craigslist.org and look for a sublease.

If you are selling "this house", why are you paying the house payment? Stay in the house until closing, then move to an apartment.

Also - pack up most of your stuff and put it into storage and look for a really small apartment. Take a lease that is a bit longer than you htink you need, because houses are seldom done on time.

I have lots of heirloom furniture that is too large for the house that I don't want to have in storage. Also, because we have so many pets, we really need them not to be in the house when we sell.

I'm a landlord and totally understand the no pets and min 6 month lease. I require a 12 month lease and if its less than that I charge a $50-$75 premium for apt that typically rent from $500-$600. Perhaps offering a landlord slightly more for a short term may work. If you can find a 6 month take it. The extra month will allow a smoother move and your new home may not be done anyway.

Also vacant units may have desperate landlords. Especially if you can start paying rent right away.

I've had good luck renting with two cats, even with landlords who normally don't take pets.

One, I always volunteer to pay double the security deposit. Fortunately, my cats are not destructive and always hit the litter box, so I always get the whole deposit back.

Two, I tend to rent from landlords that own a few units, not from large complexes. I arrange to see the apartment before I mention a word about the cats. I want the landlord to meet me and realize that I am a good potential tenant. Then I mention the cats. Most landlords have been willing to work with me. I also offer to produce vet certificates if I think it would help.

Nflifer has a point about vacant units. My current apartment is hard to rent--its a large studio, about 1,000 sf. It's large enough to be a three bedroom apartment. But because its only one room, it is really only suitable for a single person or a couple that gets along really, really well. A unit this size in my area, with a university in town, would normally have three or four roommates to split the rent. So in order to rent the place, the landlord has to charge lower than market rate rent. It had been vacant four months when I rented it. So I get low rent and a great space and the landlord has a free mouse-removal service in my cats and everyone is happy. (He says that my first winter there was the first winter no one complained about mice.)

The minimum length of a lease may be in response to local tax structuring, by example: In Florida any property leased for a period of less than 6 months is classified as a temporary domicile and the land owner is required to pay a "BED TAX" therefore most landlords in Florida will only offer a minimum of a 7 month lease.