Pets can affect a home’s sale price and be an issue during showings
By JULIE SCHOERKE
For Williamson A.M.
Friday, 06/09/06
Ask a real estate agent about pets in a home that is on the market and you’ll get an earful.
There are the horror stories of homeowners with cats who have had to settle for up to $10,000 below their asking price in this hot market simply because of the odor the home buyers found offensive.
There are other home buyers who don’t care for animals at all and will refuse to walk through a house once they realize there are pets on the premises. But the worst of all are the awful stories about real estate agents and prospective buyers who are attacked by an animal left alone in a house during a showing.
Recently, Rachel Brooks, an agent with Prudential/Woodmont Realty, had just a couple of days to help out-of-town buyers purchase a home in Williamson County. A great deal of thought went into scheduling as many showings for these clients as possible in a short period of time. Going into the second house of the day, Brooks alerted her clients that there were cats inside. When they got to the bonus room, where the cats were being kept, she opened the door and looked into the dark room to find a light switch.
According to Brooks, one cat jumped out from behind the door and attached itself to her leg. It bit her in several places. In the chaos that continued, she said that another cat in the dark room began attacking the cat attached to her leg. She believes that the second cat pulled the cat on her leg off during the catfight, but not before leaving some nasty gashes that are visible scars a month later.”I couldn’t stand up. I thought I was going to pass out,” she said. She lost a fair amount of blood. Her clients were upset, worrying for her on a day that they needed to concentrate on their goal to purchase a house. And she spent time in doctors offices twice. It was about five days before the listing agent on the house faxed the rabies records for the cats to her managing broker, Brooks said. What scares Brooks the most and has motivated her to change the way she will list houses in the future is the realization that it could have been the child of a client or a client walking through the house that could have just as easily been attacked.
Protecting their clients
Now when Brooks or her mother, Ginger Brooks, an agent with Fernwood Real Estate, list homes, they explain what happened to Rachel and ask the sellers to seriously consider removing all animals from the premises during the showing period. If that is not possible, both women will take copies of the pets’ veterinary records and include them with the other disclosure information in case a similar situation would occur in the future.”I don’t want someone else going through what I went through,” Brooks says. The agents want to share this experience so that prospective home sellers will seriously consider finding another location for their pets while they go through the process of putting their house on the market.
Better to remove the pets
It is stressful to have your house on the market. And it is the same or worse for the family pets.
“If it’s at all possible, find another place for your pet. It’s best for your pet and for the sale of your house,” Ginger tells her clients. “Pets find themselves in circumstances they are not used to. They are an animal and will respond when a total stranger walks in,” Brooks warns.
“It’s just smart not to have an animal in the house; the dog bowl in the kitchen, etc. They all need to go away,” Ginger suggests in making the home more appealing to all prospective buyers. “Depersonalizing your house … taking family pictures down, removing things from the refrigerator door … includes taking the pet away.” If you find yourself viewing a house that has a pet inside it is good to remember not to reach out to a pet and to explain to children that an animal in the house does not know them and they should not touch it. In May, the National Association of Realtors published some new guidelines for dealing with the issue of pet owners as sellers. The organization goes so far as to advise Realtors to consider refusing a listing if the homeowner refuses to follow common sense in creating a safe environment.