It is no secret that REALTORS ® suggest staging your home when you put it on the market. It makes sense to think that something attractive will encourage potential buyers. However, being a pet owner can make staging more difficult. Here are the best tips to successfully staging your home when you have an animal.

Minimize visible damage

No matter how we love them, pets aren’t people. They don’t understand that chewing on or scratching up the furniture is bad, or that they shouldn’t dig in the yard, ruin the house plants, or a thousand other things. If you see them daily, you may overlook the chewed-on or dug-up areas around your home. Prospective buyers will not. If there are scratches on the furniture, if the rug has been chewed up, or if there are holes in the yard, fix them. Polish and refinish the wood that has been scratched. Replace or hide rugs that are torn. Don’t just fill in the holes in your yard, but make sure that you have grass, flowers or something decorative to cover the bald patches.

Rethink your marketing

Many individuals, who have pets or are planning to buy them, will not apply for homes that are not seen as “pet friendly.” Therefore, it may be a good idea to market toward pet owners or those who may purchase a pet. Add the term “pet friendly” to your listing, and while you should minimize the presence of your pet, you don’t need to erase it entirely. Hide or replace worn pet toys with new ones. Make sure that, if the food and water bowls look good, that they are cleaned properly. If they are too dingy for a good scrubbing to save, replace them with new ones. If you have someone stopping by to look at the property, and you can’t remove your pet from your home, make sure they smell and look nice, crated or confined to one area where they will not disturb your buyer.

Eliminate smells

Just as there shouldn’t be a visual presence of your pet about your home, there should not be an olfactory one either. The best approach you can take as a pet owner is to rid your home of pet smells completely. Just because you no longer smell them does not mean they don’t exist.

To remove pet odor from carpeting, there are few proven techniques. Perhaps the only truly effective measure is to purchase an enzymatic-based pet odor remover from your local pet supply store. These cleaners are composed of natural enzymes that eat away at the natural materials that cause urine smells in the first place.

Board your pet

When you have an open house to showcase your home, it will be best if your pet is not present at all as you cannot predict who will show up. A buyer may love the idea of pets, but another may see a pet as a nuisance and immediately be turned off. If you are showing to an individual with last-minute notice, you may not be able to get rid of your furry (or scaled or feathery) little one, but if you have the opportunity, do try to either have a friend take your pet for the day. If a realtor is coming over last minute, and if you can leave the house, take the pet out yourself during the viewing or board your pet. It will make everyone’s life easier.

You want your house to sell as quickly as possible and being a pet owner can make that harder. But if you follow the steps above, you may see better results. Cleaning up and purchasing new pet-related items may seem like a hassle, but it may be worth it in the end.

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Article provided by Medina at DogEtiquette.info