Tips And Tricks For Selling Your Home With Pets

By Kurt Real Estate Nov 23, 2019

When it comes to selling your home, you want to get everything as close to perfect as possible. Decluttering and depersonalizing are a few of the many items on the checklist to get it “model home” ready. After all, you only get one shot to impress a buyer so that first impression matters. Is your home tidy? does it let in a lot of natural light? Does it smell good? Nothing’s worse than walking in a home for the first time and being greeted with the scent of wet dog. Does your pet live in your home? What happens when agents come to show it? How can you make sure your pet is safe? We all love our fur babies; their members of the family. Here are a few tips and tricks to keep your home looking and smelling pet free and ensuring the safety of your pets.

Keep your pets clean. It sounds obvious, but frequent baths will do a lot to cut down on any pet odor. While you’re at it do a sweep of the house and make sure you’ve cleaned up any pet hair. Pet hair on the floor, in the carpet, or on the couches and drapes can cause odor to linger. It helps to buy some Febreeze wall plug-ins (we like the fresh linen scent) and crack the windows to let in fresh air. ‘

Avoid direct interaction. Do your best to keep your pets from directly interacting with potential buyers. Your Pitbull may be a cuddle bug, but you don’t want him scaring a potential buyer that may be afraid of dogs. same goes for allergies. Last thing you want is an EpiPen situation with a potential buyer because they are allergic to your pet.

Disclose your pet ownership. This is very important – not just for your pet’s safety, but for the safety of others. If you do have a pet in the home, someone deathly allergic, afraid, or with small children should know this before walking into your home. Providing specific instructions for showings is best. For example, if you plan to put the dog in the garage or a specific room in the home before the showing, make a note of that with your agent and post a note on the door so potential buyers know. This keeps your pet safe and alerts potential buyers. It doesn’t hurt to add instructions to close all doors when entering or exiting the house. Again, sounds like a no brainer, but not everyone has pets and thinks of this. We don’t want your indoor kitties out on the loose!

Call in some help. If need be, see if a friend or family member can help care for the pet during showings if you are unavailable. If you have a great agent that’s an animal lover (like us), they can come handle your pets for you.

Need an awesome, animal loving agent to help get your home ready to sell? Check us out here or contact us directly at 877-957-6677 ext. 1