Selling your home can be a surprisingly arduous process. You need to find reliable professionals to help you out and optimize your home so that it yields the greatest profit. Now add to that the task of handling a pet, and it is not difficult to find yourself overwhelmed. To help avoid this from happening, we will give you six tips for selling your home with pets.
Selling your home with pets – what to do?
As selling a home is a complicated process on its own, we won’t go into much depth in this article. Instead, we will focus on the pet management aspect and how it works in the context of home-selling. If you wish to learn more about home-selling itself, we have already written extensively about the subject. And we strongly recommend that you do as much research as possible before you go into it.
Consult with your vet
Once you decide that you will sell your home, we would first advise you to consult with your vet. Ideally, your vet is already familiar with your pet and will give you all the necessary details for maintaining their well-being. You will likely have to add supplements to their food and walk them on a more regular basis (if you own a dog). The point of this will be to boost your pet’s immune system as much as possible. After all, the last thing you need is for them to get sick in the middle of you selling your home.
Find a sitter
Another thing to take care of as soon as possible is to find a pet sitter. If you have a friend or a family member that will gladly take care of your pet, that’s great. But, if not, you will need to find one before tacking anything else. Remember that not all people know how to take care of a pet (even if they proclaim that they care for them deeply). So, make sure that you only give your pet to reliable, responsible people. If none of your acquaintances is willing or capable to take care of your pet, you can look into local pet hotels.
It is far easier to pay professionals to care for your pet than to risk giving them over to untrained friends. You can even take your pet to the pet hotel a couple of times to get used to it and experience little stress when they stay there longer during the selling process.
Eliminate smells and stains
Once you get your pet out of your home, you can start preparing your home for the upcoming sale. The first thing to do is get rid of any smells and stains that your pet might have left behind. The best time to do this is after you pack up your belongings. Ideally, you will carefully consider your household and find the right order for proper packing. Go room by room and first make sure that everything is packed. With the items out of the way, it will be pretty easy to clean your home.
Fix damages
Even the most well-trained pets can leave damages around the house. Scratches and bite marks are a common occurrence, especially on furniture. If you plan on selling your home with the furniture included, you will need to address these damages. And while a real estate photographer can photoshop these damages out, you should address them beforehand.
Firstly, we advise you to consider simply replacing the damaged parts. If there is extensive damage to the furniture, consider investing in a new piece. The one thing you don’t want to do is sell your home with damaged furniture. Even selling without furniture is better than this.
Freshen up your yard
Curb appeal is a big part of proper home staging. First impressions matter, so if you don’t make sure that the outside of your home looks as good as possible, you will have a hard time drawing in potential buyers. And a big part of your curb appeal is how good your front yard looks.
So, once you get the interior of your home in order, you will have to freshen up your yard. This also means getting rid of any traces that your pet left. And, if you have a large dog, these traces can be extensive. If you are not sure how to properly handle yard work, don’t shy away from hiring a professional. But, make sure that your yard looks as good as possible.
Push for scheduled showings
Finally, your best bet is to push for scheduled showings once your home is in order. If you are lucky, you may be able to find a buyer within a week or two. But, in certain instances, it can take months before a decent buyer shows up. During those months, you can’t have your pet in your home, especially during the showing, nor can you constantly have them situated with a friend or in a pet hotel. To keep your home in order and to keep your pet happy and healthy, you need to push for scheduled showings. Have your buyers schedule in advance, and try only to show your home during the weekends.
Final thoughts
As you can see, selling your home with pets is manageable, but you need to prepare appropriately. The well-being of your pet should be your priority both before and during the selling process. So, make sure that their immune system is up and give them as much exercise as possible. Understand that the process of changing their home will be pretty stressful for them. And the more you can do to alleviate that stress, the better.
Author bio:
Arnold Hooker worked as a mover and relocation organizer for over 20 years. He now focuses on writing helpful articles about relocation and home maintenance.