Home > Blogs > Holli McCray > Knoxville's Top Selling Real Estate Team

Home Sellers Tip - Smells Are Important!

By Holli McCray

Real Estate Agent with Holli McCray Home Marketing Group Keller Williams 285682

March 11, 2014 01:53 AM

Home Sellers Tip - Smells Are Important! | The Holli McCray Group | (865) 291-0355

Many Realtors and sellers tend to direct most of their attention on "the numbers" when it comes to selling a house. While proper pricing is THE most important factor when it comes to selling your house quickly and for top-dollar, there are other important factors that can help in the selling process. One of those factors is how the house smells! Buying a home is as much emotional and psychological as it is anything else. The feeling a buyer gets when they walk through a home must be positive or else they won't be interested no matter what the house is priced at.

A house needs to smell good for showings. Buyers almost always react negatively to scents such as to cigarette smoke, pet odors, mold or mildew. We always recommend sellers mitigate these smells before putting their homes on the market if they want to sell it fast and for top-dollar.

On top of this, it is always a good idea for sellers to make sure the house smells fresh and clean for showings. That said, try and stay away from potpourri and air fresheners. These scents tend to be overpowering and can be unpleasant to some buyers. Clean and natural scents work MUCH better! Some great examples are fresh air from outside (on a nice warm day), citrus based cleaners and fresh-baked cookies.

Making sure the house smells good is one of the small things homeowners can do help get their desired outcome from the sale. Click Here to read more about how a home's smells are important.

If you are thinking about selling your home and would our opinion on how to get it sold for top-dollar, contact us for a no-obligation consultation

You can find out what your home is worth RIGHT NOW online by clicking HERE.

Comments(21)

Comment

Show All Comments

Sort:

Will Hamm

Hamm Homes - Aurora, CO

"Where There's a Will, There's a Way!"

Hello Holli, You hit the nail on the head. Some people do not get that, I was on a listing the other day, I ask the people about the smell, they said what smell.

Mar 11, 2014 01:59 AM

Holli McCray

Knoxville, TN

Trisha Bush-LeFore

Preferred Properties Land & Homes - Walla Walla, WA

Providing Realtor Services in the Walla Walla Area

Holli,

You are spot on. Smells turn buyers off quicker than just about anything.

Mar 11, 2014 02:02 AM

Holli McCray

Knoxville, TN

Robert Cornish

HomeXam Inc. - Manotick, ON

HomeXam

Very true. My sniffer is on high alert on inspections, particularly as I go down the basement stairs. A damp mouldy smell is cause for conern and I always dig deeper when I sense it.

Mar 11, 2014 11:12 PM

Holli McCray

Knoxville, TN

Sheila Anderson

Referral Group Incorporated - East Brunswick, NJ

The Real Estate Whisperer Who Listens 732-715-1133

Good morning Holli. I agree with your premise but not with the citrus. I'm allergic to fruit and this would make me crazy, besides it is a flag that it is covering something up.

Mar 11, 2014 11:25 PM

Deborah Newell

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Towne Realty - Virginia Beach, VA

Good points. Many of us are allergic to heavy scents, and so are some of our clients. And we may not even know it! Pet odors are another big problem, because we pet owners get so used to it, we can't smell the odors in our own home. But we sure can somewhere else!

Mar 11, 2014 11:32 PM

Sharon Parisi

United Real Estate Dallas - Dallas, TX

Dallas Homes

Holli, when buyers walk into a home with the strong smell of air fresheners, it spells cover-up. Pet odors are deal breakers. I like the idea of the smell of outdoors!

Mar 11, 2014 11:37 PM

Tessa Skeens

Hampton ReDesign, Home Staging and Redesign - Grand Junction, CO

Staging For Realtors, Builders & Investors

Holli, I totally agree with you. Smell is the invisible factor in buyer buy in. Clean sells! We react emotionally on a gut level to smell and its either a turn on or turn off. I also prefer natural over artificial scents.

Mar 11, 2014 11:38 PM

Lynn Afton

Greenridge Realty Oakmont - Big Rapids, MI

REALTOR® Near Big Rapids, MI, Mecosta County

When living with an odor people tend to lose their sense of smell to detect that odor, so it is important to bring it to their attention - especially pet odors. Buyers often feel perfumy air fresheners are covering up something - and they are right! :)

Mar 12, 2014 01:39 AM

Jonathan Thoburn

Fairfax, VA

Keller Williams Realty - Northern Virginia

Great advice and I agree to stay away from the air freshners! I had buyers walk right out of a home they otherwise liked last week because there was one in every room of the house and it was overpowering.

Mar 12, 2014 02:08 AM

Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA

Independent architectural histor'n - Wilmington, DE

Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS

I once read that a house cleaner said she liberally used strong smelling cleaning products but didn't bother to do a great cleaning job because the customers thought it was clean because they could smell the product.

Mar 12, 2014 02:09 AM

Virginia Youngblood

DO-STAGE! LLC - an ASPM® Home Staging Company - Charlotte, NC

DO-STAGE! LLC - Home Stager - ASPM®

This is such a touchy, sensitive subject! I had to turn down a staging project with a recent prospective client - a homeowner that is a smoker! This IS a deal breaker in my opinion. I couldn't even breathe when I walked through the house! I told him that he really needed to get rid of all the cigarette smell or buyers would turn the opposite direction - away from this property and on to another!! . . . so strong smells include cigarette smoke and it's SO difficult to remove!! Thanks for your post, Holli, and may you have great success as you serve your community. With warm regards, Virginia Youngblood ~ DO-STAGE! ~ 704-575-1007 ~ Charlotte, NC

Mar 12, 2014 02:35 AM

Kimo Jarrett

Cyber Properties - Huntington Beach, CA

Pro Lifestyle Solutions

Fresh fragrant flowers works too. During an open house,I like using ginger and plumeria.

Mar 12, 2014 02:43 AM

Theo Shaw

Baird & Warner Residential Real Estate - Evanston, IL

Serving Evanston, IL & Beyond

There was a house on the market in my area that had at least 4 air fresheners in every room (I counted!) except the baths to hide the smell of cat urine. Guess what? It didn't work--you could still smell the underlying odor. Needless to say, the house never sold.

Mar 12, 2014 03:39 AM

Greg Mona

West USA Realty - Scottsdale, AZ

Professional Real Estate Representation for YOU!

Holli - this is an interesting topic, as it definitely depends on the individual. We recently had a listing on a local home tour with brokers and agents only. When I read all of the comments submitted for our listing there were two comments regarding "smell". One said the house smelled "fresh and clean", while the other said the house had "an odor". I believe everybody's olfactory senses are unique and definitely are more prone to smelling certain odors than others might be. The bottom line though is cleanliness and diligence. If you do those two things, your home should pass anybody's "smell test".

Mar 12, 2014 09:29 AM

Terry Blocher

Village Realty OBX - Kill Devil Hills, NC

This is a great subject- many people are particularly sensitive to perfumes and deoderizers, as well as flowers, pets, mold, and cigarettes. There is a lot to be said for opening a window for some clean, fresh air (if you live someplace where you can do that.) But the key here is "clean". If the property is clean there should be no smell at all. Not everyone has a sensitive sniffer, but all you need is that one buyer to be turned off. Thank you for the post.

Mar 12, 2014 11:17 AM

John Oman

Newington, CT

SUch a sensitive subject, yet the sellers need to be told when these issues are there. I know many realtors will not tell their clients about the problem and the house just sits there. Thanks for bringing this difficult subject up...

Mar 13, 2014 02:12 AM

Gene Riemenschneider

Home Point Real Estate - Brentwood, CA

Turning Houses into Homes

Fresh Paint and new carpet smell good! Also depending on the time of year baking something is a good way to get good results

Mar 13, 2014 05:40 AM

Travis "the SOLD man" Parker; Broker/Owner

Travis Realty - Enterprise, AL

email: Travis@theSOLDman.me / cell: 334-494-7846

Having had a potential buyer turn around only a few steps inside the door just yesterday, this is a good topic. The Seller gets nervous before a showing and smokes a lot...INDOORS. Her Agent needs to stress the idea of ALL smoking being outside.

Mar 14, 2014 06:06 AM

Anonymous

Carol Rutgers

Just had a buyer who decided against a house today in part, because of cigarette smoke smells inside the house. It was overpowering. Another home we toured had mold smells which immediately caused me to have a sore throat. We ran out of that house and when I told the REALTOR, she acted surprised. I wondered how she could not know.

Mar 14, 2014 12:58 PM

#20

Wayne B. Pruner

Oregon First - Tigard, OR

Tigard Oregon Homes for Sale, Realtor, GRI

Bringing up this subject with the Seller takes a tactful approach. Smokers have a hard time selling their homes. Written comments from a Brokers Open can help turn a Seller around.

Mar 17, 2014 12:42 PM

Holli McCray

Knoxville, TN

Older Post

Newer Post

Home Sellers Tip - Smells Are Important!

Comments(21)

Holli McCray

Service Areas

Real Estate Resources