How To Protect Your Resale Value When You Have Pets

If you're like most pet owners, you cherish your pets and treat them as part of your family. Whether you have a fluffy canine, a cuddly feline, or another 4-legged variety, it's important for you to provide a loving, comfortable, pet-friendly home for your special fur babies.

Unconditional love for a family pet makes it easy to overlook damages that pets can do to your home. Even the best-behaved pets can cause significant damages by scratching up walls, windows, and woodwork, chewing on cabinet doors, and digging holes in the yard.

Pets can present a variety of challenges when it's time to sell your home, but there are ways to protect your home and your home's resale value when you have a pet.

Get Rid of Odors and Stains

Lingering pet odors are a big turnoff for potential homebuyers. As a pet owner, you may be used to the musty smells left on carpets and furniture, but homebuyers will notice them the minute they step through your front door. Although many products and air purification devices say they remove pet odors, they simply mask the problem with temporary scents. For the foul odors and stubborn stains caused by pet hair, litter boxes, and pet mishaps, it's best to have your home professionally cleaned before you show it to potential buyers.

Repair Indoor Damages

Prior to listing your home, take a good look around the house to assess interior home damages caused by your pets. You may walk by a chewed door frame or a scratched-up window screen every day, but homebuyers are sure to notice even minimal damages that will need repairs. Before you show your home:

• Give doors, walls, moldings, and trim a fresh coat of paint
• Replace broken or scratched window glass
• Replace damaged window screens
• Repair chewed doors, cabinets, and rugs
• Repair or replace torn window shades and draperies
• Replace stained flooring, carpets, upholstery, and bedding

Repair Landscape Damages

If your pets spend a lot of time outdoors, it's important to check your landscaping and outdoor features for pet damages. While cats can wreak havoc on your floors and furnishings, dogs can quickly destroy your grass, plants, flowers, and outdoor features like decks, planters, and chair cushions. Take a walk around the house to look for damages that may signal costly repairs to potential buyers, then fix them:

• Sod or plant grass to cover bald spots in the yard caused by digging
• Fill in patchy flower beds with new plants
• Replace cracked or broken flower pots
• Replace chewed or stained chair cushions
• Repaint and repair damages to the deck, patio, fence, and gate

If your budget allows, consider hiring a professional landscaping service to refresh your lawn and spruce up your curb appeal before you show your home.

Remove Your Pets During Open House

Having your pets at home during a showing or an open house is not a good idea. Even if potential buyers are pet owners, your pets will be a distraction during an open house, especially to people who are not as fond of animals or have allergies to pet dander. To avoid distractions and possible mishaps with pets, consider boarding your pets at a kennel or leaving your pets with friends or relatives on days when a showing or open house is scheduled.

Prior to a showing, it's best to remove all pet food dishes, animal crates, animal bedding and blankets, and cat litter boxes from the house to prevent unpleasant, lingering pet odors. You can store them outside or in the garage until the open house is over.

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