pet connection

Selling your house? What do you do with your pets while people are looking? Since (shhh … big secret) in an earlier life I was the real estate editor at The Sacramento Bee, I really loved this piece on what to do with your pets when your house is on the market. Liked it so much, in fact, that 20 years later I’m kicking myself for not having assigned the story idea to a staff writer then.

Many homeowners consider their pets to be more than just animals – they are beloved members of the family. When it comes to renting or selling a house, however, homeowners often don’t realize their furry, feathered or scaly friends may leave some potential buyers feeling they’re barking up the wrong tree.

“People don’t want to hear that their pet isn’t an attribute – it’s almost like insulting their mother,” says John de Reeder, an associate broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman in Mattituck. “Especially in today’s changing real estate marketplace, presentation is everything. Homeowners need to distinguish themselves from their competition in a good way and minimize any of the distractions – and pets are a distraction, no matter how cute they are.”

Christie just sold a house, and so maybe she’ll add what she did with her dogs when it was on the market. (I know, but I’d rather her tell the story.) When I moved three years ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to move in with my brother so I could paint the house inside and out and sell it empty. And the closing on my new house was before the closing on the old house, so it all worked out for all. Plus, the market was hot, hot, hot.

Love to hear what other people have done. I think a couple years ago when the housing market was so nuts you could have left a dozen ferrets loose in the house and it wouldn’t have made a difference — your house would have sold. But now … things have changed.