NUTS & BOLTS PROPERTY MAINTENANCE
The Sweet Smell of Success THOUSANDS OF INVESTORS STRUGGLE WITH STINKY HOUSES. ODORXIT’S DEB MEYER FOUND A SOLUTION—AND TURNED IT INTO A THRIVING BUSINESS. by James Hart
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he calls to OdorXit’s 1-877 help line come practically all day, every day. On the phone are real estate investors desperate to banish the stench of skunk spray, cigarette smoke and dead animals from their rental properties. OdorXit’s president, Deb Meyer, has heard practically every horror story out there— and has helped thousands of people solve them. Her Hamilton, Ohio-based company makes and sells four varieties of OdorXit, a powerful odor eliminator. It removes tough organic smells permanently, especially animal urine and feces, and many inorganic ones, too, Meyer says. OdorXit’s products work in a variety of situations. Meyer’s clientele includes everyone from pet owners to bars to nursing homes. But real estate investors were among OdorXit’s first buyers and are still some of its best customers. “They’re buying houses at a discount, and (those houses) are often at a discount because they smell bad,” Meyer said. She has a lot of sympathy for investors—in fact, she happens to be one herself. Over the years, she’s had to grapple with her share of smelly houses. That’s what led her to start OdorXit. RENTAL PROPERTY? OR LITTER BOX?
Meyer can still remember the property in question. “The 108 | think realty magazine september :: october 2016
seller had locked a cat with a bag of dog food in the house,” she recalled. The cat was left by itself for months. At first, the poor creature “tried to use the litter box, and then he used the whole house as a litterbox.” While they were cleaning the property, Meyer and her husband came across a cleaning agent that worked wonders. It was so effective, they decided to buy that business, rebrand it as OdorXit and begin marketing it to investors like themselves. They started manufacturing the neutralizer, at first in their home and later in their own facility. Today OdorXit employs a team of five people. The products, once available mostly at