In looking through potential homes, we came across one that had been empty for about a year. One of the reasons for this was that it had a bit of a pet-urine odor. Like Tiger Woods is a bit of a golfer, or Starbucks is a bit of a coffee chain store. Like “cover my nose, fight the ammonia pee smell waves so that they don’t take over my consciousness” smell. 
We spoke w/the owner’s realtor & she claimed ignorance of any smell. Feigned would be a good word. She said it sounded like a ploy on my part to bring down the price on the house. Hmmm. WWMD? (What would Macgyver do?)
Then it came to me. A black light, if its powerful enough, will illuminate bodily fluids that are normally invisible to the naked eye (can’t remember where I learned this… but it is a WWMD moment for sure…) We took it into the house & turned it on. It worked. Well.
Pee stains glowed white. Everywhere. There was an occasional spot of carpet w/o any pee spots, but it was a veritable treasure-trove of pet-urine.
And now, we have evidence that this isn’t just a ploy to drop the price. Hooray…
My next mission is to take it around my house.
LDL
would it actually be possible to bring down the price enough to make purchasing a house full of black light urine?
oh, snap!
Did you show your evidence to the skeptical realtor?
Yep.
But it leads to an interesting thought. The pee smell was so bad in this house that it made my eyes water. Even the Bean could smell it, which tells you something. The agent for the party of the 1st part tried to play it off that there was no pee smell until the glowing evidence showed her that she (& the carpet downstairs) was absolutely full of it.
So, here’s the interesting thought: at what point does a person’s representative (lawyer, realtor, manager, accountant, agent, etc.) quit blindly representing the party of the 1st part & own up to the snow job they’re attempting to pull? When do they tell the party they represent, “Hey, we need to acknowledge reality.”? What is “the tipping point” in this area?
Have they tipped yet?
My instincts tell me that if it’s been on the market for a year, it reeks of pee, and your black light has demonstrated that fact, I’d make them a very low ball offer. They’ll probably counter with something still below what they’re asking.
I agree with Georgia, but would like to add that as retribution for their blatant lies about the urine, that you should request to be allowed to pee in their houses and see if they still continue to be ignorant to the smell. But I’m just a jerk like that…
wow. that is really, and i do mean really cool. see, only your brain would remember something like that. i watched alot of macgyver but all i learned is that brown leather jackets look really cute on blonde haired, hero guys. :)
I have to agree with Noel on that one. Yep….
…I’d pull a “Ghost and Mr.Chicken” thing…agree to buy it if the owner’s realtor will spend the night on the living room floor…
You have got to take some pictures of yourself in action with the black light and post them on the blog!