Selling
Your House - $100,000 Pets
by:
Raynor
James
Is your pet worth $100,000? It
may be if you don’t make accommodations
for it when selling your home.
A Hundred Thousand Dollar Pet?
A house I’d seen with a potential
buyer in an attractive neighborhood
built around two lakes sold for
$100,000 less than was typical
for the neighborhood. Do you know
what caused it to sell for that
much less? A pet. Actually, two
pets.
I can hear you thinking, “How
can that be? Surely she doesn’t
know what she’s talking about
this time. How could two pets
reduce the sales price of a home
by $100,000? Is that even possible?”
I understand your skepticism,
but it’s true. Let me tell you
how I know.
When I made the appointment for
the potential buyer to look at
the house, I wasn’t told about
the presence of pets. We arrived
at the house, knocked on the door,
and when no one answered our knock,
I got out my electronic key to
open the box containing a key
for brokers to use. While I was
doing this, we began to hear some
loud barking from large dog or
dogs inside the house. The buyer
said she did not want to go into
the house with “dogs on the loose.”
I have to admit I wasn’t thrilled
with the idea either, so we went
on to the next house she was considering.
She asked me if we could see
that house the next day sans pets.
I called and made arrangements.
The next day we looked at a two
story, 5 bedroom, house with a
fully finished, walkout basement
that supposedly didn’t have pets.
It was a nice house, but the whole
house smelled strongly of pet
odors. The furniture in the basement
was shredded – truly not too strong
a word to use. I’ve never seen
furniture in worse shape. The
front of the house was nicely
landscaped. The back of the house
was a disaster. The door frames
and exterior doors were scratched
and gnawed. The lawn had beaten
paths and patches. There wasn’t
a flower or a shrub to be seen.
The “buyer” couldn’t get away
fast enough.
I later found out the owner of
the house had a German Shepherd.
The second “dog” was a wolf and
shepherd mix. The house stayed
on the market longer than typical,
the price was reduced several
times and the final sales price
was $100,000 below what was typical
for the neighborhood. Now you
tell me, what cost that seller
$100,000?
Don’t misunderstand, I know pets
are wonderful. Over time my husband
and I have enjoyed living with
a German Shepherd, two Siamese
cats, assorted adopted stray cats,
fancy guppies, gold fish, koi,
and various sorts of wounded critters
our two sons brought home.
Pets enrich your life. They don’t
enrich the sales price of your
home. Take the right steps though,
and they won’t rob you of any
of your equity.
