Wake up and smell the Roses

Out of the five senses that we have, the olfactory is probably the one that doesn't forget and has the most dependable memory.

Take this to your advantage when showing your home. Flowers, air fresheners, tobacco, pets, and cooking smells can leave a lasting impression and have an emotional impact on how any potential buyers feel about your home.

Here are some tips to help sell your home:

DO NOT SMOKE IN THE HOUSE! The smell of tobacco and a home owner smoking during a viewing will definitely put people off buying a home. Even smokers themselves don't like a house to smell like smoke. Smoking will damage the paintwork and smoke clings on to carpets and walls. Discarded cigarettes in a garden makes a home feel used and tired. The smell of cigarettes will repel families with children.

After removing any bad aromas and freshening the air in your home, you can fill the house with aromas that have a positive affect.

Baking before a showing or an open house can turn a house into a home for potential buyers. The scent of bread or an apple pie baking in the oven can make a visitor feel right at home!

I have often put a mixture of water, vanilla extract, cinnamon stick and brown sugar in an oven on low heat to fill the house with the fragrance of baking when I sit an open house. It works.

Some buyers make  decisions based on their emotional response, so it's important to help them to fall in love with your home. Pleasant smells are one way to do that.

 

-Sam