Peeing Dogs Do Not Sell Homes: A Lesson For Sell-Lords
Published April 6th, 2007 in Beverly Hills MI Real Estate, Birmingham MI Real Estate, Bloomfield Hills MI Real Estate, Dear Mr. and Mrs. Seller, Humor, Metro Detroit, Royal Oak MI Real Estate, Seller Information, Taxes, Troy MI Real Estate.
Yesterday I had one of my top 10 most memorable showings. This is a list that you don’t want to be on as most of those showings tend to be memorable for bad reasons, like finding people asleep in beds when you think the house is empty. That is always good for a fright.
Our Metro Detroit market is currently swarming with sellers who, because they can’t sell, are considering leasing and becoming landlords. Since there are so many of them out there, I think they deserve a name and I am dubbing them Sell-Lords. Most would rather be sellers but they would like a bit of relief from the monthly payments so they are listed for lease as well. Or they are waiting out this buyers market by leasing until things pick back up. They’ve also contributed to a softening in the rental market by bringing up the supply there, but that is another story.
Back to yesterday. . .
I opened the unlocked (don’t tenants lock doors?) door of a $500,000+ Birmingham home and saw a huge great dane staring at me from the living room. Apparently I excited him because he peed right where he stood. On second thought, maybe he was a she — there was no leg lift involved. Anyway, I am not fond of dogs on the loose in houses when I am showing them, so I was glad when he trotted off into another room to hang out on the couch. My clients and I walked into the home and saw big shiny puddles of pee all over the place from where we stood in the foyer. So far we were off to a bad start. It didn’t get better with piles of laundry everywhere, and a high level of filth that distracted from what might be a nice looking place under different circumstances. So, NO SALE from us. Sorry Mr. Sell-Lord. Your tenant blew it for you.
Not that there are not good tenants out there. We have some friends who are temporarily renting a place that is on the market for sale. The listing agent told me how much nicer the house looks with my friends’ pretty things in it. Shows better than it did empty so that should help the owner get an offer.
I know it is almost an impossible task, but a homeowner needs to be extra selective of tenant for a home that will remain on the market for sale. Your home will not sell with a slob inside. Or with someone who makes showings difficult.
The issue sellers NEVER think about before they lease:
- Non-homestead taxes. If the home is no longer your primary residence you will have to remove the principal homestead exemption and your property taxes on the home will increase. Don’t forget this when you are calculating your cash flow needs before you rent. The higher taxes will also create objections when you eventually sell it because the non homestead tax rate could remain in place for up to one year for the prospective purchaser, making your home considerably more expensive than a comparable home with homesteaded taxes.
The cost to the Sell-Lord from taking on the wrong tenant could very much outweigh any short term benefits of rental income. If you find yourself in the situation of having a tenant who is making your home “sales proof” talk to them first and see if you can get some cooperation. Bribe them if you have to. If none of those things work, do yourself a favor and take the house off the market until after the tenant is gone. A lengthy history on the MLS is not going to help you either.
photo of Gus by SFSteve
Technorati Tags: selling a rental home, tenants, selling a michigan home
______________________________________________________________Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
Visit Website
Search for homes in Oakland County
_____________________________________________________________
Potentially Related Posts:
14 Responses to “Peeing Dogs Do Not Sell Homes: A Lesson For Sell-Lords”
- 1 Pingback on Apr 9th, 2007 at 5:06 am
- 2 Pingback on Apr 9th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
- 3 Pingback on Jul 27th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
- 4 Pingback on Feb 29th, 2008 at 12:35 am
This is really good, especially the information about ‘non primary residence’ issues. I cannot imagine a house filled with presents from a dog that large. Mind boggling!I bet the dog isn’t even happy about it.
Carole, I did feel sorry for the dog. I am sure he is very sweet. And I bet he does not like living with his own pee everywhere either.
I imagine that a great dane leaves a great big puddle.
I wish there was a service or something to refer these sorts of people to. I always feel so bad for them when I come across this sort of thing.
Hello MF - I just learned about RSS and subscribed to your blog. I love dogs but cannot imagine going into a listing and seeing a Great Dane infront of me. I think the one peeing would have been me.
Ines,
Thanks for subscribing. I did have a moment or two of trepidation when I saw the dog there. I was warned in advance that there was a cat I should not let out. No mention of the great dane though. Gee, they forgot!
At some point one would think common sense would kick in. What is wrong with people? How can they live like that, it’s gross. Doggie should be in the yard.
I can so totally empathize with your thoughts here. It amazes me how many landlords allow their tenants to ’sabotage’ a perfectly good listing. Why bother putting it active on the market when showing conditions like this will so adversely affect attracting a good viable offer?
Good presentation. Maureen. Tenants can really hurt the asset.
Sell lords seem to be less common than the tenants to whom they rent.
High rent rates will eventually change the market for homes…
Investment lots are just that, and are normally mismanaged.