Although some homeowners follow a stringent no pet in the house rule, most accept their pets as members of the family and allow them inside homes. And even though pets are perfect for your mental well-being, owning a pet doesn’t help when you want to sell your house. If you want to sell your home, you must do some extensive house cleaning as well as renovation work even before you could ask potential buyers for a fair price. You want customers to visualize themselves living at your home. This essentially gives them the freedom to imagine living there, a space that is free from your personal belongings — including pets and every single thing they bring along with them. So, how to increase house resale value if you have pets?
Below are a few of the best ways to properly plan before you put your house with pets for sale.
Talk To Your Pet’s Vet
A crucial thing to note is that your pet does have its own specific needs, needs better shared with the vet. Speak to him/her on what you want to do and how it would work for your pet. It is particularly relevant if your pet is elderly and might not adapt well. Moving homes can be extremely upsetting to your pet.
Get Rid of Pet Stains and Odors
Pets have accidents, and while it’s easy to get used to the scent of the pet over time, prospective customers to your house will be able to recognize the scent. It isn’t something you’re going to want to occur. In fact, above everything else, this could be a crucial guide for selling your home while you have dogs. Our sense of smell has a strong impact on our feelings, our recollection, and our understanding of things. The first scent of urine upon approaching a house is bound to stick on the client’s mind, and he or she is likely to subtract the cost of removing the carpet directly from the bid as a result. A good scent is one of the key reasons a customer is going to move on to a house. Remove that by properly washing the furniture and carpeting, with an emphasis on eliminating the scent of dogs. When the staining or stains are so bad, you will need to remove the rug in the trouble areas. You can also take help from a professional pet odor removal service such as Apex Odor Removal to help you out!
Consider Relocating Your Pet Temporarily
This might not be something you’re thinking of doing, but as customers visit, it’s better to show and sell your house (and also keep it extremely clean). When you have a partner or a family member who you’re happy sharing the pet with, it can allow you the opportunity to eliminate any signs of you having a pet in your home (which may greatly affect the valuation of a home) and prevent the pet from causing more complications. Even though you might be a pet lover yourself, other home buyers might not be. So, there might be some people who find it to be a major turn-off if they discover you have a pet living with you.
Remove Your Pet during the Showings
When it comes to selling a house with pets, the least you can do is to get them out of your house when showing your home to potential buyers. All the adorable stuff your pet does is so not going to help you sell your property, and it will instead warn the prospective buyer that your home formerly had pets. It is even better if you can have your real estate agent show your house while you and your pet are away. Having your pet inside the house or in your yard, when attempting to show your home to prospective buyers, can create problems for your real estate agent and can also put your pet at risk of inadvertently leaving the house through this process.
Liability problems do need to be discussed. Even though your pet can be super sweet, you never know which day might be a bad day for them! If you have your pet at home during the showings, you are calling for trouble, particularly if a customer brings a small child. We all know how curious children can become, and unforeseen accidents can take place. The very last thing you want is to have your pet harm the buyer’s child. Do not take a big risk by allowing your pet to roam around freely during house showings.
There are some circumstances when a pet can not be removed from your home. Perhaps because of your work, you either cannot come back to remove them, or you can’t find someone to take care of them while you show your home to potential buyers. If that is the case, then it is advised that you place them in an enclosed space and inform both the customer as well as their agent knows about the pet in advance. You can also purchase a pet-friendly enclosure to hold them in. Although your pet might not be used to this and you might feel your heartbreak, bear in mind that it is very important when you make selling your house a priority.
Repair Any Damage Caused By Your Pet
However, much as we enjoy our pets, they are still animals at the end of the day, and the harm caused by pets is never appealing when it comes to selling the house. Dogs and cats are bound to dismantle something or the other around your house, which includes carpets, furniture, wooden floors, walls, doors, grass in your garden, and railings. All of this damage caused must be remedied before the house is shown to potential buyers. This may necessitate some investment on your part, more so if the animal has wrecked valuable stuff such as wooden floors or staircases in your home. Irrespective of the cost of maintenance, however, the valuation you get for your home is well worth paying for repair work.
Clean out the Yard
Clean up any messes made by your pet in your yard and get some sod removed and get any other damages fixed if required. You might be the sort of person that cleans up daily after your pet, or you might have a pet who has not messed up your yard. Nevertheless, a growing number of pet owners are giving their dogs complete freedom in the backyard. It is a wonderful life for pets, but it can be hard to look at the yard. One of the best pieces of advice when marketing a home with pets is to make sure you don’t overlook the yard because that is almost as valuable to certain customers as everything else in your house.