A lot of work goes into getting your home ready to sell. Sellers can spend a small fortune on deep-cleaning, painting, upgrading, and staging a home before it goes on the market. That’s why it’s a darn shame when owners overlook ONE aspect of their home that can absolutely make or break a potential buyer’s perception of it - the smell.
No matter how good your home looks, if it has a foul odor hanging in the air when buyers come courting, they will be out the door faster than a teenage girl who just received free tickets to tonight’s Jonas Brothers revival concert. On the other hand, a home that smells clean or otherwise pleasantly fragrant upon entry can encourage house hunters to linger, and possibly even overlook some minor defects. So how do you make your house smell lovely?
Deep clean the bathroom
It should come as no surprise to you that a grubby, unkempt bathroom is a huge turnoff for buyers. It can also be the source of lingering unpleasant odors. Get in there with some scented liquid cleaner and scrub, scrub, scrub.
Empty the trash cans
Your trash should be empty - not just “mostly” empty - when a prospective buyer comes to visit. As the homeowner, you can become “noseblind” to hovering odors coming from your trash can even when it is freshly changed. For best results, sprinkle the bottom of the can with baking soda before you line it. That will soak up any nasty smells.
Pay attention to the carpets
Carpet is, unfortunately, one of the biggest (literally) magnets for trapping stench and dirt in your home. The situation is made much worse if you have pets, and, as we head into the summer, the heat can also compound any problems that may already exist. The answer is to rent or buy a carpet steamer or hire someone to professionally clean the carpets and have the job done right before an open house.
Hide the soap
This tip works as a decorative one as well as a smell-friendly bit of advice: get some little baskets for your bathrooms, and drop travel-sized bars of soap into them. Unwrapped soap leaves a clean, pleasant fragrance in the air. But don’t stop there: unwrap more bars (even full-sized ones!) and hide them in closets or other enclosed spaces for that freshly-washed scent.
Get your bake on
Baking some cookies right before an open house has the dual effect of not only making your home (and especially the kitchen, the heart of the operation) smell yummy, but it also produces treats for your visitors, which you can arrange on a pretty dish right before you leave.
