Buying a Home With a Cat: How a Black Light Can Be Your Best Friend

When a home is for sale, homeowners tend to go out of their way to make sure that it is in the best possible condition at all times, especially when a prospective buyer is expected to visit. Therefore, when you are shopping for a home, it is really important to remember that you aren't really getting the full effect of how the home usually looks or smells.

When you are looking at homes, you need to be on the lookout for things that might have been disguised so that the house will show well that could potentially become problems down the road. Animal odors, for example, can be masked effectively in many cases. However, masked odors don't always stay hidden, and can become a real problem if they surface after you have already purchased a home.

What's That Smell?
Have you ever walked into a home and been instantly hit by an overwhelming smell that lets you know that cats have been marking their territory inside the home? If you tour a home that has cat odor problems on a warm day, you are very likely to notice this smell if it is present right away. However, on a cold day, the smell might not be so easy to detect.

You certainly don't want to be surprised by the smell of cat urine emanating from your carpet as winter turns into spring in your new home. As a homebuyer, there are steps that you can take to protect yourself from such a problem. You can actually buy a tool at your local pet store or department store that will allow you to detect if there is a problem with cat urine in the home.


Black Light to the Rescue
When you are looking at a house that is currently (or was previously) occupied by cats, you should purchase a black light urine detection tool. Most people don't realize that urine glows when it is under a black light. This simple inexpensive piece of equipment will allow you to see if there is a problem with cat urine in the house, and just how extensive the problem might be.

You are certainly better off finding out about this type of problem before you purchase your home rather than after you have moved in. If you know that there is a cat urine problem in the home, but you still love it, you can always use the knowledge you gained from using your black light to try to negotiate new flooring as part of the purchase agreement.

When it comes to dealing with problems related to cat urine and other pet odors in a home, an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure. When you are making an investment as significant as the purchase of a new home, you need to do everything that you can to learn as much as you possibly can about the home's condition. A simple black light can save you a lot of trouble and expense when it is used to help you flush out hidden animal odor problems.

Contributing author: Highlands Ranch real estate experts, Automated Homefinder of Colorado.