Category Archives: Pets

KNOW YOUR HOUSE To Get an Offer on Your Home in 48 Hours! Lessons from a Cat Lady.

Cats, Dogs, Pets, Selling a Home, , , , , ,

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You need to be able to look at your house like a buyer and if you can’t, find an honest friend that will serve it to you straight.

Once you’ve gone through the list and completed, have a friend or coworker come over and again, give it to you straight.  Sometimes people are in denial about their own house.  Sometimes people don’t even have a clue.

We visited a house while we were considering buying that from the road looked okay.  As we got closer we found a lot of clutter outside, but still everything from the outside wasn’t too bad.  Then we had a little surprise, the homeowner was still home.  See typically when you are looking at someone’s house as a potential purchase they aren’t home.  That way you can go through it and really look at it instead of worrying if you were going to offend someone.  Well this lady was still home and her main concern was her dog would jump.  We assured her a dog jumping wasn’t a problem.  And it was a Boston Terrier so that small dog jumping certainly wasn’t a problem.  I mean come on, I owned Great Danes for many years and have been a dog trainer even longer!

So Doug is holding Isaac and we enter the house…HOLY CATS….HOLY CLUTTER.  This lady might have been on an episode of that show hoarders…animal or possession hoarders because either fit.  See there was STUFF E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E!  The tops of her cupboards were packed, the floor was packed.  There was a small path throughout the house.  The worst part, was the floor, the CARPET was slick with cat urine. It was so pungent I think I lost some nose hairs that day and sometimes I feel I can still smell it.  But again, the lady’s main concern was the dog jumping….Oblivious much?

I sent Doug to the car proclaiming that Isaac looked fussy (thank God for babies!) and I did the tour. As we passed one door the lady said “That’s the cat room, I haven’t had a chance to clean it.”  I wanted to say lady the whole house is the cat room!  But I had to see these cats.  So I asked if I could peak in and as I did, 5 cats came running out.  But as I looked back in the room I saw that the cats had been eatin
g the drywall!!  I mean she had plenty of food available, but there were holes and chew marks all over the walls.

The sad thing about that house was that she was renting it.  She had completely destroyed someone’s property and wasn’t even aware of it.  And not only that, but gave pet owners that want to rent a bad name.

So take the time to enlist a friend so you aren’t the crazy cat lady.  Have them go through the entire house like they were interested in buying.  If you can’t handle the truth upfront (grow a backbone!) or have them write it down.  It might mean more work for you, but you get to choose what you will fix and what you won’t fix.  Some of their points will be valid, some will be insignificant.  But take the time to know them so you can decide if they should be eliminated or not.

In the end this step is essential to selling your house quickly.  Otherwise you may have just been looking at your house through rose colored glasses (or in the case of the cat lady, smelled through cat urine burnt nostrils)!

 

 

Shih tzu

How a Shih Tzu Ruined My Day

Pets, Uncategorized, , , , , ,

 

For those that don’t know, a Shih Tzu is a super cute, fluffy little dog.  They come in many different colors, but this particular one, the one that ruined my day, was black and white and more than likely went by the name “Oreo” or “Patches” (no offense if this describes your dog!).  Anyway, Shih Tzu is correctly pronounced “She-Zu”, but most people think it’s pronounced SHIT ZOO.  Well for today, I’m going with Shit Zoo, because that more accurately describes the day.

So how exactly did a 15 lb dog, one that I don’t even own ruin my day?  Well I’m convinced he was the start of a downward spiral that ended with me rolling around on the floor in front of a small audience.  But let’s back up a little.

So this morning at 6:45 am I’m driving out of my housing development when low and behold what’s sitting in the middle of the road but “Oreo” the Shit Zoo.  So being the crazy dog lady, I slam on my brakes and throw the car into park.  I try to get “Oreo” into the car, but he starts to run down the road.  So I get out of the car and try to flag him to his yard with the opened gate.  Unfortunately, Oreo isn’t having it and instead runs to his front door.  I think, “Awesome, I’ll ring the bell, the people will be thankful Oreo is safe and I’ll have saved the day.”  Well as I ring the bell Oreo starts to look like a runner again.  So I ever so gently reach down to restrain Oreo and he starts to scream and yelp like I kicked him with my plant issued steel toed boots.  And of course, as he’s screaming the owner opens the door and gives me the “did you just kick my dog” look.  Great. So after telling the owner the dog was sitting in the middle of the street he looks perplexed and says, “Oh yeah, I took the trash out this morning and left the gate open for him, he doesn’t usually go far!”  What the HECK!?  Seriously?  He doesn’t go far?!  Well doesn’t going far is an easy way for him to be squished.  So defeated, I get back in my car and drive in to work.

I’m later than usual due to my failed “Save the Oreo” mission, but that’s okay, I’ll get back on track.  The day starts with dilemma after dilemma at work.  Departments blaming other departments for errors, employees asking questions about my departure, trying to pass my work on to others and finally an investigation into a results that we found that wasn’t typical, but after daggering deeper into it, the error was identified.  It only took a week and required a lot of paperwork.

Now I’m usually fine with days like this.  They go fast.  But on top of these things, we had vendors coming in, my HR departments asking for Exit Interviews, Doug texting my pictures of shoes (brown slip on or brown with laces?!?) and I received phone calls about health insurance after corporate and phone calls about moving trucks.  Then to top it all off my breast pump BIT THE DUST leaving me stranded to make no lunch for my baby!  From there I took my son to the doctor and then to Sam’s Club to pick up my new tire was available.  See just two days ago we hit a nail in the neighborhood and it destroyed my $250 tire.  Luckily we had road hazard insurance on them and it was replaced for a prorated price of $78.  But Sam’s Club had more great news (heavy on the sarcasm) they also tested my battery and found that it was at the end of its life.  They didn’t think it would even make it through the next few days of 100 degree temperature in Missouri.  Thanks, but no thanks Sam’s.  We’re going to drive this battery until we have to use jumper cables to get her going!

Then to round out my day, Envy and I went to our Wednesday night agility class.  We opted to stay for round 2 of class to hang out with good friends and make up a class we’d miss as we moved.  We had a great time.  Practiced obstacles, down stays, I practiced rolling over….  Yes that’s right, I practiced rolling over.  To bring the Shit Zoo day to a close, I went face down in agility class.  Now how does one do such a thing?  Well I could give you 10 ways all of which I’ve tried but tonight my stop, drop, roll was a result of a dog walk.  Basically, my dog Envy was running on the dog walk and I was running close to her.  She’d been bailing off at the end excited about the next obstacle so I was running a lot closer than I normally would have.  What I didn’t take note of was the “feet” of the dog walk.  So while running, I caught my foot on the feet of the dog walk and went face down ripping skin off of my knee (again) and then rolling because well I hit that hard and fast.  I then “sprung” back up onto my feet like it didn’t happen…except I had an audience of 10.  I limped the remaining course and announced that I would be departing from class before I killed someone.  What a SHIT ZOO kind of day!   

Envy enjoying some down stays in agility class before the rolling began!
Envy enjoying some down stays in agility class before the rolling began!

 

Though they peacefully sleep, hair collects around them.

HOW TO DE-PET the HOUSE to Get an Offer on Your Home in 48 Hours!

Pets, Selling a Home, , , , , ,

GET RID OF FLUFFY-Okay, so you don’t actually have to get rid of Fluffy, but some people love the discovery of pet hair in a house (OH LOOK HONEY, BY THE COLOR OF THE HAIR THEY MUST HAVE A GOLDEN RETRIEVER!), but most people DON’T.

Getting rid of the pet “signs” has become sort of a specialty for me in the past 10 years.  You see, I enjoying owning and showing dogs in dog shows but I’m also a little OCD in my cleaning.  So my husband and I own 4 dogs and we have two cats.  Luckily 3 of our 4 dogs don’t shed hardly at all, but the one that does, the Sheltie, sheds A LOT! The cats also shed profusely.

This hair is interwoven EVERYWHERE in your home!
This hair is interwoven EVERYWHERE in your home!

For any non-pet person or even some pet people, when they enter a home with pets they automatically start making assumptions and looking at everything with scrutiny.  Did the pet damage the home in any way, did the pet have accidents in the house, do they clean up after their pets?  There needs to be hardly any signs of there ever being a pet in this home.  So find that friend of yours that isn’t fond of pets and have them do a walkthrough of your home “post” cleaning! Tell them they HAVE to be honest with you.

So let’s start with our hard surface flooring.  We have Pergo and linoleum.  These floors make the cleanup super easy for house showings.  Before the showing and the Open House we vacuum the floor and then run over it a second time with a Swiffer or Swiffer Duster to get in the corners.  Then once a week we’d mop the floor with a diluted vinegar and water solution.  We use ½ cup vinegar in a gallon of water.  This keeps the floors looking their best.

Though they peacefully sleep, hair collects around them.
Though they peacefully sleep, hair collects around them.

For our basement our entire floor is carpet.  Luckily the basement carpeting is like new so we didn’t have to do much.  For this showing we vacuumed the carpet and used an edging tool to make sure any trace of Sheltie and the cats was gone.  Now the cats like to sit at the top of the stairs in our basement.  The cats are excellent about using the litterbox, but still the top of the stairs had a general “cat” odor.  To eliminate this I purchased Arm and Hammer carpet refresher.  I chose a more neutral scent and sprinkled at the top of the stairs for an hour then vacuumed up.  It’s a perfumed baking soda.   This completely eliminated the odor and left behind a light scent that was perfect for when potential buyers entered the basement.  Not overwhelming, not horribly floral.

Next we needed to make sure the room we keep the litterbox in was fresh smelling.  We took our two litterboxes down to one, and removed all soft items from the floor.  From there we bleached the floor with a diluted water and bleach mixture and put a high powered dryer in the room to completely dry the concrete floor.  We then made sure the litterbox was cleaned every day instead of every other day and we purchased carbon filters for the top of the litterbox.  If you have a little time before the house showings begin I suggest trying out a non-scented litter.  Often time people have a negative reaction to the scented litter not just the cats.  The other option is to remove the litterbox with each showing or put it in a tied trash bag with each showing.

For the carpets upstairs in our bedrooms, we used a carpet scrubber to do a second round on the carpets after they were vacuumed.  Though the carpets were in mint shape, the carpet scrubber gave them an extra cleaning and helped to “fluff” them giving them a new look.

Next we took time to clean all of the walls.  Dogs just love to drink water and shake their heads sending little rivulets of spittle all over the place.  We first used a bucket of water with a squirt of dish detergent to wipe down all of the walls.  Then we bought a box of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers and went to town scrubbing all of the scuffs, marks and remaining spit off the walls.  We had originally thought we would paint the walls again, but after the “Magic Eraser” did its magic, there wasn’t a need!

For your dog and cat beds, they need to be washed routinely (every 3 days) and removed from the house for each showing.  The same goes with dog and cat toys.  These cloth items can easily sabotage your cleaning efforts with their unpleasant odor.  Wash often and even better, pack them up and remove them from the house.  Your pet will make it for a few weeks with a few select hard toys like a Nylabone and try a smaller easy to wash bed.  You can even use old towels in their crates for them to cuddle with.  It can be washed with each showing.  Also, if you have hard surfaced floors (Pergo, laminate, tile, wood, etc) and have a throw rug remove them.  They hold hair and odor and will do more harm than good.

Finally, change your air filters in your furnace before you start showing your home then do it once a month.  Look for filters that help to remove odor and dander.  Also take your pets to be groomed.  This will help so less hair is shed in your house and your pets will have less odor to waft in the air.  With each showing have a plan to get the pets contained or out of the house. Barking dogs or cats that are begging for attention are annoying for potential buyers.  They distract people so think of possibly having a friend take them for showings or take them for a day to Doggie Daycare for the day.  For the cats, try putting them in a large crate with a blanket over it and a sign that says they are there for their safety.  Your cats will appreciate the privacy and your buyers will appreciate being able to focus!

Miss yesterday’s post?  Check out: HOW TO GET RID OF CLUTTER to Get and Offer on Your Home in 48 Hours!

Or Maybe you’d like to see where it all started: Ten MUST DO’S TO Get an Offer on Your Home in 48 hours!

Ten MUST DO’S TO Get an Offer on Your Home in 48 hours!

Baby, Pets, Selling a Home, , , , , , , , , , , ,

The house was listed on Friday night in the MLS, we didn’t allow the first people to go through until the open house on Sunday and by Monday afternoon we had an offer!!  Now, after the offer/counteroffer process we’re entering into the next stage of home selling…THE INSPECTION PHASE.

But how did we do it?  How did a home owner with FOUR dogs, TWO cats and a baby get their home ready for sale so quickly and get that 48 hour offer?  Well we’ll share what worked for us.

Follow us as I explore each point in more detail.

  1. FIND AN AWESOME REALTOR-Realtors these days are a dime a dozen.  Heck, you probably have a friend, neighbor or relative that will list your house for you “cheap”.  And why not, they are family right?  Well think again.  If you’re going to pay money for anyone, you’ll want to pay the very best you can find.  And while that might be Aunt Susie the selling machine, chances are it’s not.  We looked for the best we could find.
  2. MINIMIZE, MINIMIZE, MINIMIZE!-This one is hard for most people (we discovered we are indeed hoarders) and may cost a little money in storage units or can make you some money depending on what you want to do.  But minimizing your house will help give people the space to imagine what their belongings will look like in it.
  3. GET RID OF CLUTTER– That means taking down the knickknacks, picking up the toys and hiding away all of your other home accessories that aren’t a necessity.  This also means that some of your family photos may need to make the move to the moving box for a bit.
  4. De-PET the HOUSE AKA GET RID OF FLUFFY-Okay, so you don’t actually have to get rid of Fluffy, but some people love the discovery of pet hair in a house (OH LOOK HONEY, BY THE COLOR OF THE HAIR THEY MUST HAVE A GOLDEN RETRIEVER!), but most people DON’T.
  5. NEUTRAL COLORS-If you love bright bold colors, good for you, so do I.  But that doesn’t mean everyone does and some people have a hard time getting over it.
  6. INCREASE CURB APPEAL–The first thing people see when they browse through 100’s of houses online is the front of your house.  And what’s the first thing they see when the cruise up with the realtor or are patiently waiting for the realtor to unlock the door?  Curb appeal!
  7. FIX ALL THOSE THINGS YOU’VE BEEN MEANING TO DO-You know what I’m talking about.  Those things you said you were going to do when you move in.  Or maybe that knick you put in the front door when you moved in.
  8. WALLPAPER and OTHER SPECIAL TOUCHES-When was the last time you heard someone say, “Oh my gosh honey THIS HOUSE HAS WALLPAPER…I LOVE IT!”  Ummm…NEVER.
  9. KNOW YOUR HOUSE-You need to be able to look at your house like a buyer and if you can’t, find an honest friend that will serve it to you straight.
  10. CLEAN HOUSE-A clean house is a happy house.  And if you’re like most of America you don’t have time to do the cleaning the way it should be done.

 

BONUS-Join us after we explore the 10 MUST DO’S TO GETTING AN OFFER IN 48 HOURS to explore GETTING YOUR HOUSE READY FOR A SHOWING IN UNDER 2 HOURS

Notice the very minimal items in the shelving. They were packed with books and trinkets.
Notice the very minimal items in the shelving. They were packed with books and trinkets.