Great Service for My Sellers Even During Cicada Season

by Corcoran McEnearney

By now, you surely have come across at least a couple—or droves—of cicadas in your yard. I will confess that I was horrified, to put it mildly, (yes! I am a drama queen!) *Insert this emoji when I recently went to check on a home under contract and found the front walkway littered with insects and shed exoskeletons. Trying desperately not to make a scene in front of the neighbors, I called my co-listing partner to discuss how to handle it. She told me quite calmly, “We’ll clean it up.” What is this “we” business?, I asked, not so calmly. But she was right: Our clients were away, and it’s our responsibility to do whatever is necessary for the home—including addressing a mild phobia! Now, having taken the time to suppress my disgust–I did some research as to how best to get rid of cicadas, or at least make their presence this season more tolerable.

National Geographic refers to the insects as “foolhardy.” Surely, this will bring you comfort! (Well, it didn’t for me, but perhaps you’re more courageous.):

Another unusual aspect of the insects’ behavior is that, unlike almost all other non-noxious insects, “they do very little to escape predators,” Karban says, which is why some call them foolhardy in the face of a hungry animal. “Anything with a mouth is going to eat them, so it’s going to be a good year to be a bird” or any other predator, says John Cooley, an entomologist at the University of Connecticut.

While I wait for the predators – do I have any other options?

The website HowIGetRidOf.com offers some more active tactics to choose from. Those with stronger stomachs than mine may want to pursue the option titled “Pick Cicadas From Plants By Hand and Use A Garden Hose and Water”:

Because of their large size, spotting single cicadas on plants and trees is simple. If you have some time on your hands and a garden hose, you can simply pluck or swat them off of the trees or vegetation and spray them with water. This is a time consuming but effective cicada killer option.

As you can well imagine, I will NOT be plucking them by hand.

It looks like the best strategy for me, and perhaps many of you, may be to spend this spring working on overcoming any disdain for or fear of these creatures, and remembering that their time here will be short (a philosophical lesson of its own!)—and in the meantime, learning to stomach doing a little bit of extra “clean-up” whenever potential buyers, or even guests in your own home, are coming by.

Shirley Mattam-Male is a licensed real estate agent with McEnearney Associates, Inc. in McLean, VA. As an active member of the community since 2002, Shirley specializes in McLean, and is thrilled to have the opportunity to work closely with her friends, neighbors, former clients, and their referrals.

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