First Aimee and her crew decided to move, now it looks like me and my crew will too. Except we’re moving exactly opposite from where Aimee ended up –we’re going back to Jacksonville, Florida.
That means selling the house. But before we do that, we have to get the house ready to go on the market. For homeowners with pets (like us), this can present some challenges.
People’s Pet Peeves and Phobias
Some people do not like to live in houses where pets lived before. The owners who bought our last house demanded we have the carpets cleaned prior to turning over the keys because the wife was allergic to cats. That wasn’t a problem. We happily obliged.
However, a neighbor across the street had a potential buyer refuse to even step foot in her house knowing a dog was there, even though it was just a little Schnauzer. Normally she tried to take Arnie for a walk or a ride when she knew an agent was coming with a client, but on that day she was out running errands when the call came that they’d be stopping by. The buyer said he wouldn’t have cared if the dog was there or not. The moment he found out a dog had inhabited the home he would’ve checked it off his list as no good.
Staging Concerns
Staging a house to sell presents problems to pet owners (much like to people with children) when it comes to the “artifact factor” –toys, pet bedding, litter boxes, cages, kennels, etc.
Our sunroom is definitely a selling point. Trouble is, I’d love to have plants out there to help dress it up and make it more showy, but I have two nibblers who’d destroy them. Also, one of the two litter boxes is out there.
My solution? Fake plants and a decorative cat mat for in front of the litter box. (There is no room for it elsewhere or obviously I’d move it.)
Now the toys…that’s a different issue. They love their toys and playing with them and I hate having to take things away from them. Well, one I won’t mind doing something with is the cat cottage. (You might recall that cat house I just had to have? Yeah, that’ll teach me.) Well, where to hide that? No where. It’ll have to get broken down and stored.
Murphy’s most battered toys will finally have to get thrown out. The cats’ beloved red and blue and yellow “huts” will have to either be put up or strategically placed somewhere where I can quickly stuff them in a closet when buyers come to look.
Smells
I have a very poor sense of smell so odors always concern me –what can others smell that I’m missing? I’ve taken to using Yankee Candle Electric Home Air Fresheners to help ensure there’s always a hint of a pleasant smell in the air…just in case the litter box (which I clean out every day) happens to be more ripe than I realize. (Okay, that is one smell even I can’t miss –Tabby’s poos! Phewie is she a little stinker. Let’s hope she doesn’t drop one of those bombs before –or, worse, during– a showing. People will think they need gas masks to live here!)
My good friend Brenda also gave me this great ceramic “pie” you place in the oven for 15 minutes. An apple spice smell then pervades the kitchen. That’s about to get a lot of use. (But nothing can overpower Tabby. I can see it now–postponing a showing because of a litter box break. Have you ever heard of such a thing?)