Does your home smell?
One of the often overlooked aspects of preparing a home for sale is assessing its smell. Although each person’s sense of smell varies greatly, some smells will always be offensive. Cigarette smoke, pet and cooking smells will turn off a potential buyer. When considering selling your home, start at the beginning, and ensure that you have completed the following:
- Steam cleaned the carpets or
- Vacuumed carpets with a sprinkling of baking soda
- Washed draperies and linens
- Cleaned all surfaces such as kitchens, bathrooms, windows, floors
Vinegar used in your cleaning solution helps to remove odours. You can also put a few drops of a nice essential oil into water used for mopping floors.
Once, the background cleaning is done, you can focus on creating pleasant smells in your home. Scent preferences can vary greatly from person to person, so if you decide to perfume your house, exercise moderation. Don’t overdo it. Aim for smells that create a sense of warmth, comfort and well-being to those who visit. A list of scents that are recommended include:
- Fresh bread; bring in or make a loaf in close proximity to a showing
- Cinnamon; warm a couple of tablespoons in a pan and allow the smell to spread
- Vanilla, burn a nicely scented vanilla candle
- Coffee bean; roast half a cup of beans in the oven
- Apple pie; cook a pie in your oven before a showing
If you decide not to use any of these, use caution with artificial smells, like room sprays as these often contain chemicals which can be offensive to some.
If you think you need more help, you can try using a Lampe Berger.
These were originally developed for use in hospitals and claim to purify air. The lamps can also be used to infuse a myriad of scents into your home. Although they use a flame for the initial 2 minutes, afterwards, they use the simple forces of heat and diffusion to move scent around. Thus, they are great if you are concerned about the fire hazard of candles.
If after all this, you can’t trust your own nose, invite a female friend or neighbour over for an honest smell test. Yes, a female, studies show that women have a better sense of smell than men.
If you are thinking of selling your home in Chestermere , give me a call,
Corinne Watson
Chestermere Realtor
cwatson@cirrealty.ca
403.921.SOLD
