The 'pet issue' when viewing homes. Your opinions needed!

loveGSDs

im going to be fostering out my lot to family and friends - for valuations and viewings... but GSDs are a bit different to a parrot lol

it wouldnt put me off a house - but im an animal lover.

some people hate animals and it might put them off. if there is any easy way to foster him out then id do it, but if it is going to be a big hassel id leave him where he is

good luck with selling

xx

catfish50

alec_eiffel wrote: »

Hi,

We sold our house last year. We have two house rabbits and their pen is about 7ft x 4 ft x4 ft - so not small. We left this in the lounge, it was visible in the photos and it wasn't a problem with anyone who came to view the house. The EA didn't mention it when he took the photos either. The people who bought our house did say they wondered what the structure was when they saw the pictures online but it didn't seem to put people off.

They might've been put off if the rabbits were singing at them tho

poppysarah

I would be interested in hearing it sing...
It wouldn't put me off.

BitterAndTwisted

I wonder if this little parrot sings obscene sea-shanties?

tyllwyd

We've got a gerbil in a cage in our family room, and I did wonder if there might be some people who wouldn't like it, but nobody has mentioned it so far.

I wouldn't re-home the parrot - you might be on the market for months! - if it isn't easy to find somewhere to move him to for half an hour for viewings, I think I'd probably just make sure the house is clean and well-aired, and leave him where he is. I'd think the majority of people wouldn't be bothered, or would quite enjoy saying hello. If someone was really scared of birds, the fact that you had had a parrot in there would probably be enough to put them off anyway! Perhaps it would be a good idea to include his cage in the photos, so that people would be pre-warned.

spook

Pets such as dogs & cats are definitely off-putting for some viewers, but I can't see much trouble with a parrot. Having a slightly unusual pet might make your property more memorable... after viewing umpteen similar properties, "the one with the parrot" will probably stick in their minds.

zara*elise

I think the question you should ask is would you want to put off any potential buyer for whatever reason? Anything that could be a stumbling block to an offer being made (that's pets, smells, clutter, dirt etc) should be removed if you want to get offers near your asking price.

As for the parrot, I'd be tempted to leave the it in the house but move him when you have notice of a viewing. The market is slow at the moment and you may only have one or two viewings over the course of a month. Having a screaming parrot welcome a viewer who may be terrified of birds would not be ideal.

withabix

Most people have pets of one sort or another. Even people who are buying houses!!

The things that put me off are full ash trays (I've viewed some houses where they had about a week's worth of fag ends piled up in the ashtray. Ewwwwwww!) and overpowering air fresheners (WHAT are you trying to hide apart from that damp smell that is obvious anyway???)

kr15snw

We won’t be there for viewings unfortunately. We’ve given the agents the keys and they do viewings during the day (we both work) and on Saturdays (when we will clear out as the agent doesn’t want us around for viewings which is good for us as to be honest I’m not sure I’d want to be there. Plus it rains a lot here so I can’t put him in the garden. Lol.

With regards to the smells, he’s cleaned every few days to make sure this doesn’t happen (there’s no smell from him, only a bit dusty if we don’t tidy up after him) and the only impact on the house is he’s VERY dusty, but then we dust daily now it’s on the market. Plus we burn a lot of yankee candles to make sure the house is all light and fresh smelling!

And no he’s not included in the price, he’s priceless to me J

Cte: Would she be scared even if he’s in his cage? Not flapping or anything just sitting there? He’s only about 4 – 5 inches tall! He’s never been covered before and it would scare him senseless so thats unfortunately not an option. With regards to the ‘oh thats the house with the parrot’ that’s what the agent said. He said it’s nice to have something for people to remember the house by!

Singing wise: He doesn’t do much! The Simpsons theme tune, the phone (which confused the agent last week) and the clock beeps from 24. Oh and the hourly beeps from the radio (you know the talking clock style ones).

catfish50

withabix wrote: »

Most people have pets of one sort or another. Even people who are buying houses!!

Even people who have pets might be put off by other people's pets when viewing a house, especially if the animals were actively singing at them.

It all depends if the OP wants to restrict potential buyers to those who don't mind being sung at by a parrot while trying to think about whether they do or don 't want to buy the house.