Check Your Home for Offensive Odors
Just as image is important in selling real estate, odors also play a crucial role in making or breaking a good deal. If you're putting up your home for sale, don't just focus on the visible selling points of your home. The unseen, smelly details count as well.
Homebuyers buy houses because they satisfy needs and lifestyle. The chosen home is visually appealing, feels comfortable, has been well-maintained, is in a safe family-friendly neighborhood, is close to the workplace, conveniently located to shopping and amenities, and many other factors. But, curiously enough, smell is not among those reasons.
Indeed, people often take smells for granted. This is because we register the world mostly through our sense of sight, unlike animals which predominantly rely on their olfactory sense for survival (hunting food, and detecting enemies and prey). For us humans, we mostly notice smells when they're offensive, but even then, there's the possibility of us growing accustomed to them that we forget they're there in the first place.
This is what you should watch out for when you're selling your house. Your house might pass any discriminating homebuyer's checklist in flying colors. You've repainted the walls in a soothing color, you've had the kitchen cabinets polished, installed new carpet, and even threw in nice benches for the garden. But if you really want to make a good impression; a subtle but effective one, then aim at your prospective buyers' noses.
Get rid of those little smelly details of your house that you might not be aware of anymore, but would definitely be an assault to visitors. Pet odors and cigarette smoke are the immediate culprits. But don't just rest your faith on a handy deodorizing spray can, because they just mask odors and don't address the problem. Needless to say, you should keep the dog out for the meantime that your house is up for sale, and well, as for you, you’ll have to transfer your ashtray outside as well.
Smell, Smell, Go Away.
Then, really, as in really clean up. Wash carpets, dryclean the drapes, clean deep into cabinets and storage bins. Keep the laundry washed. Don't let dirty clothes stack up. Never leave dirty dishes in the sink. And you might consider not cooking fish and other foods that could produce offensive odors. You never know when someone may want to view your home for possible purchase.
Now, for the fun part. Bake bread with cinnamon, cookies, cakes or anything that permeates nice pleasant aromas. Place a nice bowl of fruit in the kitchen. Most fruit will deliver some nice fragrances. You want potential buyers to remember your home long after they've left to view other choices. So, okay, pretty flowers standing at attention in a vase might not exactly be your house's strongest selling
point, but they can put visitors in a buying mood that can really make a difference.
