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If you're wondering about cats and dogs in a house, this is the episode for you. Hello, Megan.

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Hello.

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Welcome back.

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Thank you so much.

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So we're talking real estate?

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Yes.

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And pets.

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Yes, that's right.

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Awesome. Hit me with it.

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Okay, so people have pets, right? And they also need to sell their houses. So that is one of the things we get asked about is how do I sell my house? I've got a dog or I've got a cat, or we were just giggling before, maybe a rat or a bird or a fish or some other kind of pet in your house.

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Hamsters and rabbits?

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Yeah, rabbits, yeah. Any kind of pet. How do we keep the pets safe and not like freak out the buyers too much with having pets in the houses while we sell? So we I'll just start by saying I love pets. Okay. So we currently have a little dog that we've had since late last year. Before that, we had a cat and we've always had cats growing up. So I'm very sympathetic to the absolute love that people have for their pets, and I am totally obsessed with my dog. So but yeah, we we also need to kind of make sure that the pets don't get too inconvenienced when we're selling houses and that the buyers don't freak out with the pets either. Yeah.

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So all right, give me the tips. Tip number one.

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Tip number one is that we can actually use your pet as a selling feature. So all right, tell me more. Okay, so if there's a fully fenced backyard, you could write an ad saying, oh, there's a fully fenced backyard. Or you could say there's a fully fenced, dog friendly backyard. So that when people are searching for property, carpeting, dog friendly, that those keywords come up. And it's really making sure that people understand, yes, a dog can live here, the fence is of a certain height.

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So I love that. This is so cool. Because you know, like we're sitting in this house right now, we're in a subdivision where the fences are not allowed.

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Yes.

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And I have a fence. Yes. Because we had to seek permission from the developer to put a fence because I've got a dog. And the dog just kept running away when we first moved in, and it was huge inconvenience for the neighbors. So we asked for permission to be the only house in our neighborhood to have a proper, proper fence. And to be honest, it didn't work because the dog found a way to climb under the fence and still run away. But at least now she knows where we live and she comes back home. But for the bigger dog, it would be a perfect house because the fence is tall enough and strong enough that the dog cannot just escape.

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Wow, this is really cool. Yeah. Well, we have houses that we've sold that that have partial fencing, and buyers have come through and said, we've got a dog, we'd need to fence it. So they see that as an obstacle about why they shouldn't buy the house or why they might have to spend more money on the house.

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It's a cost, right? It is a cost. If they especially like first-time buyers, if they're buying a house, they only have let's say 10% deposit, they're already stretching themselves to the maximum.

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Yeah.

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And to think about that, they need another five to ten thousand dollars for a fence, yeah, they just can't afford that.

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That's right. Yeah. Okay. The other thing we can do is for the cat people, because we've talked about dogs. Let's talk about cats, right? Cats don't need fences, but we worry about cats on busy roads. Yeah. So I had a buyer, I think she's bought now, but every open home, she turned up at my houses and she was like, Oh, well, I how am I gonna build a cataco? So I had to quickly Google, what is a cataco? It's a pecio for cats. It totally is. I was like, George, do you know what a cataco is? And he was like, no. And there were some properties that had balconies that could be enclosed as a catacode. So they were obviously cats that weren't allowed to roam the neighborhoods, they were contained in this outdoor living space to make them feel safe because their homeowners were so or the sorry, the purchasers were so worried about their cats getting run over on a busy road. So if we're selling a house that would be suitable for a cat, we might say large mature trees in the garden down a long driveway away from the road. So that that works for pets as well as children, actually.

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Yes, because you don't want them to run out onto the busy road and yeah, something happened.

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Yeah.

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That's cool. Yeah, because I did have a few clients as well that were looking to buy, and then they would message me back going, No, that road is way too busy. I have three cats, I've already lost one, I don't want to lose it. Yeah, another one.

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Yeah. Wow. So there's there's some ways that we can kind of make a property really appeal to somebody who loves pets. I haven't worked out how to do a bird yet, but I guess the cataco concept would work for a bird as well. Yes. Yeah. But then on the other side, oh, the other the other story I'd like to share with you is we had a client who just lost her dog. Yeah, he'd passed away and she still had the dog house in the garden. And when I came over and we were doing the preparation for photos, she said, Oh, I'll move the dog house around the side of the house so it's not in the photos, or just move it out of the way. And I said to her, So you've had a dog in this house, so obviously the fencing is sound, and she had a little fenced off bit at the end of her garden. And I said, Why don't we move the dog house from your deck to that little fenced off bit and make that the dog area? And she was like, Oh, really? Okay. You staged the dog area. And it was really cool because she said her dog used to sit on the deck and bark at people going by. But obviously, if she'd had the doghouse down the back of the garden, it could have just chilled out down there while she was at work. What was really cool about that house is we sold it to two first home buyers who had a dog. Wow. So, you know, it was just like it was meant to be. Yeah. So houses that are pet friendly usually attract people with pets.

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I was about to say like attract like.

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Yes, yes, that's right. Then obviously, there are some challenges with pets as well. So I'm saying this from a place of love with no judgment at all.

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Dog hair.

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Dog hair. Sometimes there's a slight fur problem or a slight smell from some of their food, maybe a favorite blanket that they don't like to have washed regularly. So what I would say is timing is critical. With if you've got a pet, the first two weeks of your campaign are the first, they're the busiest times for viewings. So if you could make a plan for your pet for the first two weeks of the campaign around, like if it's a dog that gets anxiety with new people and barks a lot or jumps up on people, maybe consider putting the dog into uh doggy daycare, taking it to work, or like figuring out somebody to come and take it for a walk. And we can make the viewings available on the days where we know that the dog won't be there. The other thing we can do is recommend putting pet bowls and bedding and anything to do with the pets maybe in the garage for viewings or open homes. Not so bad with biscuits, but like some cats only eat jelly meat. Oh it does, you know, like it that that's what they love. That's fine. We're not asking you to change their diet, but once they've eaten, maybe remove the bowl and put it in the garage for the viewings, just so that the buyers who may or may not like pets don't kind of have that smell in your kitchen potentially. And I mean, you know, you've got the plug-in air fresheners and things like that. That's always a good tip as well. If you've got pets cleaning the cat door, our cat door was so messy when we sold our house. I had no idea because he always pressed his face up on it to come in. Um, so I washed that down for our open homes myself. So I would definitely do that again if I was selling. And in some cases, a pet shampoo on on the carpet might be an idea, but like George and I will give you any advice when we come around to meet you anyway, and and give you that honest feedback. As pet lovers ourselves, we possibly had the same issues at our house. We're not sure. Like our friends have been very kind, but yeah, that's that's part of our job is to sort of say, oh, well, you know, maybe we could do this or maybe we could do that. We've had a few elderly cats recently on some of the properties we've been selling, and we've just warned people, hey, there's an elderly cat lying on the bed in that bedroom. When you go in, can you please be a little bit quiet? He gets a bit spooked. So, you know, being proactive around pet management and reducing stress on the pets is something that we're very conscious of.

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I love that. When we were selling a house, I had this cat of mine for about 19 years, and we've moved so many times, we've sold so many houses. And a common feedback I'll get from the real estate agents is everyone's asking, is the cat coming with the house? Because he would just go out there, he will greet every single person that would come in, and he'll just follow you around, show you around the house. He was pretty much of a real estate agent, I think, in his previous life, and he would just be such a chilled cat, and people just absolutely loved him. He was really, really cool, but no, he he never was sold with any of the houses.

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Hands off my cat.

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Yeah.

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But the trouble I had with him is that I had to install a cat door in every single house we moved into because we never had cat doors in those houses. So he cost me a fortune over the years by installing those cat doors. But the cat fur was one of the biggest ones I had to deal with because he was a grey cat.

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Oh, yeah.

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And especially in summer when they would be shedding a lot of fur. So I had to make sure that I was constantly vacuuming before the open homes to make sure there is no fur just randomly on the couch, especially when he was molting. I remember there was a time when you just sit on the couch and suddenly there's like a giant fur would fly into the air shit all over you. So um, yeah, so I totally get it. I'm a I'm a big animal lover as well. Like you, I grew up with pets, yeah. So they are our companions. Yes, they are. We just need to know how to sell the house, the city.

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Sell the house, but also not inconvenience the pet. Yeah. And also how to anyone who comes through with allergies or a fear of dogs or anything like that, that we need to make them comfortable as well. So it's just about keeping everybody, including the pet, safe and comfortable.

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It's a balance, right? And also now that um the tenancy law has passed around the pets, and that lots of tenants can now, you know, well, they could have pets before, but now it's even easier, I guess, to have a pet with the pet bond. And this investors that are selling the properties and the tenants have pets as well. You've got to work with tenants and pets.

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Yeah, yeah. And you're getting to know the pets as well, their own little special vibes. Like we had one little elderly dog who was deaf. So we had to walk really heavily on the floor because if he was asleep, he needed to feel the vibrations of our footsteps so that he knew we were in the house. If he just opened his eyes and saw us there, he would freak out and bark, and that would scare the buyers. So our tick technique for that one was walk heavy on the floor, let him know that we're there, and then he's quite chilled out. So just asking those questions and finding out from the home or the the homeowner, yeah, the pet owner, what is your pet like? What is your pet not like? Are there any things we need to know about your pet before we get started that we can help communicate to the buyers so that everybody has a good experience?

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I love that because information is power.

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Yes. Right?

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So if you've got that information, you can work with that. Yes. I've just had an image of you walking heavily, yes, and the buyers behind you going.

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I warned them. And actually, usually I turn up early before, like if I can, I turn up before they get there so that the dog is already aware. But yeah, I usually give them this part that is part of the information when I meet them at the gate. I say, there's an elderly dog here. He is a bit deaf. So, you know, just take your time. Don't touch him if you don't need to, sort of thing. Yeah.

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I loved it. I loved it. Megan, thank you so much. Any more tips?

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No, I think we've covered most of it. But if you want to know more, give George or me a call and we can run you through it.

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I loved it. Thank you, thank you so much, and see you next time. Thank you.