Pet Ownership And Selling Your Home

One of my colleagues' client recently had a big decision to make: sell her Yorkie puppy or suffer not selling her home and keep her Yorkie.

The Client realized from her Realtor that a couple of prospective buyers are commenting on the carpet stains on the first floor of her home. The Realtor mentioned to her that you either have to replace the carpet, which will be thousands of dollars, or get a trainer to come in and teach your Yorkie how to use the outdoor potty or reduce the house price by the cost of replacing the carpet, or put on the listing "carpet will be replaced."

The Client did not want to do any of these things being recommended to her. The entire home vaguely smelled of urine. Everytime the Realtor showed the home, she would spray Febreeze.

Pet stains and pet smells are very difficult to get rid of and unfortunately, some homeowners do not listen to their Realtor's advice. Good Realtors will advice you of what you need to do to get your home sold.

The Client eventually removed her home from the market for various reasons, one of which may be that she couldn't part with her Yorkie or afford to replace the carpet.

Questions:
In this situation, what would you do, as a homeowner with a pet or as the Realtor?
If you currently have pets, do you see yourself encountering issues such as this?

Nosey Neighbors And Open Houses

How do you tell who they are, what can you do about them...

Well, recently I held an Open House and an older woman walks in with a bottle of water in her hand and running shoes on her feet. She literally ran into the home, just wanting to get upstairs to the first floor.

I calmly and courteously guided her, showing around the lower half of the home first, then deliberately asked her to complete the "Open House Sign-In" form. She said she rather not, and didn't give any explanation whatsoever. I suspected at first, but after she refused to sign in it was 100% confirmed in my mind: she was a a nosey neighbor who simply wanted to gawk at someone's else home, to see what they had and how they had it.

She kept looking at the vaulted ceiling in the formal dining room and the designer paint in each room. That was it. She just said "thank you" and left in a hurry, the way she came in.

As a Realtor, we are faced with tons of everyday issues and the need to utilize our human-management techniques to effectively communicate with our clients and prospects.

What were your "Nosey Neighbor" experiences like?