When Rover's Been All Over.

There are two completely different mindsets throughout the community. On one side, there is the family consisting of mom, dad, 2 kids and of course their dog and cat. All part of the family and each loved as only family can love. On the other side, there are potential buyers with mild to severe allergies just wanting to live a normal life. Here is the all to familiar situation: Today, after much waiting, there is finally a showing at 2pm on a nice home that has been on market a while, so the family goes for a walk while the home they are selling is being shown. The buyer and their agent meet right at 2pm to do the walk through as promised. Once in the foyer, the potential buyer stops and says "no need to go further". The agent, scratching his head, asks why? The smell of pet dander is overwhelming and I have allergies. That beautiful house was never shown that day. This is not as uncommon as you would think. In today's world, more and more people are complaining of allergies and refusing to look through homes with pets. To the pet owner, it is ridiculous to not look through a home because you may have allergies, but the allergy victim wants to be sure there aren't any smells that they are going to regret later. Most pet owners feel their pets are clean and a litter box and vacuuming the carpets will get rid of the odors, but in reality dander makes its way into air ducts and furnace intakes and can be quite expensive and a challenge to remove. I am not here to judge either way, but whether or not the potential buyer's fears have merit, the buyer can stop the deal before it starts, so it may be wise to do an extreme pet cleaning before the showing doesn't happen again. Amazing how most sellers will groom the yard, paint the eaves and reroof the house for a showing, but when someone says their little pet offends them, they can keep on looking. In today's market, with fewer buyers and even fewer showings, every little thing we can do to help a home sells is a must do. Just a thought.