I aquired a listing recently and the home is vacant. The seller flew from Tennessee to meet with me and just to get into the home since it has been vacant for so long. She did a very good job of cleaning out the house.
It had been listed prior and apparently the agent never went in and open it up to air out of turn on the A/C for a little while. So while she was here cleaning the home she ran into a few problems.
She started to hear noises coming from the roof, then while in the home she used the restroom. Noticed that the toliet started to back up. She went to turn the water off to it when she noticed a rat facing right at her. Poor thing went running out of the bathroom and locked the door behind her.
Well Broward County Critter control had to come to the house. They caught a Racoon in the attic and manage to take care of the rat problem. All was great and my seller went back home. I assured her that the home would be visited frequently and opened up.
I got a call from her yesterday that Broward County has to go back into the house. It turns out the Racoon was a female and was lacating. There may be babies in the roof and they may need to cut a part of the ceiling to get to them.
OH no you have got the be kidding me? Well I met with them this morning and we talked about a few things. These little critters just love homes like this. If the agent before had went in and with the toliets flushed them every so often the rats would not have come up from the sewers. Then the Raccoon climb up and crawled through a hole on the side of the roof.
Well it turned out that there were no babies in the roof so no cutting needed to be done. The hole that the Raccoon climbed through was still closed shut. We flushed the toliets so water was still in it.
I learned a few things from this gentlemen. So my question to all of you. Do you go to your vacant homes just to air it out and make sure there are no little friends making home there?
UGH! Sounds awful! Yes we open up the house, flush toilets etc. Think of what would have happened if that had happened to a buyer and another agent!
I and my sales team make a point of keeping an eye on our vacant listings where the owners have moved away. We usually walk through every week just to make sure there are no issues and that the home is still presentable for showings.
We make it clear to the sellers that they are still responsible for the property but we try to provide them with a little extra, back up service.
I go to my vacant homes. There was a dead something (we never could find it) that stunk behind the walls. I would go and leave the garage door open, that's where the smell was strongest. Being over there enough, I got to know the neighbors. I'd go open the garage door in the morning and they would close it up for me at night. The neighbor has become one of my newest clients. I always flush the toilets because they get dried up with the water just evaporating. I didn't like the way it looked, I never considered rats coming up through them. Thanks for the heads up.
I will pass on this....no rats.....but we do try to go by homes and open the windows and run the water, drop pine-sol or other cleaners in the toilets, showers, etc to keep the house smelling fresh.
Julie~ The fresh smelling is the best. Glad to hear you open the home!
Hi Jeanette;
You should visit the home as often as possible, you do not wan't any surprises waiting for visiting agents.
Anthony
Always... In fact, I think it is even more important to visit vacant homes more often than those occupied for just the reason you stated and to check and make sure vandalism hasn't occurred. If it were my vacant listing, I would be visiting the home 2 - 3 times a week to make sure the landscaping is being watered, there are no critters in the home, including spiders and spider webs hanging from the ceiling, and no one has broken into the home and done damage. Turning on the A/C or opening windows is very important to make sure the home smells fresh for prospective buyers. "If I can smell it, I can't sell it!" Thank you for the post!
Jen ~ It had to be a dead animal. The critter guy said that if the babies would have died up there, there would be a bad odor for a couple of weeks since they would have died where we would not had been able to get to. The rats come up since the toliet is dried, so be careful!!
Yes, I actually do, they need to be aired out or they smell awful, and who knows what can happen to a house when it is vacant for so long..
Anthony ~ Just me I don't want any surprises. In fact there was another agent with a possible renter/buyer this same day and are more than likely going with the home!
Konnie ~ Yes they get to smeilling real bad. We put air freshers around the house to help with that!
Sherry ~ Vandalism is a big deal!!!! Would love to get to know the neighbors like that as well! You never know!
Jean ~ I know I had an agent show the house this evening. I would have been so upset had they cut the ceiling!
Cindy ~ My client knows that I am walking the home and if something were to come up that she would take care of it. I am only taking the precaution for her!