Selling your house with a toddler who still naps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15:33 that would totally turn me off of of the house, and yes we have bought and sold with kids. Selling a house sucks, selling with kids sucks more. But if you want to get it done quickly, price accordingly, spruce it up, clear the clutter and BE GONE while people are looking.

We're definitely sprucing up! The house has been full of contractors the last two weeks...we ripped out the master bath, repainted the whole downstairs, had the chimney inspected and repaired, power-washing done, new fixtures/fans installed in several rooms, etc. And we are pricing accordingly, regardless of how much it hurts to do so.

I don't plan to be in the house for showings.

[Anonymous]

I had to do this a lot. It helped that my kid could nap in the car. There's a drive-through Starbucks in College Park. That was a long drive for us, but perfect for killing time during the nap while the house was being shown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We arranged to be out of town the first two weekends after our house went on the market which was very smart because we got tons of showings those weekends.

This (too).

So would it be advisable to wait to list it until the week/weekend I am going to be out of town? I am taking my kid to visit my parents the week of September 22 through that following weekend. We had planned to list with the first weekend being on the market Sept. 14/15. Worth it to delay another two weeks?

We're clearly in no urgent need to move given our child is only 2 and won't be starting public school for some time, however, I would ideally like to wrap all this up before the Thanksgiving/Christmas season.

We did something similar when we sold in April. It was just before Spring Break, so I had DH take the kids out of town. They left on Tues, I maniacally cleaned on Wed, and the house listed on Thurs. I kept myself out of the house all day on Th, Fri and Sat, and the realtor made a note that the house was open without restriction until 7pm each night. Open house was on Sun, and DH and the kids were home Sun night. We had a couple people come through on Mon and Tues, but by Tues night it was under contract. It was a pretty intense week, but I was SO happy that it was only disruptive to my kids for a couple days.

[Anonymous]

Our agent put a note in our listing that we would not show the house between 2-4. However we had discussed privately with her that if someone asked to come during that time we would try to accomodate it. No one asked.

We also left town for the first weekend, this allowed the place to be available all weekend for showings and the open house without us trying to keep it clean constantly.

Other than the weekend, we had one or two showings a day, usually just after work, so we went out to eat. The house sold in a week at just under asking. Not a super desirable area either.

[Anonymous]

I've been on the other end recently, buying a house with a toddler in tow. And, of course, open houses coincide with nap time!

I agree with the other advice to get out of town those first two weekends. I imagine it will be much easier for you, and that could allow open houses on Saturday and Sunday on one of those weekends.

If this drags on, my best advice as a buyer is not to flake out on someone coming for a showing. We had one house where we got cancelled on twice. The family had a newborn, so I am sure it sucked for them, but we were also dealing with two jobs, a toddler's schedule, daycare pick-up etc. Best to say no to a showing up front or set limited hours for showings.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I certainly hope we have success as quickly as some of the PPs. That would be a huge relief.

[Anonymous]

OP, just move heaven and hell to get a contract as fast as possible. Make the house show perfectly, be wide open for any showings. I wouldn't put any constraints or block any time frames. That's what we did and had a contract within three days in a neighborhood much like yours, just shy of our asking price. We were thrilled. The whole process was as least disruptive as we could ever have hoped.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks all. I had a stager come through yesterday and we are working through her list now. I decided my only restriction is no showings after 7:30 pm, though we will make an exception if someone calls and really wants to see it.

I also found a friend who is willing to take us in for the Sunday of the open house and she has a toddler the same age, so nap can still happen that day.

Aiming to put it on the market in about two weeks and crossing my fingers it sells fast!

[Anonymous]

Why is this even a question? Just take the baby out for a ride in the car and he ill fall asleep. It's not a big deal for a toddler to sleep somewhere else other than the crib. You sound like a first time parent. Just wait until you have the second one and you will come to your sense about these things. Babies and toddlers learn to sleep anywhere.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't plan on being home at all on weekends. When our house was on the market, we'd get a couple calls in the morning to view say from 10-12 and then the calls would continue while we were out, and next thing we knew, we'd be booked straight through until 5. Fortunately, we sold quickly and did this only one weekend. How about just having open houses on both Saturday and Sunday and no viewings at other times on the weekend? It'd truly save your sanity.

[Anonymous]

My recommendation would be to price the house right, then do nap drives for the first two week-ends that it is on the market. After the second week-end that it is on the market, then add a note in the MLS listing that states that the house cannot be shown between X and Y time on week-ends.

[Anonymous]

When i knew there were a lot of showing scheduled for the day, we put the baby in the car or stroller to nap and just ran errands or went for a long walk or drive. Even if you put time restrictions in, people will still try to come see it during all sorts of times, so we just let people peek in the babys room. One parent would stay within earshot (maybe in the driveway with the baby monitor) and the rest of the family would clear out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is this even a question? Just take the baby out for a ride in the car and he ill fall asleep. It's not a big deal for a toddler to sleep somewhere else other than the crib. You sound like a first time parent. Just wait until you have the second one and you will come to your sense about these things. Babies and toddlers learn to sleep anywhere.

Must be nice. My kid hasn't slept in the car seat since 18 months and is now almost 3, which is why I asked the question of what others did.