When it’s time to sell your home, you need to make sure it looks as good as possible – but you need to make sure it smells as good as possible, too.
Think about it this way: When prospective buyers walk into your home, you want to activate their senses. What do they see? What do they hear? And, yes, what do they smell?
We love our pets, but pet odors can seriously hamper your ability to sell a home quickly and at peak value. Here are five tips on removing pet odors before putting your home on the market.
1. Ask Your Agent
First things first: Ask you agent how your home smells. When you live with pets on a daily basis, you become immune to pet-related odors. Ask your agent for his or her opinion on your home’s scent, and then take appropriate action.
2. Wash Everything
Anything that can be washed needs to be washed. Take couch cushions and pillows out of their covers, and then put those covers in the washing machine. Blankets and bedding should be washed, and check the tags on your rugs to see if they can be washed, too.
3. Shampoo Carpets
This is really important: You need to shampoo every stitch of carpet. Carpet is a haven for dust, dander and mites, and pet odors can sink deep into the carpet where they are difficult to eradicate.
You can vacuum, of course, but vacuuming only removes dust, dander and mites. No vacuum works on pet odors the way you need to work on pet odors. So, buy or rent a carpet shampoo device. You’ll notice a striking difference in your home’s scent when you’re done.
4. Wax Floors
Believe it or not, pet odors can even sink into tile and hardwood flooring. Mop and wax your floors before your home goes on the market and you’ll find that those activities help remove the pet odors.
When you mop and wax your floors, you make it easier to activate prospective buyers’ senses of smell – and you also activate their sense of sight with how great your flooring will look.
5. Spray Upholstery
You should vacuum your upholstery to remove pet hair, dust and dirt. As noted above, you should also wash any cushion and pillow covers that can go into your washing machine. But, unfortunately, not everything can be washed, and vacuuming alone won’t zap bed odors. So, find and use an upholstery-specific odor spray and apply it generously to your furniture to get rid of pet-related scents.
Some Good News
The good news about the recommendations above is that most are good things to do even if you have no pets. Talk through home presentation with your agent, shampoo your carpets, wax your floors and spray your upholstery. And, if you have questions about getting your home ready to sell, pets or no pets, feel free to get in touch with me at pthessen1@gmail.com.
