Photo from Capstone Homebuyers

Originally Posted On: https://www.sellmysahousefast.com/sell-house-animal-smells/

 

 

Selling a home with animal smells or odors can be challenging. Home buyers can be left with a bad first impression leaving you to wonder if your house will ever sell. Bad odors from animals can get into the walls, carpet, and other surfaces and can hurt the value of your property. If you need to sell a house but have strong animal odors keep reading to learn what steps to take next.

How Bad Is the Pet Odor?

Before you even try to find a way to sell your home with cat odor, you will need to assess how bad the situation is. Does the odor waft over you and/or visitors as soon as they enter the house, or do you have to travel to a certain part of the house to smell it? Can someone get used to the smells, or are they always present?

If—unfortunately—it turns out that the pet odor in your home is unbearable, you might want to consider contracting a cleaning service to rid your home of these smells. Don’t fall into the common mistake of thinking that potential buyers will not notice the smell.

What Kind of Odor Is It?

Start by identifying what kind of animal smells exist in your home. The most common are:

• Dog Pee
• Cate Pee
• Pet Dandruff

These are a few examples of the various assortments of pet odors. Once you identify what odor has been left by your pet in your house, you will be able to figure out the best and most effective way to deal with the pet odors.

When Selling Your Home, Does It Have to Be Odor-Free?

Our answer is absolutely not. Whether it’s barely noticeable, or your guests know that your house reeks of dog smells the moment you open the front door, there is always a buyer who’s ready and willing to put a good offer on your home—as long as it’s in good shape.

Of course, an odor-free home has the potential of selling for significantly more than a house with pet odor. However, that should not be cause for discouragement as you will be able to find someone to purchase your home one way or another.

Why Do Dogs Leave Smells Behind?

You may be tempted to think “Why on earth does my dog make my house smell bad?” This is a reasonable question that has a scientific answer.

Even though you might wash your dog once, twice, or multiple times per week, dogs have a musky smell because of their anal sacs and scent glands. These biological parts of the dog are what generate the “dog smell.” Unfortunately, you will never be able to completely get rid of the smell.

What you can do, however, is tone down the smells by cleaning up the sources. Some physical sources are droppings, pee, tracks, and wet spots on the carpet where they rolled around in joy.

If you locate where the smell is coming from, you can work to eliminate the odors. This will ensure that the smells become minimized. Things like cleaning the carpets, replacing the carpet padding, using a steam treatment on any stains on the subfloor, or using a paint primer on damaged sub-surfaces can help.

Below, we have outlined how you can clean the sources of the smells left by household pets.

How Do You Clean Pet Smells?

If you have made up your mind to get rid of the pet odors in your house but do not know where to start, we’ve got you covered. We have focused on those that were mentioned previously in this article—dog pee, cat pee, and general pet dandruff (the typical “pet smells”).

1. Cleaning Dog Pee Smells

Fortunately, cleaning the smell of dog urine is not too difficult. However, even though the process is simple, it requires time and hard work to clean properly. Furthermore, there is a difference when it comes to cleaning dog pee from the carpet vs. cleaning it from hardwood floors or tile flooring.

The solution calls for a one-to-one mixture of water and white vinegar. After making this, you then must use a sponge and rub the solution over the location where the pee either is or was. Once this is completed, you must let the mixture sit for roughly five to ten minutes depending on how much you used and how hard you scrubbed it.

Now, when it comes to cleaning the hardwood floors, the most important thing to keep in mind is the possibility of damaging the floors—which is something you will want to avoid doing.

To avoid this from happening, the best thing to do is to lower the concentration of the vinegar in the solution. Furthermore, if the odor lingers for a longer time post-cleaning, you could sprinkle some baking soda on it and then vacuum it up later.

2. Cleaning Cat Pee Smells

Cats make great pets—especially in urban environments. However, they can become extremely annoying if you allow them to pee in locations outside of the litter box. Unfortunately, this is something that many domestic cats tend to do.

Odors from cats will stay in a house for a very long time if not taken care of immediately and the process for cleaning cat urine isn’t the same as the process for dogs.

The odor produced from cat urine is very distinct, unique, and recognizable as that of a cat. Because of this, the process of cleaning up cat pee is much more specific than that used to clean dog pee.

When it comes to cleaning it from the carpet, the easiest way is to scrub the area with “club soda” (carbonated water), and then let it dry. After it dries, you will want to cover the area with baking soda and later vacuum it up. This will allow any remaining odors or liquids to be collected and absorbed by the soda. Hopefully, the cat urine hasn’t soaked through to the carpet pad. If so, even a deep cleaning won’t be effective and you will likely need to replace the pad beneath the carpet to remove lingering smells from the room.

However, as mentioned earlier, hiring a professional service to do this for you will ensure that your house smells as clean as possible.

3. Getting Rid of General Pet Odors

Prior to deciding to sell your house, you may want to take some of these steps to begin trying to reduce the smells from pets in the home.

• Use baking soda often
• Change air filters
• Clean accessories used by pets and humans
• Brush your pets and clean up the fur/hair
• Clean and/or remove or replace the cat’s litter box
• Open windows to increase fresh air
• Steam furniture that might be stinky
• Find ways to increase airflow

Each of these tips will help mitigate the issues caused by animals in the home. Taking the time to address these items will help potential buyers minimize the amount of work they think the house may need. If the smells from animals still persist, replacing carpeting is the likely next step to help get additional fresh air. Local home buyers in San Antonio normally look past these issues when buying real estate from homeowners.

In a nutshell, that is how you get rid of/prevent dog pee smells, cat pee smells, and general pet smells from forming in your house.

Should You Clean Pet Smells Before Selling?

After reading how much work it actually takes to remove the odor left behind by animals, you might ask yourself whether or not it is really worth it to try to remove the pet smells from your home. Knowing Capstone Homebuyers will buy your house as-is, there is definitely a question to be answered: Should I attempt to remove the odors from my house?

This is a question that only you can answer. You will have to ask yourself if you invest all of the time and effort into attempting to eliminate the smells, will they ever completely disappear.

There’s An Easy Way To Sell A House With Bad Pet Smells

A possible solution to this dilemma is that you could simply attempt to clean the pet smells. If you find out that it’s really not as difficult as you initially thought, you might decide to push through it. Likewise, you might also discover that it would take too much work compared to the projected payoff.

How Can I Locate Where the Pet Odor Is Coming From?

One of the most annoying things about cleaning pet odor from your home is locating the source of the odor. In some cases, it might simply be a general smell in the house that is not emanating from something in particular. However, most of the time, there is a source—which is why it is important to know how to locate that source.

Start by cleaning the house thoroughly. Do not just vacuum and call it a day. When we say “clean,” we mean that we want you to clean that area so well that there’s no way the smell could be coming from that area.

Finally, by repeating this process several times, you should have adequately cleaned your house and the smell should be gone. If not, try repeating it a few more times. Even if the smell has not been destroyed, you will end up with a spotless house that you’re proud to show off to potential buyers.

What Are the Pros of Cleaning Pet Smells?

There are pros and cons of taking time to attempt to deodorize a home that has animal smells.

So, what are the benefits of cleaning the pet smells?

Besides the obvious fact that you will be able to set a higher asking price, you will be doing something that will make somebody else’s life better. Essentially, by getting rid of the pet smells in your home, you will leave your house in a better state for the next homeowner.

Having an odor-free home will also allow you to sell your house faster. Something that frustrates many homeowners who want to sell their house quickly is waiting for the right buyer. So, if you’re dead set on selling your home for the best asking price possible, cleaning the pet odors from your house will help you get this done as fast as possible.

Sell Your House As-Is Without Doing Any of the Cleaning

Though the benefits of attempting to clean the pet smell from your home may sound like the best option, we also have to consider whether or not you actually want to go through that difficult process. By examining the cons of cleaning pet smells from your home, you will be well-prepared to make the best decision for you and your family.

For example, why would you even want to attempt to clean the smells if you know that you can sell your home as-is for cash to a reputable home buyer? Most people would not want to go through that process—which is completely understandable.

Another downside is that there’s no guarantee your attempt will be 100 percent successful. While you might be able to reduce the noticeability of the pet smells to some degree, there’s always the possibility that some odors will still remain in the air, walls, or flooring and carpeting. Some buyers even report they would prefer cigarette smoke over the odors left behind by animals.

The unfortunate aspect of getting your house ready to sell is that until the work is completed, you won’t know how successful your efforts will be. With this in mind, you will have to make the ultimate decision of whether or not to put that much work into something that has an outcome that is subject to the opinions of potential home buyers.

As you can see, there are both pros and cons to attempting to remove the animal scent from your home. The good news is that there is an easy solution that allows you to get cash for your house as-is.

We Buy Houses That Smell Like Cat Urine and Dog Pee

We here at Capstone Homebuyers have a well-deserved reputation and years of experience purchasing homes as they are, and remodeling them to look as good as new. Considering how many projects we have undertaken and accomplished, you can trust that we will give you the best offer for your home.

Selling Your House in San Antonio, TX That Smells Like Animals

Well, there you have it. This article has informed you of everything you need to know when it comes to selling your home with pet smells. You are now ready and informed enough to make the decision.

So, in conclusion, can you really sell your home as-is without cleaning it up? Yes! You absolutely can!

What are you waiting for? Schedule your free consultation with us today. You won’t be disappointed in our services!