Selling a House With Pets
Posted by admin in Sun Sand
If it was not already tough enough to sell a home in this market but you have pets and this seems to complicate things. There are many reasons pets can complicate the sale of your house but knowing what to look for and what you can do to help alleviate some of the pitfalls and get your home sold as well as keep your pet safe and strangers in your home safe as well.
Let’s start with dogs. Whether you have a small dog or a large dog if the dog is generally inside the home then you need to take special precautions. First, know that some buyers are allergic to dogs and/or cats so they may not even be interested in a home that has housed a cat or dog.
A dog, even a seemingly harmless dog can at any time decide for one reason or another to bite a stranger so it is always a good idea to have your dog kenneled or put in a small room like a laundry room during showings. Be sure to have a sign on the door of the room they are in to not enter or be sure that door is locked. Also, make sure that your realtor has noted in the listing of your home that there are special instructions about pets in the home.
If the dog stays outside you may either want to keep them in a kenneled are so the buyers can go outside to look at the rest of the yard. If not, you may have to arrange for a later showing when you can remove the dog altogether. If at all possible remove your dog for showings to make things easier for the buyers to roam around the house.
Be sure to have any dog or cat hair vacuumed up, this is simply a turn off for so many buyers. It also makes your home appear dirty and unkempt.
Cats are a different story. You don’t have to worry so much about any biting but other issues occur with cats. First, they can slip out the door when someone either enters or goes to look outside keeping the door ajar. You may want to have door hangers on these doors reminding them to close the door and not let your kitty outside.
Cats and cat litter are another issue. Although you will absolutely deny that your home smells like cat, trust me, if you have an indoor cat anyone that does not have a cat can smell them out instantly. This is a huge issue as the cat smell tends to stay in a home even when the cat is long gone. The smell of cat urine does not seem to go away with a simple carpet steam clean. Ask your carpet cleaner for a particular odor killing chemical to help alleviate the cat smell. Your litter box needs to be cleaned out or better yet, put outside if you have a showing.
Most other pets are not a big concern although you may want to warn people of sensitive birds, or reptiles that may scare people that are deathly afraid of these pets. I have seen buyers run from a home with many snakes and not even look past the first room with them in it.
Although you love your pets and they are part of your family, it is a bit more difficult to sell a home with pets in it. Some buyers simply refuse to live in a home with past pets on the loose. Most of these people are allergic but some are very old school where all pets belong outside and they cannot tolerate the thought of your loving pets in the home.