Smell Helps Sell Homes

Smell is a very important factor in selling your home. If it stinks it probably will not sell quickly or for as much profit as you hoped. Here are some suggestions to make your home welcoming and smell wonderful.

• Bake cookies, but do not burn them!
• Bake an apple pie.
• Put vases of fresh flowers throughout the house.
• Warm a split vanilla bean or a couple of drops of pure vanilla extract in water on the stove top.
• Simmer cloves & cinnamon sticks in water or apple cider (ideal for around the holidays).
• Get rid of old carpet that can trap offensive smells, especially if you have animals.
• If you have animals make sure to wash their bedding and vacuum up the hair.
• Hide the kitty litter and make sure it's a clean box. Don't just mask those odors with air fresheners.
• Make sure to scrub your house top to bottom to get rid of any mildew. No one likes a musty smelling house.
• Don't smoke inside your house. If the home has been exposed to cigarette smoke run a HEPA air filter at the highest setting. This may help allergy sufferers and eliminate many more obvious odors, but sometimes more in-depth cleanings are needed to get smoke residue out of the carpets, curtains, beds and other places where fabric can collect cigarette smoke.
• Air out the house. Either open the windows up before a showing or run the central fan with clean air filters and set the temperature to an economic level that will keep the place feeling "fresh."
• If you use any type of air freshening/perfumed candles, sprays, oils, etc., use a natural scent. This may help reduce the negative reaction from buyers who are prone to allergies or scent-sensitivity.

Whatever you do make sure it's not overpowering so that buyers don't assume you are trying to hide something.