Keep Your Pet Happy Without Scaring Away Potential Home Buyers!

You celebrated your love with your sweetheart earlier this month and today, on National Love Your Pet Day, we celebrate our love for our fluffy, furry, feathered or other fabulous pets. Since this month is so dedicated to love, why is it that some people – in this case, your possible home buyers – may not be quite so enamored with the idea of your pets running around their future home?

Yes, it may be a hard concept for any seller or other pet lover to grasp; but, some people might not love your precious pets! Particularly when you’re trying to sell your home, what can you do to walk the thin line between pleasing your pets and not scaring off the perfect potential home buyer?

As a responsible pet owner, one of the first things you can do when you decide to sell your home is talk to your pet’s veterinarian. Just like the stress you’re sure to feel as you’re selling your home, your pet may have a little anxiety about leaving the home they love as well. You just may have to ease your pet into the home sale process and it can’t hurt to ask the vet for help.

When it comes time to show your home, you may want to consider sending your pet on a little vacay. Surely, this can be difficult advice for any pet lover to accept; but, when you’re trying to sell your home, sometimes the best place for your pet to be is elsewhere. As a seller, you’ve got to think about the best situation for you, your pet and your potential buyer.

If you’ve got a friend or family member who loves your pet (almost) as much as you do, you may want to consider asking them to care for your pet during your home sale process. Think about the benefits:

1. Your pet will be in the loving care of someone that they’re comfortable with.

2. You won’t have to hurriedly clean your home to remove any signs of Fido or Fluffy before each showing.

3. You won’t have to lock your pet away in the garage, laundry room or a crate for an hour or so each time your home is being shown.

4. Your potential buyers won’t find anything behind door numbers one, two or three – whichever door they might open to be surprisingly greeted by your pet.

If you’re still not convinced that you can temporarily part with your pet during your home sale process, you may need to take some extra steps before each showing. It is often advised that sellers remove personal items from their homes before potential buyers tour through. So, while you’re taking down family photos, you will want to remove, or at least hide, pet food and water dishes. The same advice goes for your yard space, too. Sellers never can be too diligent about picking up pet waste! Whether a potential buyer is a pet lover or not, they probably won’t want to envision themselves living with your pets. Give them a fresh palette to envision their future home.

You’ve also got to think about a buyer’s fear or anxiety when it comes to your pet. No pet lover wants to imagine that their pet could potentially hurt a stranger, but the fact remains that we can’t predict how our pets might act around someone they simply do not know. If you decide to leave your pet at home during a showing, understand that you are responsible and liable for your pet’s actions. In the unfortunate event that your pet might harm a potential buyer, losing the sale might not be your only worry. Do make sure to check that your pet is covered in your home insurance policy before taking any risk of leaving them at home during the selling process.

Finally, on National Love Your Pet Day and every other day of the year, we all want what is best for our pets and the home sale process is no exception! If your pet is anything like you (and us!), they’ll be interested in seeing who is coming to check out their home. Maybe simply taking a long walk during showings is the best option for getting both you and your pet out of your home while an agent shows potential buyers around. The extra bonding time will be great for you and your pet; plus, you’ll be able to keep close tabs on your home during the sales process!