She did real estate "as a hobby" Not only do you have a treat waiting for people looking (make sure you have some small bottles of water available), the house will smell like "home" to them.
When I sold my 1970's era house (as a 2 bdrm, 2 bath "fixer", dropping the price I could ask by about $20K) by myself, the main issue was not the roof that was getting to the end of it's lifetime or the need for a few cosmetic repairs due to pet damage over the years (puppies are almost worse than toddlers...) , it was with the kitty litter area - no matter how much I cleaned.
The house didn't smell of pets, people always commented with surprise when they saw the critters. Everyone loved the house until they walked into the well ventilated master bath and saw the box and the scattered sand on the floor, because inevitably, the little monsters would just have to take a dump right before people walked in. No one had too many issues with the tore up carpet or roof - the open kitchen area with French doors leading to a pergola to the backyard, arched entries, lots of double pane windows and tons of built-ins was the main selling point when I bought it, and most people felt the same way when they saw it, but a kitty litter box, no matter how "artful" just killed the vibe.
The people who eventually bought the place were going to rip it down to the studs, reconfigure everything, and add a room before they moved in anyway. They had five kids and were more interested in the lot dimensions - half again the usual city lot in that area - than they were the house itself. Which was sad in a way, but hey, there was a lot of difference between building codes from the early 1970's and the 2000's.
Haele
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