Strong cat smell in remodeled home

[Terrel L. Shields]

Sealer might work plus Ozone generator. I drove a company car that smelled like White Owl cigars due to a salesman driving it. Terrible. Never got it out with lysol, stinky skunk mirror hangers, etc. Every time you turned the heater or AC on, it overwhelmed you for a bit.

 

[glenn walker]

We had one with a dead human body in the crawlspace the termite inspector found it. The guy had not been murdered he was a fat plumber who had a heart attack and was under the house for about a week.

Apparently nobody missed him and it was the Realtor who thought a skunk was under the house. Killed the sale the buyers didn't want a house were someone had died. We put a all cash offer on the house at a 20% discount but they didn't take our offer. It sold at full price a few weeks later. Lol

 

[sputnam]

I would assume any buyer either knows or will work it out with the buyer.

The problem is like now your a cat **** smell expert. I do animal rescues and own four cats and in most cases it can be mitigated for $100 bucks unless it's an entire house.

But i can walk the house and tell room by room if its every where but my wife has a nose like a beagle and one spot she panicks. So is it just a spot where a Male cat sprayed ? Which can smell like a whole room ? If so it's not expensive and not a Health and Safety issue

But if I thought the homes carpet throughout was sprayed on by multiple cats I would note the smell and advise carpet to be cleaned.

Now you have to decide..talk to Realtor and ask him or her if they know or make it a conditions ?

Really? The OP is asking an appraisal question about how to handle the fact of strong odor in the subject dwelling and you want to go on a tirade? We all know.. including the mentioned Realtor... that strong odors are off putting to many potential buyers. It may or may not have an impact on the value of the property. It certainly will reduce the number of people who would consider making an offer on the property.

 

[Tom D]

If this was a refi, would you react differently. Love the refi where the dog has used the basement as a toilet and it wasn't cleaned up when i got there.

 

[DTB]

I/we rehabbed a 2 unit with a basement into a full blown high end SFR. Found 20ish cat skeletons in the basement and pee soaked floors throughout the 1st floor. Removed 1,500 square feet of hardwood flooring and sub flooring. Used every enzyme in the books on the joists, sprayed the joists with oil based BIN...new flooring, drywall and paint EVERYWHERE. Let's just say I was glad we sold in the Spring with the windows wide open, still a telltale aroma.

It took months until it was out of my mustache and nose hairs.

Very difficult remediation, I would tread lightly on this one personally.

 

[KHS445]

How does the reported sale price equate to recently sold comparables? Has the fact the subject has this issue been factored into the price? Even if the buyer is ok with the smell you need to remember you are working for the lender and if the smell isn’t corrected and lender ends up foreclosing they will most likely have to take a major hit when they try to liquidate the property.

While I don’t accept secondary market work, I would consider either making your appraisal subject to adequate remediation or talk with professionals who do this type of remediation and see what their estimate of a cost to cure would be and adjust accordingly. The thing to remember this is not your problem, you are a reporter of the facts and based on those facts and comparable sales providing an estimate of value.

 

[Mark K]

If it is on a crawl and not a slab, about the only way to get rid of the smell is to remove the floor coverings, seal the wood sub-floor with KILZ, lacquer, or some good sealer and then replace the floor coverings. A friend bought a repo in this condition. He removed the flooring, mopped the house with strong bleach water, let it dry and then put on a good coat of marine varnish. Fixed.

The smell is more predominant on the first floor and the first floor has vinyl plank.

And now you know why they put down (probably cheap) vinyl plank. They pulled the carpet but didn't do anything about the urine soaked plywood under it.

I'd either make a cost-to-cure adjustment or make it subject to remediation of the odor by a professional. There's nothing wrong with including in the report a statement that the animal smell is overpowering. I appraised one that smelled disgusting (dog) and the toddlers were crawling around on the floor with the "mother" yelling at them to stay out of the dog sht. Just one bullet.

If its a rehab/flip, you also know why it sold as a repo or sold cheap enough for a rehab project. I guess the rehabber isn't going to make a much profit as he'd hoped.

 

[Tom D]

This is a FHA sale. FHA will beat you with a big stick, if you don't cure the problem.
I don't make the rules, i just enforce them. Is what i say to seller.

So, stupid flipper. Will now have to fix. Had they fixed it in the 1st place, maybe gotten a higher sale price. Flipper is going to pay the price 2 times. Being a flipper myself, i have no symphathy for shoddy rehab work.

And thr realtor is also involved, opening the windows to hide a problem. No home inspection, did you ask.