Email Elizabethpet friendly homes
Home Buying With Pets
Home buying with pets is a blog previously written by Elizabeth for another website over a decade ago. I love when words have the same meaning today as they did long ago. This article is close to my heart as pets are a huge part of my lifestyle, ENJOY.
— JaCi Wallace
Whenever I set out in the past to buy a home, one of the qualifying criteria for the home, was to find a place where I could hide my cat’s litter box. Putting the box in a closet with coats and other odor absorbing garments did not appeal to me. And I’m not a person who enjoys stepping on traces of cat litter scattered about the bathroom with my bare feet. Nope, cat boxes require their own special place in the home.
I always ask buyers if they have pets before we start looking at homes, just so we can accommodate those pets in the plans to buy a new home. For example, if a buyer has a dog or wants to adopt a dog, it’s a good idea to buy a home with a fence — or at least be prepared to put up a fence.
I realize some condo dwellers in New York use those indoor dog pad thingies, but I’m dealing with a cat who is in renal failure right now, and I could not imagine dealing with a pad for a pet day in and day out. If you are buying a single family home in which to live with your dog, a fenced yard will be appreciated by both of you.
If you are buying or selling a home do you want to work with Realtors who care about home buying with pets? We list and sell pet-friendly homes. Call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors, with RE/MAX Gold, at 916-233-6759.
— Elizabeth Weintraub
Striking Difference Between a Sphynx Cat and a Flamepoint Ragdoll
My niece Laura just adopted a Sphynx cat. Yes, this one to the left. If you’re unfamiliar with these little critters, these are hairless cats. Sort of like petting a rat, but wait, rats have hair. OK, maybe I have no idea what it’s like to pet a Sphynx cat because I have never petted such a cat. This particular Sphynx cat lives in Minneapolis. I wonder if he needs a little coat in the winter, although I doubt this cat would wear a coat. Or, if he would wear a coat, he would probably have some sort of objection to the color. Ew, you expect me to parade around the house in black wool? I spit on it.?
You really can’t compare my niece’s critter, the Sphynx cat, to Jackson, my Flamepoint Ragdoll, who has so much hair he could sell it online as a pillow stuffer. It’s fine hair, too. Sticks in everything. Which is why I have had to cover many surfaces in my home to avoid sitting down in a pile of cat hair. Our other two, Ocicats, Pia and Pica, shed hair but not as much as Jackson. When they squabble, the Ocicats come away with such a mouthful of white hair we call them Santa Pica and Santa Pia. I also do not wear black or navy suits around my house, so it’s good thing I’m a Sacramento real estate agent and can get away with wearing whatever I want.
We adapt our living arrangements to suit the fancy of our pets. I don’t go as far as a client did and fill the living room with cat trees to resemble a forest, but I do make my home pet friendly for pets. The next person who buys my home will probably appreciate these features. Like our pet-friendly windows.
There is a building code restriction in Sacramento that says your windows must be located above a certain height from the raised foundation, I think it’s 18 inches. Also, windows that are located within a certain distance to doors are supposed to have shatterproof glass in them. You learn about these things when you consider replacing your old aluminum crank-out windows with dual pane. We installed many low-to-the-floor windows, which open, and our screen doors are full view. The cats adore it. They don’t necessarily want to go outside but they love being close to it.
All cats are different but they’re the same in many ways, just like us. The difference between my niece and me is she doesn’t need a Dyson animal vacuum cleaner.
Photos: Laura Burgard and Elizabeth Weintraub
