Just sold: Brand new, custom home with hardwood floors, recessed lighting, custom paint and a flat screen TV. Sales Price? $13,500.

Think you can’t afford a home in the Bay Area? Maybe not for yourself, but you certainly can for your four-legged pooch.

Ranging in price from $800 – $25,000, doggie duplex’s, cottages, and mansions are all the rage. A recent article in BusinessWeek.com (10/18/06) stated that pet owners will spend $38.4 billion on their animals in 2006, up nearly $10 billion from 2001. Forget the lambskin blanket; it appears that what your dog really wants is a custom-built home.

Electricity, hardwood floors, faux rugs, and windows are just a few options designers will include. One such San Francisco based designer requires a personal interview with the would-be owner.

In an interview with Businessweek.com, Michelle Pollak, a designer for La Petite Maison, said “One client had us send paint samples to let the dog choose the color. The client put down three paint chips and saw which one the dog went to first,” Pollack says. Nevermind that dogs are colorblind.

Donald Gorbach, real estate broker and owner of “Doggie Mansions,” will even pay real estate agents and brokers an unprecedented 10 percent commission on every home they sell.

Agents, if you are having trouble selling the real deal, try selling one of these.

Resources:
www.businessweek.com
www.doggiemansions.com
www.lapetitemaison.com
Picture from La Petite Maison