[00:00:00] Dusti Martin: Hi,
[00:00:00] Christina Johnson: welcome to the, the humor house. I'm your host, Christina Johnson and, um, today's episode where we have a guest dusty Martin. Arizona. And she's going to talk to us about two stories that have to do with cat houses. And, um, I guess the, the subject on everybody's mind is how much damage can a hundred cats do to a home.
[00:00:26] And that's what Dusty's going to share with us. So, um, dusty in your line of work, I'm sure you've gone into houses where you've
[00:00:37] Dusti Martin: smelled cat
[00:00:38] Christina Johnson: urine, and I'm not talking about. A few stains here or there. I'm talking about like an overwhelming smell of ammonia. So you've experienced
[00:00:48] Dusti Martin: that in real estate. Yeah, actually I just came from a house.
[00:00:52] I walked into the kitchen was like, oh dear, here, we. Uh, yeah, but, um, no, my, my [00:01:00] experience with, uh, pet odors and, um, investment properties started when I was a kid in elementary school, my mom all owned about three properties in our neighborhood. And her goal was to use these as investments, rent them out. I have the residual income and then by the time being, my brother came of age, hopefully they'd be paid off and then she could get us a house and we could have.
[00:01:25] that's the dream, right? Fortunately, um, he had a constant string of nightmare renters, one of which, um, had some animal issues. Um, and this is a podcast for another day, but they had horses that ate the side off the house. They fed every straight cat for a hundred miles. It seemed like, and they really like the amount of damage that was done to that house.
[00:01:55] Um, just in the couple of years they lived there was like, [00:02:00] you can't even begin to imagine. So, so how did your mom discover that there was. Well, this particular property was literally right across the street. And you know, when the kids are out doing their chores, she would see all these cats come running.
[00:02:15] When. Feed the cats. And, um, these particular runners eventually had to be evicted for nonpayment, but, um, it was a horse property neighborhoods. So having a minute as your animals was not a problem for her, she wanted horse people and farm people to be there, which is fine. But, um, if you're not cleaning up after animals are containing or controlling them properly, then it does become a problem.
[00:02:42] Right. So, um, luckily for her, it was right across the street. And so it was kind of obvious. Um, actually, since we were little, their kids were little and we all played together. Um, so in a way, like she. The in and [00:03:00] around the house, you know, but eventually got to the point where between that and the non-payment and just thought totally laying waste to the property.
[00:03:08] Um, they had to go.
[00:03:10] Christina Johnson: So how many cats do you think
[00:03:13] Dusti Martin: were on the property? Easily? A hundred. Um, they got a cat food in bulk to this day. There are always residual strays, like a couple of here and there. Um, Oddly enough going back and forth between those two houses. And, um, so when we would go over there, I mean, there was cats inside, outside, and so like they would go into the laundry room to get all the cat food.
[00:03:41] And I remember being there with their daughter and she would have to like open can upon can, uh, dry food upon and just set out at least. More than a dozen dishes every day, whatever time. And they would all come running and it didn't matter where you tried to walk or [00:04:00] where you were going. There was just cats running inside and out how they kept them straight.
[00:04:04] I don't even know. Um, and, uh,
[00:04:07] Christina Johnson: that must have severely damaged, like the inside of the
[00:04:09] Dusti Martin: house. Right. So, um, long story short, the carpet. In there. My mom figured, well, let's just take out the carpet. No big deal. Put something else down. Well, she did that come to find out. Um, cat urine is so acidic that it actually ate through the carpet, ate through the pad and went right into the concrete.
[00:04:33] And there was no amount of sealant or cleaner that could fix that concrete. Super-super super. Super porous. And I don't think people realize that because it's such a hard surface. Right. But it's so porous that all those little teeny tiny holes, the urine and the enzymes get down into and can eat away at it.
[00:04:57] And so it, eventually, [00:05:00] once they were evicted and we had to like really go in and see what kind of damage there was, um, the. Foundation in that front room actually had to be jackhammered out. Luckily this house was built long before. Um, post-tension slabs were things it was built in the fifties. So luckily they just kind of shored up the footings and then re report that room.
[00:05:23] Um, but you can imagine for a single mom on a limited budget, this was supposed to be an income property, not a huge. Property. So it was definitely financially trying on her. And, um, yeah, so, and
[00:05:41] Christina Johnson: it obviously traumatized you because you remember that experience
[00:05:45] Dusti Martin: today. I'm not duke rentals. Um, people often ask me to do them and I say, I'm sorry, I don't do rentals.
[00:05:52] I've seen some things. That's that's one of the main reasons why is because, and I hate to say it wasn't just these one [00:06:00] renters, like I said, she owns three properties and every single one of them had their own level of destruction, depending on the animal they had or the kids they had or whatever. So, um, yeah, I, I don't do rentals and it's just because I know that when it's not somebody's personal home, they're not going to care for it the same way.
[00:06:20] Um, an owner. And even if they're great renters, they're usually not going to fix, you know, damage under tear and stuff like that. They're not going to do it. So
[00:06:32] Christina Johnson: I just, yeah. And that carried over, not just to that, but then you said you and your mom used to turn over properties. Right. And you had an experience
[00:06:43] Dusti Martin: there.
[00:06:44] Yeah. So in 2009, um, yeah. I was part of that graduating class at college grads were 50% of us didn't have a job because there weren't. And so we've just kind of looked at each other and she said, well, we know how to swing a hammer [00:07:00] in her 401k to become a one-on-one. So we started flipping properties. We knew how to fix stuff because I grew up fixing stuff.
[00:07:08] Yeah. So, um, so we did that, but eventually I got my real estate license and went and did them on my own. And lo and behold, the very first property I bought on my own, uh, was an auction property. It had been a forced, um, sheriff eviction, which basically. You've been there so long that it's gone to court and they've given you a certain amount of days and you're still not out.
[00:07:35] So the sheriff knocks on your door and says, you've got 15 minutes to get your stuff and get out. And sometimes they come with a moving truck and sometimes they don't and they can take it wherever. But this particular house, um, vast majority of stuff was left. A lot of furniture, um, clothes. There was an entire fridge full of food that was left behind.
[00:07:57] And then of course power was shut [00:08:00] off. So, um, in the Arizona heat with no AC no power, you can imagine what that was like three months later, my guys got to it. Um, and so I kid you not, I buy this house on a Friday evening. Right. And immediately I, the minute it records, I just said, I need to get over there and change the locks on this property and shored up.
[00:08:25] So me and my husband grabbed, um, uh, set a new locks and we drive out there. He wants to see like, okay, would my wife buy and get out there? And, um, whew, my husband is allergic to cats and literally we're having a hard time drilling this lockout for whatever reasons, probably the heat with all the metal.
[00:08:49] Expanding and stuff. And, um, we finally get it open and the door swings open and just immediately [00:09:00] the cat odor hits us and it was so bad. His throat like immediately started to swell up. Like he could not long into the house. So here I am trying to go through this vacant house. Possibly squatters have been in, cause there was some broken windows.
[00:09:16] So I'm having to go in by myself to get to the back door so we can drill out that lock to and change that and try to secure the property as best we could. And um, that house again, they had left their kitty behind and um, because obviously they left in a hurry drawer, cabinet drawers and, um, doors and stuff were open.
[00:09:39] So the cat had free. And I don't know if it was just one cat or many cats. I don't know. I'm guessing just one that left there for a long, long time. And he had gotten inside of almost every cabinet in every bathroom, in the kitchen, um, every floor, everything, and he had pooped [00:10:00] and peed and lived his best kitty.
[00:10:05] Christina Johnson: I'm sure. And I'll rent free.
[00:10:09] Dusti Martin: And then, um, I guess when, what food was left there for him ran out. So did he, so I guess he left through the window or something. He wasn't there when I got there, but it was still there. And so, um, that particular house, they had just put like laminate flooring in most of the common areas and all of that had to come out.
[00:10:32] It was only about a year. And, um, the one saving grace with that house was the membrane layer that has to go out or go into. Um, the laminate wood floor. And when you put it down, you know, the sound, so it's not clacking against the concrete. Yeah. Lucky for me, that membrane was there and it was fairly new.
[00:10:55] And so it hadn't been a hundred cats. It was more like one, maybe two. [00:11:00] Um, and luckily not a lot of prolonged liquid. And so, um, all of that had to come out. Every piece of tile had to come out, every sink, every vanity, every toilet, um, every kitchen and bathroom cabinet, um, every ounce of tile, every ounce, like literally I took everything back to the walls.
[00:11:22] Um, wow. Because yeah, we're a little cat had done that much damage
[00:11:27] Christina Johnson: and I don't think people realize how much damage. Cat and dog urine can do. And when people go into a home, often, what I hear is, oh, well, we can just change the carpeting. But like you said, that's not necessarily true because it seeps into that concrete.
[00:11:46] And so what do you do you have to do to just even clean the concrete? Like what kind
[00:11:52] Dusti Martin: of stuff? So in that particular house, like I said, the saving grace was the. Um, the membrane, so the [00:12:00] concrete was still okay. And then there was actual legit tile. Um, and luckily it was just one cat. So everything came out.
[00:12:07] However, it might help mum, excuse me, hiccups home. Um, I also bought this home before I was licensed. Um, I was just really good at finding deals. It was a foreclosure and, um, we bought it from the homeowner, but he, um, he did have. And when we did our inspection and everything, like there was like this bathroom behind me wasn't even done.
[00:12:33] It was just a hole in the floor, that kind of stuff. And it was fun that we could never afford this neighborhood otherwise. And so for us, it was more like, get it while you can afford it, you know, at the very bottom of the market. So, um, with him, he had a little dog and cute. Um, miniature Greyhound and Greyhound little guy.
[00:12:57] And, um, we noticed when we moved in, [00:13:00] like, okay, we've got to restretch the carpet. So we paid a friend to come in to restretch the carpet and everything. I mean, it wasn't anything special, but it didn't look or smell like a dog. And that's the one thing like, dogs aren't as destructive, but over enough time they can't be right.
[00:13:18] Right. Um, and at least to me, it doesn't smell that. But, um, so, you know, a couple of years later, this guy eventually ended up renting my husband's first home. So basically we purchased this one and then rented the other one back to him. Right. Because he still wanted to stay in that area. And so we, um, you know, we stretch it and then, you know, we moved in and my little dog starts marking and peeing in the house, which he's never done before.
[00:13:47] And now. That's weird. Like why I doing this? You know, I'm figuring out, okay, well, whatever. So a couple of years goes by and we're my husband and [00:14:00] the art, the original seller. Who's now the renter, uh, got to talk in and he said, yeah, we're getting ready to put some new carpet in and we can't figure out why the dog keeps peeing in the house that he's really dead.
[00:14:12] And he goes, oh, you kept that card. And we were like, w what do you mean? He goes, why dog? Like, peed all over that, like all the time. I would've thought you guys would stripped it out. And we were
[00:14:25] Christina Johnson: like,
[00:14:25] Dusti Martin: thanks for letting us know. That was not all the disclosures. Thanks bud. No, so. So eventually what we had to do, and we wanted to make sure since this is our forever home and I was not about to get rid of my puppies, that this problem didn't come back once we put new carpet in.
[00:14:45] And so, um, what we did or actually, no, I think we replaced the carpet once and it, it D problem didn't fix itself. So we were like, okay, that's not okay. So then the second time is when I did some research. Um, I got a [00:15:00] product called TSP and, um, basically scrubbed with a stiff bristle broom, stiff bristle brush, the entire floor, treated it with TSP and then cleaned it all up.
[00:15:13] Treated it again, right. It was a couple of day period. To let it sit. So can get down into all the Nixon, Nixon, crannies, and grooves and everything. And then after that was all done, I went and, um, took and rolled out two coats of Kilz primer, which seals, seals, and odors and stains and stuff like that, that down.
[00:15:39] And then had the carpet guys come in and put a new flooring and knock on wood. That worked. But like I said, it was just one little dog and, um, luckily we didn't have to Jack hammer it out. But, um, to this day, if I walk into a house and I smell something, especially if it's cat urine, like [00:16:00] dog urine, you can usually deal with, um, with something like that, as long as it's not too terribly bad, but, uh, with cat urine, that stuff is so acidic.
[00:16:08] It will eat right through the carpet and the padding underneath it. So then I really think that
[00:16:16] Christina Johnson: that's the huge lesson here with these stories is that, you know, if you're looking to buy a home and you smell that, that you should at least anticipate the expense could be higher because you need to additionally treat the concrete and seal it.
[00:16:33] Right. Um, and then I guess the second lesson is if you are a homeowner and you're allowing your pets to. Urinate and defecate all over your floors stop because it will cost you thousands of dollars
[00:16:49] Dusti Martin: in the value of your home. Yeah. So we, I mean, I, oh, go ahead. I was going to say, um, carpet should last you about seven years.
[00:16:58] And I think the first [00:17:00] replacement only really lasted us about three because the dog going to stop peeing and we couldn't figure out why this house trained dog, all of a sudden had to pee in the house. And it was because the previous owner. Um, but the other thing too is keep in mind, like what kind of material are we talking about?
[00:17:18] That's been damaged. Are we talking about tile where it's so thick and hard, that it's very unlikely for it to be down in the concrete underneath, or when you talking about carpet
[00:17:30] Christina Johnson: cause or laminate. Right.
[00:17:33] Dusti Martin: And how bad is it on that ergo? Right.
[00:17:37] Christina Johnson: When people per, per go in a, in a bathroom or a kitchen, that's a totally different episode.
[00:17:41] But
[00:17:43] Dusti Martin: that, that never goes well. Well, I appreciate
[00:17:50] Christina Johnson: you sharing these stories because I think a lot of people are going to learn and I'm sure that there's someone out there who's listening to this and saying, I can't get my dog to stop peeing on the carpet and they [00:18:00] might go, okay, ding, ding, maybe the previous owner had a pet.
[00:18:03] Right. And, and this is how. Hopefully take care of
[00:18:07] Dusti Martin: the problems. In fact, in Arizona, I don't know about your state, but in Arizona, on our seller property disclosure statement, there are a couple of lines devoted to, has the owner ever had any animals and you should pay very
[00:18:20] Christina Johnson: close attention to extra attention because the next question would be because all they have to do is say yes, a dog or a cat, and then.
[00:18:32] Yes. And I think third there's no third line, but the third conversation is, has your animal have your animals, uh, you know, peed on the carpeting, right? You know what to do,
[00:18:46] Dusti Martin: get down on the floor and
[00:18:46] Christina Johnson: smell it, but probably not the best idea. Yeah.
[00:18:50] Dusti Martin: Well, dusty,
[00:18:51] Christina Johnson: thank you so much for sharing your story. I really appreciate it.
[00:18:54] And if someone's thinking about moving from or to Scottsdale Arizona, how can they
[00:18:59] Dusti Martin: get [00:19:00] ahold of you? Yeah, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, um, or on my website, just search dusty Martin realtor.com or dusty Martin realtor on Instagram. Uh, same with YouTube, YouTube slash dusty Martin realtor.
[00:19:14] And it's D U S T I M a R T I N. Awesome.
[00:19:18] Christina Johnson: And, um, thank you so much. If you're thinking about making a move to San Diego or Riverside county, you can also text or call me (858) 375-4388. Than