The Home Sellers Five Step Guide to Selling with Pets

June 3rd, 2008 categories: Home Sellers, Pets & People

For many of us, having pets is a passion. We baby them with nice beds, toys, treats and $40/bag food. And we think our pets are the best.

Your pets may indeed be great - never jumping, hissing, growling, barking, smelling bad or doing any one of the things most pets do. But if you have pets and are selling your home, keep two things in mind: some people don’t like your pets and some people are allergic to your pets. Why purposefully offend either of these types by not following some simple steps?

Step One: Pack up the Pet Paraphernalia

Dog bowls, toys, beds, cat trees, leashes, pet knick knacks and photo shrines should be stored neatly away for showings. Especially for the first few weeks your home is on the market and for an open house, pick everything up and store in a closet, pantry or on a shelf.

Step Two: Clean and Paint

Even if you are a meticulous pet owner, a person with allergies will be extremely sensitive to the slightest odor or bit of pet dander. I recommend cleaning the house from top to bottom before putting it on the market and cleaning more often than you normally do. Have the carpets cleaned, wash the windows (My dogs love to drool on the windows), clean the baseboards, and clean your furniture and drapes. After you’ve cleaned, you may be able to see subtle scratches in your trim, scratches on the screen door, or scratches on your windows. Paint or repair any damage done by your pets.

Step Three: Set Off A Bomb

House cleaners and companies like Servpro can set off “bombs” in your house to help eradicate smells. Just because you’ve scrubbed the house top to bottom and you can’t smell anything doesn’t mean the smell isn’t there. Don’t just mask the problem with candles and air freshener.

Step Four: Be On Poop Patrol

Clean up the yard, checking for surprise packages and for burn marks. To repair burn patches, your local home center sells a patch kit. To prevent burns from occurring any further, you can feed your dog a product like Drs. Foster and Smith Lawn Guard.

Every day, clean out the cat litter box and make sure there isn’t litter all over the floor.

Step Five: Whatever You Do, Don’t Let Your Pets Roam the House or Yard During Showings

If you allow your pet to be loose for showings, you are endangering it, potential buyers, agents and the sale of your home. As a pet owner, I would never entrust a perfect stranger to make sure my pet didn’t escape. In fact, I lost someone’s pet once because the cat opened a door I thought I shut and ran out the back. Furthermore, buyers often come with their children who are very curious about pets and could hurt your pet or your pet could hurt them - can you say lawsuit?

There are lots of solutions for what to do with your pets when you’re selling, other than moving them out of the house completely:

Send your dogs to day care for all or part of the day. It’s expensive to do it every day so restrict showings on the days they’re away or leave your dogs crated the other days. If your dog goes to day care 2x a week, he/she might welcome being cozy in a crate for the other days and will be much calmer during showings.

Restrict showing times to allow you time to get home and take your pets elsewhere.

Arrange for a pet sitter to be on call, possibly a neighbor, friend or family member who wouldn’t mind taking your pet during showings. Or, arrange for a friend or family member to “borrow” your pet while you sell.

Crate your animals and put them in a safe, non-living space part of the house like a garage, basement or penned in area of the yard.

If your pets must stay in the house during showings, it is imperative for you and your agent to do the following:

Put a notation of the pet in showing instructions but be sure to say that the dog/cat is not roaming the house but is in a secure location.

Put a note on the door to the garage or wherever your pet is that that is where they are. Parents with kids or people with allergies can then choose not to go there.

The Rules Apply to Cats, Too

I don’t think they have kitty day care but leaving your cat with a friend or family member is much easier than with a dog. If you have no outside options, try to contain your cat in some way, either in a crate or small room. At the very least, please make visitors aware that there is a cat in the house.