lived before. Especially cats. You will have hair from the animals as you are living there.Just don't look at homes that have pets.

That is a silly statement. The OP is afraid of animals, not their hair. There are many reasons that people are afraid of, or uncomfortable around animals. I had always been afraid and uncomfortable around dogs and got teased alot about it while growing up. I didn't find out until I was in my late twenties that I had actually been bitten in the face by a large dog when I was a toddler. I have always had a scar in my eyebrow, but never knew how I got it. One day I was having dinner with my older brother and sister in law when I mentioned something about the scar. My sister in law said that must it must have happened when I was bit by the dog. I had no idear what she was talking about, but my brother confirmed that he had been there when I was bit by a large dog when I was little. Apparently my parents thought it best that I not be reminded of the incident, since I was so young. However, once I understood why I was afraid of dogs I became less fearful. It has also helped to be able to explain to dog lovers why I would rather not have their dog jump on me, lick me, etc. I will never be comfortable around dogs, nor want to have one in my house, but I don't get the heart pounding fear I used to have.

Pet owners who are selling their home are going to think you a little strange anyway

So what? Everyone has their little quirks, pet owners included. Do they want to sell their home or not?

c9pilot
"Fortunately, I don't typically have to avoid monkeys in my day-to-day living".

Have to admit I smiled when I read that line! I sometimes feel like I'm dealing with monkeys in day to day life! I'm not crazy about monkeys either but not because I've ever been attacked. I had a friend who had a capuchin monkey she raised from birth. It jumped on her back one day and bit the *&^% out of her. Her husband had to yank him off. They got rid of him. Most monkeys are pretty darn strong. People get them as pets and then can't control them when they reach sexual maturity (Michael Jacksons chimp-Bubbles). These poor animals frequently end up in research facilities.

deborahnj
I had a feeling something happened to make you nervous around animals. When I was 6, I was bit in the face by a Weimaraner. No one told me you aren't supposed to stare at a dog. I'm not really nervous around dogs or cats these days, but respect the fact that some animals will react to a person's fear.

Congratulations on the new house! How nice to be able to know its complete history. May I ask what part of Ohio your moving to? I'm sure your in good hands (legal wise), but I would like to pass along a few links to read before you sign very much paperwork. JUST in case they might be helpful! We have considered building and have read a few stories of what to watch out for during the process. Garden Web has a home builders forum you might want to peruse in the meantime! Best of luck with your move, new house and sale in NJ!

Stay on guard while buying a new property to avoid legal hassles later
http://realestate.virtualpune.com/aspx/avoid-legal-hassles.aspx

More New Homes Contain Life-Threatening Defects
http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20060707_newhomedefects.htm

"Also insist upfront that the builder explain all contingencies that could increase the cost of the house to you at any stage of construction. Not all costs assert themselves in the base price."
www.bankrate.com/dls/news/real-estate/20050108a1.asp

Builder's mistake, Part II
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg112006106146.html?25

I agree you didn't have to explain why you're afraid of animals and I think it was insensitive of the person who asked. It really doesn't matter if you're afraid of animals or not because you're right... they should be put away to show houses!

I wish you the best with your offer. See what I mean new construction is so much easier to buy. You rarely need appointments... you don't need to worry about the seller's issues with closing dates or any of that crap and you may have a warranty if it's a reputable builder.

Congrats on finding and deciding on a home. We're also looking at new construction homes and are keeping an eye on areas where homes are scheduled to be started next Spring, when we put our home on the market. Our previous homes, as well as this one, were always bought with the intention of remodeling and making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Something that both my husband and I loved to do. However, as we've gotten older we don't have the energy or stamina to do that anymore.

Altho dogs and cats don't bother me (we have two monster size, and very spoiled, German shephards and a cat), I can identify with not wanting animals in a house that I'm looking at. When my husband and I were looking to buy our very first home we went, with our agent, to look at the first house of our search. Being the gentlemen that my husband and the agent are/were, I entered the home first. The first, and only, thing that I saw was a Doberman charging down the hallway at me with it's teeth bared. It stopped in front of me and kept growling. Doberman's are the only dog I've never really liked (but that's another story) and I was so scared I couldn't move. I think that there is only one other time in my life that I've been more scared than that.

The owner came out of the kitchen and called it off and put it outside. She had forgotten about the appointment which didn't change the fact that I had to go home and change my pants....only kidding. :)) Needless to say, I didn't look at the rest of the house, altho my husband did and said I would have liked the interior. The seller's agent called our agent several times wanting us to come back and look the house over again without the dog on the premises but I just couldn't do it.

I had to laugh at the monkey comment. My sister is deathly afraid of monkeys. Not from any attack by a monkey, but from the original THE WIZARD OF OZ movie. She saw that when she was tiny and the flying monkies terrified her and to this day, and she's 55, she can't even watch 'regular' monkies on TV. Years ago a couple of my BIL's siblings would buy my sister gag monkey things such as stuffed animals and figurine type things. You could literally see her break out in a sweat and watch her body start shaking. To this day I still think that if my BIL hadn't put a stop to it that they would have divorced over that.

Again, congratulations on your new home-to-be.

Jenna

Deborah,
I'm holding my breath, too. We should (fingers crossed) close on Jan 5th, just in time to get residency & kids applied for the local magnet schools.
Robert Bruss writes a real estate column and he recommends that new home buyers get home inspections, too. They just don't build 'em like they used to. And make sure the builder fixes any defects. The house should be perfect (well, close to it).
As far as the monkey thing goes, it's very interesting that for the most part, at least I used to think until reading some of the responses on this thread, people are generally accepting that some folks don't like dogs or cats. But if you're afraid of monkeys, you get teased about it.
You know, Naval Academy midshipmen & grads call West Point cadets "Whoops" because of those creepy flying monkeys. They wear uniforms that look just like cadet dress uniforms and they "whoop" while they're flying around picking up Toto and the others.
Just another reason not to like monkeys....
Lisa A.

Terriks, Quirkyquercus, Jenna1 and C9pilot, again thank you for the encouraging words. Your stories made me smile as I was reading them, especially about the charging doberman!

1 more time for the record, my 1st house the previous owner had a dog. I bought it because I loved it. We did have problems with the flooring from urine stains but that's another story for another day.

This will be my second new home, the one we live in now we built in 1999. We are going to have two inspections done by an independent party unrelated to the builder or the township to ensure that all is in order prior to closing. I am also a frequent lurker on the Building a Home forum. The spec house is about 80% done and the builder is making some changes that we requested. It is a medium size regional builder and of course not the large tract builder that we are used to.(Our last home was built by Toll Brothers)

Dreamgarden, I will take a look at the sites you recommended. I am relocating to Columbus, Ohio and the home is in Pataskala. It is about 10 minutes from my work location. For the record this is going to take me from a 2 1/2 hour commute one way to 10 minutes. I can't wait!!

One last pet pitch for pet owners, we all know that cats and dogs can react differently to strangers and even to people that they are familiar with. I used to work with a secretary that was cat sitting for a friend. She went to pick the cat up one day and it scratched the heck out of her eye. We have all heard stories of dogs suddenly turning on owners or things happening for no reason. I have also heard a thousand times, "oh he/she won't hurt you, she is just friendly and likes to jump all over people". Not everyone likes that even those who own pets. If nothing else, there is a real potential liability issue if someone were to get hurt by your animal while viewing your home. I will say this, I seem to be much more tolerant and willing to make adjustments when it comes to pets than some pet owners are for those who are not in love or enamored of animals. I wonder who is really strange one(s). Okay that was a dig, I couldn't resist:) It is the equivalent of the doting parent who can see no wrong in little Johnny even as little Johnny is tearing up the place and everyone around him is aghast......

Terriks, how awful for you!!

Deborah

I hope you enjoy living in Columbus. I've met many nice people from Ohio.
Hope the builder gets your house finished on schedule. Sounds like you did everything right staging the sale of your home in NJ. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that you have a smooth closing in January!

DeborahNJ - Congrats! We bought a spec home in August under similar circumstances. We didn't get to make changes like you, but are really enjoying our new home. After burning out on repairs/renovations to our last two older homes, it's a nice change.

We had four large dogs when we sold our last house and I see it from another angle - there's no way I would trust anyone in my house with my animals. And, there's no way I would subject a stranger to my dogs. I don't think it's fair to either side.

While we didn't require strict appointments to see our house, we did ask for a phone call with reasonable notice so we could get the dogs out of the house. And most of the realtors cooperated. Fortunately, our schedules were flexible at the time. The only time we left the lockbox on the door was if we were gone, with dogs. We had a manic cleaning routine we went through each time, and got so good that some people didn't even realize we had dogs.

The only time I got caught was when DH was out of town and I was home sick. An agent called and was insistent on bringing clients over, telling me that they were doing a whirlwind tour and didn't have much time. We had purchased a kennel for the basement just in case we might need it, so I put the dogs in the kennel and told the agent that one of them was ill, and if his buyers were interested in the house, they could see the unfinished basement when they returned. There were many photos of the basement online, so it's not like they couldn't see what it looked like. One of my friendly dogs has a bark that sounds like Cujo, and there was no way I would let anyone down there LOL.

They ran through the house and I knew they weren't interested anyway. We got a contract a couple of weeks later.

Hi Goldgirl, how are things going? Are you enjoying the new job? I sure hope so :) You summed it up perfectly about your pets.:)

We really are blessed about the house and we are looking forward to moving. The builder is being very cooperative about the changes and I must say it has been a pleasant experience so far between, me, the builder and the realtor. It is clear we all want to get it done and for everyone to be happy. I couldn't be more thrilled because I really didn't want to build from scratch again.

Dreamgarden, I am so excited about Columbus, I really do like it there. As far as my house in NJ, we totally de-personalized my house and you had no idea who lived there. I took pictures of the house and one day I was looking at pictures of houses we were considering buying as well as some models and suddenly these pictures came up and as I'm looking at them, I'm falling in love and then realized it was my own house! I read a lot on staging and have seen enough models to know what to do. I think it really made a difference in the quick sale. Also the realtor told me that the propsective owner wanted to know who the "decorator" was for our house and she told her that we didn't use one.

Deborah

I now the situation is resolved but I am a little confused here. I am not just afraid of cats. I HATE cats! When my son was 2, we found out that he is allergic to cats (he has since outgrown it) but some family members refused to cooperate. It was my worst nightmare.

I wouldn't be comfortable looking at a house with a cat in it either.

Then there are the dogs. I have two spoiled rotten inside dogs. When our house was on the market in the spring (we didn't sell), because dh couldn't find what he wanted, we always took the "babies" with us. We required a 24 hr notice and the key was left at the realtors office no lockbox. Now it is obvious that that the 3rd bedroom is the "babies" room with two large wicker cages side by side but I would never have left them in the house.

Am I the only one who never even considered leaving them there?

Thanks
Alicia

What did you think would happen if you left the dogs there? Especially if they were crated?

I have three dogs that I know will have to go for a ride when we start showing our house in a few months. They are pretty intimidating even if you like dogs.

But all of this reminded me of when we were looking for houses before we bought this one eight years ago. Being pet people, we did not ask anybody to move their pets but most did anyway. We went to this one house that had a miniature horse. If you know anything about minis, they can be pretty bratty. This one followed me around the yard and kept nudging me right on the rear! Nobody else, just the one person trying the hardest to avoid it. It was a pain at the time but seems pretty funny now. I had forgotten about it until I read this thread. My husband is laughing right now because I reminded him about it.

deborahnj, I'm glad it worked out for you and you found a nice house. Good luck.

Deborah~

I agree with you 100%.......I am looking to buy and I don't like cats, I explained this to my realtor, and she understood. Well, exactly what happen to you happen to me. I couldn't believe that these sellers didn't bother to put the cat away.

I feel that if the seller is very serious in selling their home than they will do whatever it takes to find a buyer. The whole reason why your house is on the market is to sell, and how can you do that if you can't work with potential buyers.

Good luck in finding a home for you.....

Where exactly in NJ are you in?

I'm from south Jersey......

We have two small dogs that we remove from the house anytime we have a showing. Other wise, they will do nothing but bark the whole time.

Thanks Dave that's what mine would do too. I would never leave them there!

Alicia

Ma, I live in Warren County just across the river from Easton,PA. Good luck house shopping!!

Deborah

We have two cats and a little old but rather benign mini dashound. During the holidays we had both of our daughters home with their cats (furry grandchildren) wouldn't you know it - we get three showings while the house is packed with cats and litter boxes. I'm still trying to figure out why we have gone months with maybe one showing a month and then 3 in a ten day period. I asked my agent to please put in the MLS that I wanted some notice so I could secure (my cats will hide under a bed or will sleep unseen and undisturbed in the back of one of our walk in closets - I usually can't find them they are good at hiding - but I do want to move the little dog because she tends to want to be friendly to everyone. She doesn't bark or jump but I don't want her to get out the front so I will secure her in the back yard and make sure the cats are in their secret closet space. Every realtor that has come through did not know we had cats until they saw the litter box upstairs behind a screen.

I've been in houses where the cats tend to come out and participate in the showing process - pointing out the cat friendly places and such. Some people put their dogs in crates, which only means my husband has to go talk to the dogs.

Obviously we are animal lovers - so much so that I don't want to take a chance that our animals would get out. For open houses I board everybody. I don't like open houses anyway so we haven't had many. But even if the cats will hide in these mysterious places - where I can't even find them - I worry they will get spooked.

But I am also concerned that any potential buyer may be allergic and I think it is vitally important that the MLS listing state whether or not there are pets in the home. Can you imagine what a person with severe allergies would do? I think that would be awful for them. And they won't buy a house that has pet dander anyway so it is useful to such a buyer to know in advance so they can plan accordingly.

If I had a mini horse following me around and bumping me, my husband would have insisted on buying the house and the horse.

Haven't read this long thread of postings, but as sellers, we've left our cat here ONLY when we had no choice, that is, while at work. Actually, when we first put our house on the market in mid-September, and I had stars in my eyes thinking it would sell quickly, we boarded our cat every work day. Obviously this got expensive fast, and our poor elderly cat hated it. I started taking her to work with me a few days a week, but that got old too. Then we started leaving her and since week day showings didn't occur often, it didn't cause a problem. Anytime we were home, we always left with her - most times on a moment's notice. Sadly, our darling cat had to be put to sleep last Wednesday...as my husband says, "she was older than Gerald Ford"..in cat years yes, but oh, what a darling! (Oops, guess that's for a different subject!) Anyhow, when we were looking at houses, I, too, did not like to look at any house with dogs roaming around. I like them, but they make me nervous. Cats are okay, but I get the folks who don't want any pets around while they're considering a house.