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Dogs and noseprints... I've got plenty of those. One time I cleaned the glass on the slider so well, that my poor dog ran right into it, going full speed. Now I make sure I leave a few noseprints so he can tell whether the slider is open or closed.
Cats in a home wouldn't bother me. Make sure your agent is careful about keeping the cats from escaping. I've been through homes that also had a note on each door(front door + slider/back door) reminding people to please not let the cats out. Like previous posters already mentioned, the biggest thing is the smell. Make sure the litter box is clean and the home very well ventilated.
I don't think pets themselves are an issue. The issues pets can affect though when selling a home are:
1) Access.
2) Showability/smell.
Anything that obstructs or complicates showing access hurts your sales effort. I don't know how it works in your market, but in ours a listing needs to be "call and go", which means I can call and leave a message saying when I'm coming, and go show the house without having to coordinate with anyone. Anything more difficult than that will reduce the number of showings. If pets cause coordination and extra communication, then it hurts your sales effort.
Smell. I've literally had clients stop AT THE FRONT DOOR, and say "no thanks, I can smell the cat pee from here". If your pets create odor, you hurt your sales effort. Have some non-pet owner friends come over and tell you if your house stinks. If so, fix it.
If you are serious about selling your home, you'll make the sales effort more important than your pet, whatever that looks like for you.
We kept the litter boxes scrupulously clean, vacuumed every other day, and kept their food on a tray and kept it clean. We picked up their toys, too, and stored them -- poor things had to play with their own tails for awhile. No complaints from any customers, and the house sold in 6 weeks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gottasay
Cats don't bother me at all. Dogs, especially when they leave their snot on the windows -- now, THAT'S a problem!
My cats leave nose prints on the windows: a tidy row of little dots, about eight inches up from the bottom.
Actually, my cat sneezes on my basement walls. I just had to sand those walls (luckily, it's mostly in the stairwell), and I will paint over them. Nothing washes that stuff off of walls painted with flat paint. She seems to be sneezing less lately, so I hope and pray i won't have to sand and paint any more.
Actually, my cat sneezes on my basement walls. I just had to sand those walls (luckily, it's mostly in the stairwell), and I will paint over them. Nothing washes that stuff off of walls painted with flat paint. She seems to be sneezing less lately, so I hope and pray i won't have to sand and paint any more.
Who woulda ever thunk it. lol. I love the advice guys and I'm taking notes. You guys are great!
We will be putting our house for sale in a few months. We have two indoor cats who hide at the slightest thought of strangers entering our home, so we are not concerned with visibility. However,since we have lived here over ten years, I'm sure we are accustomed to their odors. I plan to do what others have in the above notes and then have some friends and family walk through to see if they notice any offensive smells. Other than that, if the house and yard are in tip top shape then I believe it will sell.
Try to avoid "room fresheners" -- they are a dead giveaway that something is being hidden. Your agent should put a note in the private agent remarks that there is a cat, however ("very clean cat, please don't let out"), just in case there are people with severe allergies. We have a friend who is deathly allergic to dogs -- she cannot be in a house that has had a dog, no matter how clean the house. Dog (and cat) dander just finds its way into every little crack, no matter how fastidious you are, and she is that allergic. Househunting for her ended up being almost life threatening -- they went into one vacant house, and within minutes, she started havng an anaphalactic reaction. The previous owners had had two dogs, and even though it had been cleaned -- the house was covered with carpet. That poor woman goes through epi pens like we go through M&M's. It has subsided somewhat, as she has gotten older, but it's still something that we have to be aware of.
Well you could make sure you get ample notice about showings, then arrange to take the cat with you in a carrier and leave during the showing. Before you leave dump the cat box out, sweep and mop the area quickly with orange cleaner, remove the litter you just dumped into a trash bag.
Keep the cat food in an airtight plastic container, as it does smell too and if people don't like cats they'll smell that for sure, too. Use a couple of scented candles here and there. I personally detest artificial scents, so I never use febreze, glade type stuff. Use good quality candles that smell "real".
In general, be sure your house is spotless all the time. Make everything else a positive; neat and clean, no clutter, sparkling windows, no tears in screens, clear out closets and shelves so that storage space looks good, have curb appeal, etc.
Dump out the litter box every day, wash it, and re-fill. You have to remember that you are used to a certain amount of odor even if keeping the litter box fairly well maintained, but people that don't have cats have no tolerance for it!
I have always had cats and sold about 5 houses in which I lived, so it can be done!
^^ This. When we sold our house in NJ we had four cats and a dog. We required advance notice for showings, with showings only in the evenings and on weekends. We would then put the dog in the car along with the cats in their carriers, do a quick Swiffer on the hardwood floors, clean up the dog poop from the backyard, clean up the kitty litter boxes (which were in our basement) and leave the house. We kept our pet food in those old-school lidded steel garbage cans that we kept in the garage with the lids on at all times - no mice, no smells.
We sold our house for close to asking in 2 weeks in a starting-to-wilt seller's market.
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No complaints from any customers, and the house sold in 6 weeks.
She seems to be sneezing less lately, so I hope and pray i won't have to sand and paint any more.
