I have not been in this business for too long, but I have been living in houses all my life. I know that all houses, and many people have distinct smells. Some houses have old carpet smell, cigarette smell, or lingering cooking smells.
While touring new listings during my office's weekly sales meeting, I really have something I need to get off my mind. The one smell that beats out all, except some we will not mention, has got to be the cat. More specifically, the male cat! I have a female cat and have had male cats in the past and by far, male cat odor is the worst. If the male cat is one of those artistic males that like to spray secret places, this is even worse!
On our office tour, we arrived at a nice looking house that had supposedly been through a fairly extensive interior remodel and should really wow us all. Like a punch in the face, the cat odor hit me as I entered the front door. I looked around at my fellow Realtors to see if anyone else's eyes were beginning to water. No one was talking about it, they were talking about the flooring, windows, appliances, but not EAU DE CHAT! I knew that was cat smell and soon enough, two very friendly, huge male cats came out from behind the couch.
There was a Seinfeld episode where Jerry valet parked his car and the valet's body odor took over his car. After trying everything known to man, Jerry ended up abandoning it, but not even a thief wanted his stank mobile. I feel this is the same with houses. I hope I do not offend any cat owners or even ferret owners, but I really think Realtors need to emphasize to their clients the importance of removing or at least masking unpleasant odors from the house. People know that smells are usually coming from deep in carpet padding, behind or under something. A few extra dollars spent in a higher end carpet cleaning will make potential buyers actually enter houses, and the sale may happen.
This is not a rant, but just an idea I had after entering this house. I was not into the cat odor, but was more shocked by the lack of reactions by my fellow agents. Realtors, listen to your nose!
Thanks for you time
Mike Warren
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