Kris- Having just purchased a home using your wonderful services this past spring, I am shocked to just now find out that my home, too, must not be considered “dog friendly”! Its funny, because the one thing I look for in a home is a place my pups will be safe and warm. What is really sad is how much we love it here in SD. I mean, you would think with all of the dog friendly beaches, parks, stores, etc, they would have thought to build dog and cat friendly houses! Such a shame. I guess Lay and Eb will have to suffer through. And they seemed so happy, too…

Perhaps you should start a movement to have this type of information added to the MLS listings. Then we won’t make this mistake again.

Maybe we should discuss over lunch?

Kendra! We are indeed overdue for lunch. Let’s do it soon before we both head to Florida.

Nice to hear from you again!

That sounds good. I hope Bert can get stationed there……

Email when you know what your schedule looks like. I am pretty flexible most days. See you soon!

Kris: This is really neat. Since you are well aware that we now live in the abyss known as Florida, we can surely add to your post and provide some little known facts about this pet friendly state. It is a known fact that pets here seem to gain weight at warp speed. The reasons are many so I’ll only share a few:
1. Too hot for most of the year. Even dogs won’t go outdoors
2. Too many bugs, fire ants and some things not yet identifiable that can hurt/kill a pet.
No exercise is just as bad for a dog as it is for we humans. Remember our lean Lucky? Got here and weighed 47 lbs. He now is pushing 60 lbs.
Yes we do have some fine walking trails and even a dog park but you need to go back to 1 & 2 above..
If a potential buyer is looking to come to Florida we have the perfect house for them..

Kris,

I only work with people looking to purchase homes with green carpeting. It has been my experience that green carpeting people tend to be smarter consumers and are looking for an agent that understands their needs and goals.

Rich (and fat Lucky), Hopefully you will be back in SoCal soon – Lean, comfortable and bug-free! Hi to Lynn for me!

Chris, That is one hysterically funny comment. Thanks for the much needed chuckle this morning.

What do you want to be that the owner of that company is a gal who’s a RBW (real bow-wow)? :0

The Pet Realty Network was launched just three weeks ago and therefore it would not be possible to have hundreds of thousands of listings in a very short time but if you know of a way to achieve this I would be most interested. There are over 69 million pet owners in the United States and over $34 billion was spent on pets in 2006 and the market is continuing to grow. Unlike the Real Estate market that, according to CNN Money yesterday,showed that from a report by Realtors the fourth quarter shows the largest price drop on record as markets with price declines now outpace those with gains. The Pet Realty Network is helping Pet Friendly Real Estate Agents target Pet Friendly people that could be interested in buying or selling property as well as offering marketing advice through the Pet Friendly Real Estate Marketing Center. With our 20 years of experience in both the Pet and Real Estate markets we are simply opening another way to market properties as I was tired of seeing the same look-a-like Web sites with Agents saying they can “find your dream home” and they are “committed to excellence” which in my opinion should go without saying. Personally I believe it important to state what your expertise is in whether you are Pet Friendly, an expert in beachfront properties, farms and ranches or investment property, etc. I am only sorry that you needed to belittle a Web site that has just started as I am certain that even your company, Prudential California Realty, began with only limited listings and did not cover every city and town in California. I am a firm believer that any publicity is good publicity as long as they spell your name right as it gives more people the opportunity to know about The Pet Realty Network and make their own decision about its value.

Rhona,

I apologize for my comments being seen as “belittling” your web site. My intent was to question the long-term potential for success in what I think is a very small niche market. Marketing agents who have a unique specialty may have possibilities. Attempting to provide a home search portal on a national level for this small niche may be a questionable decision, however, in the context of long-term viability. Just my opinion.

As a proud pet owner, I wish you the best of luck, of course.

Kris
Thank you for your reply and I must have misunderstood your original Blog when you referred to The Pet Realty Network as a Really Dumb Marketing Idea. Having worked in the Pet Industry both in the United States and Europe I believe that the niche we have chosen is large enough for us and that we can help Real Estate Agents target this market. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association over 63% of United States households own a pet and 45% of United States households own more than one pet with dogs and cats contributing over 160 million to that figure. If there are any firm statistics relating to “people that like green carpet” (comment from Chris) I would like to know the source. Having worked with pet owners in AAA Clubs across the United States, Credit Unions and with over 8,000 Veterinarians we believe we have an excellent understanding of this market and of course our database of pet owners and pet healthcare providers is quite substantial. We look forward to working with all the Pet Friendly Real Estate Agents that have Pet Friendly properties that they wish to market to people around the world.

Kris – NOW you have done it. I’m noticing strange cars driving by our home and parking nearby. Does PETA or the RSPCA use unmarked cars?

Maybe you should put Rhona in touch with Redfin. With 69 million pet owners and $34 billion spent on pet products in 2006 (including my own contribution of about $500 for Simon and Fluffy) their combined data bases could result in a powerhouse (with rebates, of course).

BTW, I used the same numbers Rhona uses when I invested in PETCO stock about a year ago and got my a$$ kicked when the stock tanked. Oh well…

[...] In her usual sarcastic style, she pretty much does a number on the Pet Realty Model. It was a clever and funny post, not intended to be serious. But THEN…Rhona from Pet Realty apparently took Kris’ post seriously and personally (and literally) and posts a scathing comment in rebuttal, seriously defending their new model. Kris, somewhat shellshocked from the verbal lashing tries to make nice-nice, but Rhona creams her again in another comment. Enter Steve (that would be me). I comment that there are suspicious cars and vans driving by our home (this is true) and I’m wondering if the RSPCA or PETA is closing in. THEN, Matt from Inman News comes along and, during the course of his interview of Kris, is made aware of the “humorous” exchange we have been having with Rhona from Pet Realty. He puts an anecdotal summary in the sidebar of his article and next thing we know, POOF, Pet Realty gets a feature nod in the Inman Blog, a national stage. What’s the saying? Sometimes life is just not fair… [...]

Kris,

You’ll always offend someone when you offer an opinion. If you don’t say something you’ll offend people who are against something and if you do say something you’ll offend those are for it. Don’t let it get to you. Write from your heart, at least that way the criticism is about your opinion and not your character.