Looking for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with granite countertops and a finished basement? What about a fenced-in yard? Or the pitter patter of puppy feet on hardwood floors?
For realtor DJ Soucy of St. Petersburg, Florida, selling houses isn’t just about finding people their dream home, it’s about growing their families. Since October 2020, Soucy has offered a unique promotion: “Free dog with every home sold.”
“It just got me thinking, I spend all this time trying to help people find the perfect home,” Soucy told ABC Action News in Tampa. “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could help animals, dogs, in particular, find a way home?”
The idea struck when his husband sent him a photo of their own pup, “slumped over the couch looking out the window, wondering when I was coming home.” From there, Soucy reached out to Scott Daly, executive director of Pet Pal Animal Shelter, and a perfect partnership was born.
Since then, the initiative has resulted in donations exceeding $50,000 and countless adoptions, all helping reduce overcrowding at the shelter. “Either way,” Daly said, “the animals win.”
Here’s how it works: after closing on a house, clients have six months to visit Pet Pal Animal Shelter and go through their application process for a cat or dog. The shelter has final approval, and the DJ Soucy Group covers any adoption fees. If a buyer isn’t ready to adopt, Soucy donates the $200 adoption fee to the shelter in their name.
“They always like to show me exactly where that money’s gone and how it’s helped,” Soucy said. According to Daly, most of those dollars are spent on medical and operational costs to keep the no-kill shelter running.
“I’ve yet to have anybody who wasn’t interested in it, who didn’t think it was fantastic and a great cause,” Soucy added. The clients love it, and so do the animals.
The program has been so successful that Soucy is now working with real estate agents across the country to integrate a similar give-back component, even offering them a marketing playbook.
“At the DJ Soucy Group, we believe everyone deserves a perfect home,” one of their Instagram posts reads, “including our four-legged friends.”
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