Is that a dead duck?!!!!!

It is one of the first questions we get from a Seller. "What do I need to do to get my house ready to put it on the market?" There is always the usual stuff: get rid of clutter, clean like crazy, put fresh mulch and flowers out... You don't want the Buyer to get distracted by all of your stuff, you want them to see the house.
So, it was funny the other day when I was making calls to various Agents to let them know I would be showing their listings to have an Agent tell me "Great! Show the house, it is vacant, but some of their stuff is still there. Please, try to overlook the animals." What? If they are not living there, why are there animals there? She said "Well, they are big hunters." OK....
So we get there, and I try to prepare my Buyers, not really sure what we are going to encounter. The 1st thing we notice is not the animals, but the smell. I guess they smoke a lot when they hunt. But as we enter the home, holy moly!!! There were so many stuffed animals, I thought I was at Fernbank! Fox, moose, deer, some weird squirrel like thing...deer skin on the bed. But my favorite was a plexiglass case with some sort of cat with a "fresh kill" (duck). Wow!
The thing is, my Buyers probably would have really liked the property but it was lost in all the animals. They got distracted. They couldn't see the home,just dead animals everywhere. So, if you are getting your home ready to put it on the market, I might suggest you store your dead ducks somewhere else.
Stacy