Should you poison the neighbor's dog??

Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip!

You know the answer before your agent even begins to address the question. Yes, the buyers loved the house. They thought you did a great job on the repairs and updates. Everything was good until they went in the backyard and the neighbor's Terrier barked incessantly. They still wanted to buy and even came back for a second showing because they thought it might be manageable. Nope. Same dog, same problem. Now, they are making an offer on a different house and "how to poison a dog" is in your Google search history.

Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip!

It is an ethical dilemma. On the one hand, you have a family to feed, bills to pay, golf to play, etc. and quite frankly that dog looks a little old. He runs around funny like he has bad vision. The neighbors aren't home that much. How badly are they really going to miss him? On the other hand, no one told you that killing pets was a requirement of being a rehabber. Is this really a line you want to cross? If so, where does it get redrawn?

Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip!

Before tossing that Prozac-laced filet over the fence, stop and think. If you are truthful with yourself, you know this just might be your fault. The Terrier was there when you bought the house. You were told not to buy houses next to barking dogs, but you did it anyway. The deal was just too good to pass up, right? The dog was there every time you stopped by to check on the rehab progress, but you didn't put up a privacy fence because you didn't think you'd get a good return on it, right? Perhaps, it isn't fair to make the dog pay for your sins.

The internet is full of inexpensive solutions (vinegar soaked rags, mothballs, coffee grounds) that will keep dogs away from your property. Feel free to experiment with these, but I recommend building the fence. It won't actually affect your rehab profit as you should have you accountant properly classify it as an education expense.

In the mean time,check out our blog on houses not to buy Part 1 and Part 2.

To learn more about Part-Time REI visit us at http://part-timerei.com/ Or connect with us