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Selling Your Home – Tips For Pet Owners
As a pet owner, I do not need to be convinced of the joy that pets can bring to the family home. However, no matter how treasured a dog or cat may be, when a pet owner is attempting to sell a house, the animal’s presence can produce unanticipated problems.
When buyers and their agents want to view a listing, the presence of a pet can introduce problems that make it appear less appealing than similar competing properties. Here are a few examples of typical situations that maycrop up when pets are involved.
1. If sellers need to be notified prior to a showing so that they may make arrangements for their pets, potential buyers could lower the home’s priority on their list of homes to visit. It’s basically more convenient to visit a home when there aren’t any scheduling issues.
2. Likewise, if sellers have special directions for dealing with pets, such as “put the dog in the laundry room” or “don’t let the cat go outside”, buyers may decide that it’s more convenient to view other properties first. In today’s very competitive market, anything that makes a showing complicatedcould be a negative factor.
3. A barking dog can, of course, be a potential detriment. Irrespective of how friendly the dog really may be, buyers who are not comfortable with dogs could have concerns regarding their personal safety. Even quiet dogs who are overly friendly may be stressful to potential buyers and may reduce the length of time they spend in the home. The more timethat a buyer stays in a home, the more likely they are to be considering making an offer.
4. The presence of a pet on the property may negatively affect a showing. I once had a showing of a house where the sellers left the housebut did not take their dog with them. Instead, the dog was left within the fenced-in backyard. The house was perfect for my buyer since his hobby was woodworking and the home included a separate woodshop building. Unfortunately, since his wife was terrified bydogs – and the woodshop was located in the backyard – they never even went out to takea look at it.
5. Pets might produce odor problems no matter how sanitary the home might be. Pet owners get used to these odors and might not even notice them. However, buyers who are unaccustomed to living with pets might be turn
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ed off for concern that they could never completely get rid of the unpleasant smell. Ask your friends or your agent to give you an honest evaluation of any smells that they notice when entering your home – then take action to eliminate them.
Naturally, not all pets are a potential hindrance to the sale of a property. An aquarium or caged birds may enhance the decor and ambiance and might even be considered to be exotic. And, of course, if you are selling a farm or horse property, havinghorses would definitely be a plus.
While animal lovers might not find the presence of pets to be a problem, it is prudent to do everything possible to make sure that buyers who don’t seem to be “animal people” are not inadvertently excluded from the pool of potential buyers.
By: JT Navary
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Jim Navary has been a freelance writer and researcher for over thirty five years reporting on a broad variety of subjects. He is also a licensed realtor in the Commonwealth of Virginia featuring Fort Lee VA real estate and Tri Cities VA homes for sale.
LOT'S HAPPENING OVER COFFEE – Yahoo! India News
A coffee picker earns a rupee and a half per hour for his or her labour. At eight hours a day, it would still not be a whole number of even my unsubstantial salary. Yet I offered to do time at the Thirthagundi estate, one of the hundreds of coffee estates in the breathtaking Malnad region of Karnataka.
A recent weekend trip to the Café Coffee Day (CCD)-owned plantation proved to be an eye opener in more ways than one. The 5 Senses Coffee Trail, a crash course in coffee appreciation—from its history to brewing it—was an educative and exhilarating experience, especially as the delightful Chikkamagaluru, or Chikmagalur weather complimented the stay. Incidentally, the town is on the periphery of the holiday map for the area, and CCD last year inaugurated what is arguably the resort destination in Karnataka, The Serai. But more on that elsewhere.
Coffee is said to have originated in Ethiopia in the ninth century when a Sufi monk discovered goats that consumed the coffee cherries were more energetic, says Dr Prakash Kenjige, Head, Research and Development, CCD. Its fame and reputation spread and it remained a closely guarded secret of the Arab world till expanded trade and smuggling spread it to the rest of the world in the centuries where seafaring mercantilism was at its peak.
In India, it is said that another Sufi saint, Baba Budan smuggled seven beans in his belly button and planted them in Chikmagalur in the 17th century, and the district to date remains the centre of coffee plantations in the country. Baba Budan is still revered in the area for his service, only violent competing claims by some Hindus and Muslims have led to a ban on any visits to his shrine—a Babri Masjid-like situation in south India.
Coffee grows best in cool tropical climates. In India, south Karnataka and Kerala produce the bulk of India's 2,93,000 tonnes, the production for last year. Two major varieties are grown, Arabica and Robusta, though the former has greater value for exports. There are about 800 varieties in all though. And there are four crucial individuals in the journey from the plantation to your cup at a nearby cafe—the planter, roaster, blender and brewmaster. We would meet them all, we discovered.
Coffee, before the cup
The coffee plant requires about a year to grow from the seed, planted in nurseries. The saplings are then transferred in plantations, on average 1.8 hectares in India. The flowering season is in February, and the fruit takes about nine months to mature. While CCD, India's largest owner of estate area with about 8,000 acres, grows its own coffee, it also buys from other plantations, says Dr Kenjige.
Coffee plantations are not just about coffee, we soon discovered. The plantations are dominated by tapering silver oaks and arecanut trees, both which are pruned by specialists who, to do that, do not climb each tree individually, but swing from one tree to another. Just watching them to do at heights of about 15 to 20 feet makes one dizzy. The forests abound in orchids, growing high in the hills. We did not just stop to watch lush green peppers, but bit into them immediately. Hot, but oh so fresh.
The ripe red coffee cherries are best for picking—note that unlike tea, which comes from leaves—coffee comes from fruit, making processing that much more difficult, points out the coffee lobby, combating the much greater popularity of tea in India. The cherry has few takers, as it is sweet in an unpleasant way. Apart from the civet of course, whose droppings make for the most expensive coffee in the world, at about $10,000 for a mere cuppa! Madonna never travels without it, one is told!
After harvesting, the coffee berries are transported immediately and the beans extracted either by wet (pulping) or dry (sun drying) methods. When the moisture content is about 11.5%—coffee experts know that by tasting, they are sent to the blender. Though CCD itself uses just one blend across its cafes, it makes 28 blends, many for sale outside the company. Next came the roasting machines—three storey high machines that purred and whizzed and hissed almost unceasingly. And there's a new one company. From there is was just a short step to packing, which involves special six-layered packs that let the heat escape but not the aroma, so that when you open the packet, you still smell fresh coffee. Don't ask me how.
Felix Daniel Mathew, Manager, F&B, took us through the intricacies of brewing. We were meant to master the skill of not just making the perfect coffee, but also those beautiful hearts and flowers that top the cups! We may not have got that right, but between learning the right fruit to pick to the right grinding proportions, a cup of coffee no longer remained just that. It is a work of art!
Brewing success
Café Coffee Day is soon going to reach its long cherished target of a 1,000 cafes. By far India's largest beverage chain outlet, its rapid progress over the past few years have seen it set standards for the sector. As CCD rolls out its new look and repositions itself, Alok Gupta, Director, Café Coffee Day explains to FE the motivations and the path ahead.
CCD already has more than 800 cafes. What is the potential number of cafes for India?
We have about 850. We've recently opened in new locations such as Srinagar, Gangtok, Rourkela, Kodaikanal and many others. We are opening about 18 to 20 per month. We are targeting about 950 to 1,000 by March 2010. Overall, we think the market can have about 2,000 to 2,500 cafes. After the first thousand, we shall assess our further progress. We are rolling out our new look.
Where did the new look come from?
Our research tells us that the consumer is looking for new, trendy stuff. The cappuchino remains our top seller, but we also see that the consumers are getting more experimental and trying out new drinks. The logo has changed shape from the famous red and white square. We are observing differences in F&B preferences. Our food sales are going up, the younger consumers are preferring cold beverages. Shadow drinks such as Sunset Brew have done well. The lychee drink did well as well, and we are doing Layers, a winter collection with drinks such as the Arctic Sun, where an expresso shot is poured over the drink.
CCD is also diversifying into different categories of cafes. Is the Indian consumer appreciating the difference?
Going ahead, we are categorising all our outlets into three categories—Café Coffee Day, Coffee Lounge and Coffee Day Square. The first Coffee Day Square has opened in Bangalore and is highlighting single origin coffees. There are already about 20 Coffee Lounges and more are on the anvil.
What should we expect in 2010?
We have always tried to predict customer footprint. We believe that an increasing number of Indians will spend more time outside their homes, also increasing their spend on F&B. We shall continue to open in Tier-II, which is reacting favourably. Our new identity is still rolling out. There will be more stores and more trendy beverages. We will expand our offering of café style and Indian food.
Suman Tarafdar
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