Bryan Vogt: Welcome back everyone. It’s Ready, Set, Sold. I’m your host Bryan Vogt. Hope you’re having a fantastic weekend and more importantly a fantastic Saturday. Thanks so much for joining us today. I left you with the last segment talking about … This is really big. I understand it has some humor to it to folks, but picking up after Fido in the backyard is a must. I don’t care the size of the dog. Of course, you have the Great Danes and the bigger dogs, it’s kind of a given that people are going to do it. Yes, those little chihuahuas and those little poodles, they have to go also.
I just heard a story actually this week. An agent was talking about how the buyers walked into this house, beautiful house, loved the house. They went out to the backyard. They loved the backyard. Things were going great. They all three walked in. It wasn’t until they hit the steps going upstairs that they realized that they had doggy doo-doo. All three of them have it on their shoes.
It was on the new carpeting that was in the living room. It was now in the kitchen floor that happened to be new also. That’s not a good thing. First, the buyers were mortified. No one wants that to happen to the seller. No one wants to intentionally do that. Never seen that happen. That’s not something they want to do. To top it off in this situation, it doesn’t happen that often but in this situation there was another showing that was to be scheduled in the next half an hour.
This was just a calamity that could have been prevented by simply making sure that you pick up after Fido can solve that. Again, there’s humor to it but the trouble is that it gets real serious when something like that happens. Just so you know for whatever reason neither one of those buyers put an offer on that particular house. Again, it can have an effect on buyer’s perception. Understanding perception is reality in real estate.
That’s how buyers look at things. They’re always going by perception. They don’t know what they don’t know. First time they’ve been in your house so when things go wrong, many times that can lead to no offer as the exact opposite of what sellers want to have happen. Again, a good rule of thumb … Believe it or not, I’ve seen companies on Facebook that actually go out and will clean your yard if you haven’t done that, if time is of the essence. Then if you take your dog out to walks or out to parks or down the street, most of us now get in the habit of having those bags with us.
I would see sellers that do the same thing when Fido’s goes out, afterwards they go out and just stay on top of it, do a daily basis. Do it as a routine. Some sellers think that by telling people that they have dogs, that buyers will basically beware. It’s a good thought but couple of things that happen. Number one, you don’t really want them to be watching every step like it is a landmine that they’re going to be walking on.
You want them to really enjoy your backyard to see what you’ve done to it. Secondly, you want them to get so excited about the yard, they don’t even think about it. Again, if you want to avoid those situations, make sure that you clean up after Fido. It’s funny, but it’s also pretty serious when bad things happen. Another thing too, this is more inside, litter boxes. Litter boxes, can be put in the utility room. You can put them in the garage. That’s even better for showings.
You really want to try to get them out. If you don’t … For two reasons. Number one, not everyone’s a cat person. Well, not everybody’s a pet person but there tends to be more people that maybe aren’t cat people. It’s always best to kind of out of sight, out of mind. The other reason is again that litter box is what they’re using to go to the bathroom.
We’ve had situations where just recently an agent was telling me that they walked into a house and that the stench of the urine, but it was really more of an ammonia smell apparently with cats … The buyers walked in, smelled that, and walked right back out. Again, not only with your dogs but also with your cats … Get into the habit of a daily habit of doing it on a daily basis of making sure that litter box is in good shape and making sure the backyard, or the front yard, or the side yard, wherever your dogs go because you know how dogs are. They’ll do it wherever whether you want them to or not.
Again, it’s somewhat funny but on the same token it’s also pretty serious. You want to make sure that’s taken care of. Our next segment, we’ll be talking as I mentioned earlier about that usual why it’s better to maintain rather than replace decks, patios, things of that nature. We’ll be going more in detail about that.
Hey, if you haven’t done it already, do yourself a favor. Get the book Ready, Set, Sold, 12 Proven Steps to get your house sold for top dollar and fast in the Metro East. Get it today. It’s free. No strings attached. Go to [readysetsold.org not .net or.com and get it. Hey, after the break we will be talking about decks and patios.
Ready Set Sold with Bryan Vogt #19-03: Picking up after Fido is a must! Don’t forget Kitty too!
September 30, 2017