Selling Your Home With Pets-6 Ways To Get A Quick Sale In Spite Of Your Pets

If your home is on the market, you want it to show well whenever a perspective buyer wants to see it. And a sale will depend on the purchasers being able to picture their furniture in your house. This can be hard to do if they are in any way distracted by your pet. And with pets, keeping your home looking and smelling picture perfect all the time can be hard. Using these 6 tips will help you sell faster and for a higher price in spite of your pets.

1. Put Food and Toys Away-Many pet owners use the kitchen as the place where their pet eats. And sometimes food becomes scattered on the floor or left in dishes on the floor. This can be a negative distraction for a buyer who may otherwise have loved your kitchen. Make sure to clean and put away food bowls, and clear away any extra pet food. If you store pet supplies in kitchen cabinets, do it neatly as many buyers open cabinets to gauge how much space they will have. Neat cabinets appear larger and make a great impression.

Toys should be temporarily put away in a basket and stored in a closet or under a bed to prevent would be buyers from tripping over or stepping on them which would again take the focus away from your home.

2. Clean Up After Your Pet-Make sure that the litter box is clean and in an inconspicuous place. Freshen your bird's cage with water, food, and new paper that is clear of droppings. When your dog uses the yard, pick up any droppings to make it easy for buyers to enjoy the landscape without soiling their shoes.

3. Have Carpet Professionally Cleaned-It's easy to become oblivious to the smell of pets. So before your house is even shown for the first time, hire a company to clean and sanitize your carpet. This will clear away stains and lingering odors and help your carpet show well.

4. Vacuum-If you have a pet that sheds, there is no way around daily vacuuming. You want your home to be visually free of hair on the rugs and furniture. If your pet has a favorite chair or shares the sofa with you, be sure to remove the hair with a vacuum or a sticky roller so that if a guests sits on a sofa or chair they are not covered with your pet's hair when they get up.

5. Take Your Pet When Possible-Taking your pet with you while your home is being shown is not always possible. But if you have a dog that barks constantly, or just when you're away, likes to dig in the yard, or scratch at the door to get in, it can really work against selling your home during a showing or an open house. If at all possible, take your dog with you to the park, or crate your cat and take it to visit a friend. This allows people who are interested to view your home leisurely rather than feeling the need to rush away to escape your pet.

Many showings happen with very little notice, particularly if the realtor has a key that can be given to other agents. Leave your pets so that they are not frightened by the strangers who enter, and so your pets cannot frighten or attack those they perceive as a threat.

6. Use an Air Purifier to Filter the Air-Even the cleanest home with any warm blooded pets will have dander, and even some lingering odor, particularly if there has been an accident during the day while you were away. Using a portable air cleaner that can run 24 hours a day and filter pet-related and normal household pollutants gives you an advantage over the competition and lets you show your home with confidence knowing that the air will always smell fresh and clean.