Selling Your Home With Pets...

Most of us have them.  We love them dearly and they are part of our family.  Now, I know it might be hard for us pet lovers to imagine this...but not everyone likes or even tolerates our four legged family members.  Some home buyers are allergic, others are afraid and everyone detests pet odors.  Even if the buyer is a pet owner themselves, you have to remember that your pets aren't their pets.  More times than not, the buyer will assume your pet bites, jumps, vomits, claws, spits up hairballs and are just plain hyper and bad.  

Unfortunately, our pets can become a bit of an obstacle when we want to showcase our home in the best possible light.  Since the presence of pets in a home automatically decreases the home's value in the buyer's eye, the best piece of advice I can offer is to find different accommodations for your pet while your home is on the market.  Hopefully, a friend or relative can take care of them or you may want to consider boarding them at a kennel.  If this is not a possibility, I suggest the following tips:

• Make your agent aware that there is a pet in the home.  This way they can post explicit instructions on the listing to caution the buyer's agents at showings.

• Any exotic animals or reptiles need to be securely contained and their presence should be revealed before buyers and agents enter your home.  A prospective buyer and their agent should never  accidentally discover them.  This never ends well.  Again, let your agent know, so others will know.

• Perception is everything and buyers are prone to suggestion.  Try to remove the pet from the home for all showings and any signs that a pet resides in the house.  That means remove food and water bowls, doggie beds, toys, cat trees and scratching posts, etc when not in use.  Keep the yard completely free from dog excrement.  I'd even go as far as removing pet photos as well.  If a buyer knows there is a pet residing in the house, they will purposely look for pet related damage.  This can be frustrating to the seller when no damage exists but the buyers assume there must be.

• Be realistic about your home's value.  Your home may have actually decreased in value because of damage due to pets.  If you cannot repair the damage you may have to consider a price reduction.

• If it smells it won't sell.  Have an objective third party give your house the sniff test.  Keep cat litter boxes and dog potty pads out of sight and impeccably clean.  

• Hire professionals to remove urine stains from the carpet.  If stains cannot be removed, you may want to consider replacing the carpet.

• Vacuum daily (and not just the carpets) and change bags more frequently than usual.  Open windows and let fresh air in.  A closed up home will hold more odour.

• If your pet must remain in the house for a showing do not let them run loose.  You never know how your pet will react when spooked by a "stranger".  It's so sad when a pet escapes when the agent opens the door never to be seen again.  Instead, put your pets into a carrier or kennel, with a note stating  to not bother the pet. And again, let the agent know so this information is relayed to the other agents.

I know we love our pets and we don't want to be away from them.  Selling your home is stressful enough but pets can complicate and prolong the process.  By removing them from the home, the house should sell faster and help keep your pets safe.  Before long, Fido will be back in it's rightful place, ruling the roost once again. 

I'm here for YOU.

~Ciao