Have you ever noticed how every home smells different? When you walk into a new space, how it smells is probably one of the first things you notice. Neutral smells will subconsciously register with you and you will quickly move along and notice other details about your surroundings. But, if there is any sort of fragrance, either agreeable or disagreeable, you will take note, and the aroma will detract you from getting a complete picture of your physical location. Sometimes when you leave a place, the smells can stay with you in your memory for several hours.
We REALTORS love to pass along our knowledge about how to make your home the most marketable. Here at F.C. Tucker Emge REALTORS, we especially like to focus on how to get your home in tip top shape just prior to listing. To that end, we frequently post information about key maintenance items and how to stage your home the most effectively so that it photographs well and is shown in its best light online to get as many buyers in the door as possible to see it in all of its glory.
However, there is one KEY element that is impossible to relay through pictures and is often overlooked: aroma. How your home smells can be a major factor in attracting (or detracting) offers. As homeowners, we generally get a bit “nose blind” to what our homes smell like, and bringing up the subject of how a home smells is a very sensitive topic for REALTORS to address. Homeowners will readily ask “how does my home look?” but will rarely invite the discussion around “how does my home smell?” Since smells are so personal, a REALTOR, who usually wants to stay in the good graces of their client, has to tread carefully about initiating a conversation around how the listing smells so as not to offend.
In a perfect world, when selling your home, it would smell like nothing at all. Since this is a very hard goal to accomplish, the best we can do is to neutralize odors as thoroughly as possible and minimize adding any additional strong smells into the mix.
NEUTRALIZING HOUSE SMELLS
- Open windows and let nature’s fresh air do its work. While in the middle of winter this might be a hard thing to accomplish, one of the nice things about southwest Indiana is that we occasionally have a mild day sprinkled between chilly ones. In the days and weeks leading up to your listing period, take advantage of the mild days and open up your windows for a few hours to circulate some fresh air into the mix.
- A thorough cleaning of your home is the best defense to neutralize smells. If you have neglected this chore on a regular basis, then it might take more than one full-house cleaning to negate the cumulative effects. Dirt and dust can hold smells, so you have to get rid of the grime to get rid of the smells. Consider some of the places that dirt likes to hide: under and behind furniture, atop door and window frames, inside light fixtures, baseboards, on top of cabinets and shelves.
- Purchase some activated charcoal filters and place them in the stink-prone areas of your home
- Pay close attention to areas of the home that tend to attract odors, such as garbage disposals, trash cans, dishwashers, refrigerators and upholstery. Smells that accumulate in these places can contribute to the overall smell of your home, but are very localized and easy to take care of in the following ways:
- Garbage disposals: Add a citrus peel and turn on the garbage disposal to freshen it up. If it needs a more thorough cleaning, throw in some baking soda followed by white vinegar and let the resulting reaction do its job. Then follow up with the citrus peel trick.
- Trash cans: Line the bottom with newspapers to absorb leaks that might turn rancid and cause smells. Add a dryer sheet under the trash can liner to neutralize any food smells that might infiltrate the garbage can.
- Dishwashers: Consult our blog from a few weeks ago about dishwashers! Keep some white vinegar on hand to run through the dishwasher on a regular basis and rinse off plates to prevent too much smelly food from stinking up the dishwasher while the dirty dishes sit waiting for a cycle to be run.
- Refrigerators: Most everyone knows it is a good idea to keep an open box of baking soda in the refrigerator to deter smells. But to take it to the next level, deep clean your fridge to get rid of crumbs and spills and then set a cotton ball dipped in vanilla extract on a dish in the back of your refrigerator to introduce a more acceptable smell.
- Upholstery/window treatments: Okay, this is a weird one, but even if you are a tee-totaler, go buy a cheap bottle of vodka, add it to a spray bottle, and lightly mist over dingy-smelling upholstery.
THE KITCHEN
What not to cook when your home is on the market
Even for people who cook everything from scratch every night, when your home is being shown, cooking not only creates a mess that you have to spend longer than usual cleaning up, but it also adds additional smells to the home. For the listing period, consider limiting your cooking to the most basic of foods, or take the opportunity to explore some local restaurants, or buy pre-made meals from one of the local stores. This is also a great time to utilize the outside grill and find creative new ways of using it. If you must cook inside, avoid cooking fish and frying anything too heavy with garlic, onions, or other aromatics. Also minimize the spices you use. When you do cook, it is also a good idea to utilize your stove vent and open windows so the cooking smells can more easily dissipate.
What is okay to cook to make your home even more appealing
Almost any baked good is fair game for adding positive smells into your home. We have had clients who kept cookie dough on hand and would throw a few cookies in the oven before every showing just to introduce the smell of natural vanilla into the air. Homemade bread is a good option. Keep in mind that relying on baked goods to sell your home is not the magic is is cracked up to be. While the smell of fresh baked goodies probably won’t detract buyers, you are better off focusing on a clean, natural smelling house.
INTRODUCING NEW SCENTS
Candles and air fresheners
Exercise extreme caution when it comes to scented candles and air fresheners. Often, these products use artificial fragrances that come across way too strong and end up smelling like they are working too hard to cover-up an odor. The resulting smell is usually more disagreeable than the regular smell of the home in the first place and sows doubt in buyers’ minds about what is really going on. Again, they will remember the smell instead of that cool new kitchen you just put in.
If you really feel you need a scented product, look for ones that use all natural ingredients. They will probably cost a little bit more up front, but it will be a small investment that will make a big difference. Also, by limiting yourself to one simple scent rather than a conglomeration, you will more likely offend less people’s sense of smell. Orange, lemon, basil, tea, cedar, pine, vanilla and cinnamon are all top choices if you want to introduce a welcoming scent into your home.
Another option to add scent to your home is oil diffusers which tend to be more subtle or a mild potpourri. Just make sure that any of these scented products use natural oils instead of synthetic ones.
Check-list for keeping your home smelling fresh during listing
- Empty all trash cans every day
- Air out the house a little bit every day if possible by opening windows if it isn’t raining
- Minimize the use of candles and air fresheners.
- Carefully choose how you use your kitchen
- Continue cleaning the house regularly, paying special attention to the problem spots (bathrooms, drains, trashcans, etc)
- Consider rehoming your beloved family pet to keep pet smells at a minimum
You will do yourself and your REALTOR a huge favor if you proactively ask them about how your home smells and how to fix it. Remember, your agent’s job is to advise you about how best to stage your home to get the most money in the shortest amount of time and how your home smells is part of the picture. F.C. Tucker Emge agents have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves when it comes to advising you about buying and selling homes. Let’s Talk!
