As Mike and Lisa Sullivan attempted to sell their Chicago Ridge house last year, they did all the things that sellers should do any time a real estate agent and potential buyer are scheduled to poke through their bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens: They cleaned their dirty dishes and put them all away, stowed their children’s dolls and blocks in the toy chest, swept their floors and made their beds. But the Sullivans faced an additional problem: Sasha, their beloved Labrador retriever.
There are two things that alert the noses of potential home buyers. One is smoke, from cigars and cigarettes. The other is the odor that cats and dogs often leave on a home’s couches, love seats and carpets. Both smells can leave a negative impression in the minds of buyers. Like other homeowners whose families include pooches and felines, the Sullivans had to do a little extra work every time a buyer was scheduled to tour their home. “I never thought our house smelled. We tried real hard to keep our house, and Sasha, clean,” said Lisa Sullivan. “We used a lot of air freshener every time someone came to see our house. I’d usually run around spraying it a half-hour before anyone came. We used a lot of scented candles, too. Apple cinnamon is good, or anything that makes it smell like someone has just baked an apple pie. And we always kept Sasha in the garage before anyone came. Most people didn’t seem to mind.”
Sullivan also vacuumed her carpets every day while her house was on the market.
Of course, there’s nothing unusual about that. She still vacuums her carpets at least every other day now that she, Mike, her two children and Sasha have moved to a new house in Orland Park.
Frequent vacuuming and extra cleaning are just facts of life for pet owners. And there are a lot of them out there.
Officials with the American Veterinary Medical Association estimated during a 1996 study that U.S. residents care for 59 million cats and 53 million dogs.
But this extra work is even more important when pet owners are trying to sell their homes. Real estate agents agree: It’s absolutely critical that potential buyers not sniff any pet odors while they tour a house. No matter how magnificent that master bedroom is, or how stately that entrance staircase is, it often won’t be enough to overcome the bad first impression made by the scent of cat urine wafting from the living room carpet.
“There’s a thing about cats and dogs. When they don’t smell, they’re darling. But when they do smell, they’re a real turnoff,” said Marti Corcoran, a real estate agent with the Northwest side office of Century 21 McMullen.
But pet owners needn’t fret. There are things they can do to make sure their house doesn’t smell like a kennel when it’s time to sell.
First, dog and cat owners should prepare their homes for selling. That means they should eliminate all odors their beloved pets have already left behind. Household cleaners, though, won’t do the trick. Pet odors tend to be tough. Household cleaners will simply mask their scents for a brief period of time. Only enzyme-based products will truly eliminate the odors.
“There are a lot of good enzyme products out there,” said Debra Thomas, owner of The Animal Affinity, a Chicago-based pet shop. “The worst things people can use are the household cleaners that have their own odors. Then, the odors mix and make things worse.”
Thomas also cautioned against relying on professional cleaners to erase a home’s pet odors. Unless these cleaners, too, use enzyme-based products, they won’t be able to eliminate the smells.
Thomas said home sellers can find enzyme products at any good pet store. But before using such products on carpets or furniture, she said, sellers should make sure they won’t cause these items’ colors to fade.
Sellers can do this by testing the product on the back of a couch or on a hidden corner of the carpet. That way, if it damages the furniture, no one else will know.
William Barnes, owner of Lisle’s Just Rite Cleaning Products, sells his own kit of products designed to eliminate pet odors. Reviewers in Cat Nip magazine recently gave this kit a stellar review.
“If you’re trying to use household cleaners, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of the smells of dogs and cats,” Barnes said. “We don’t know of a home remedy that will get rid of the smell coming from cat urine under a carpet.”
Barnes said many new homeowners come to him after they discover cat and dog odors in their new residences.
Often, the previous owners of their new homes managed to hide the smells with air fresheners and scented candles. But, as they always do, the odors came back.
“If you’re selling a home, it’s very important to remove these odors, and not just cover them up,” Barnes said. “Remember, if someone’s coming to look at your house on a wet day, the odors will be worse. That odor will pop right out, no matter what you do.”
Tracy Driscoll, a Palatine resident and independent distributor with Oxyfresh, a company that manufactures a pet deodorizer and an air purification machine, said she and her husband have worked with several real estate agents to help eliminate homes’ pet odors.
Some agents sell so many homes of pet owners; they’ve bought their own air purification machines from the Driscolls.
“Most of the real estate agents know that you can’t get rid of pet odors with household cleaners,” Driscoll said. “They know that once the fragrance goes away, the odor comes back.”
Andee Hausman, a real estate agent with RE/MAX Experts in Buffalo Grove, has several suggestions of her own for sellers trying to rid their homes of pet odors.
She makes sure her cat- and dog-owning clients get their carpets professionally cleaned.
And if their carpets are too far gone, she tells them to throw them away.
She also makes sure her clients empty the cat’s kitty litter box before a showing.
Finally, she advises some clients to send their dogs to pet motels if she’s scheduled several showings during a one- or two-day period.
She also has advice to her buyers: They shouldn’t turn down a perfectly good house just because it smells a bit like a damp dog.
“I always tell people that when the current owners move, so do their pets,” Hausman said. “People can always change the carpets and get the house cleaned when they move in.”
Real estate agent Corcoran has a trick of her own: Sellers should spray their furnace filters with a cinnamon-scented fragrance. This way, that smell, and not the scent of dog hair, wafts through the house.
“You have to make sure it’s not a real flowery spray, though,” Corcoran said. “That can make it nauseating.”
There’s one more thing home owners can do to make sure they never have problems with pet odors: They can train their dogs properly, making sure they never make a mess in the house.
According to The Animal Affinity’s Thomas, not enough pet owners do this.
“The only reason for a dog to ever make a mess in a house is if it’s sick. That’s the only reason,” she said. “Too many pet owners don’t get the proper guidance from whomever they buy their pet from. Owning a dog is not as simple as people think it is. If a person is selling a home and they have a problem with animal stains, they’re going to have the same problems once they move to their new home. It’s a bigger issue than just getting the stains out. People need to train their pets.”
