Ooooh That Smell, Can't You Smell That Smell

Good morning Jeff. You are right smells are pervassive and once a bad one is experienced it is almost impossibe to overcome the initial impression.

Jeff - I have blogged about this issue before. Nicely done. I am typically the first one to notice weird smells in houses, possibly because I've seen thousands of them over the years.

Gosh - so true. Bad smells and the buyer is turned off instantly!!

Jeff- oh those smells, and they are a huge distraction to buyers.  You have to keep working on it.

I've encoutered a few homes where there is a smell of old, unwashed clothes, bedding or linens. Occupants become so accustomed to these odors that they have learned to ignore them. Odors like those can be even more repugnant to a buyer than pet odors or smoke.

Jeff, I was recently at an open house where the husband had some medical issues. There was a discernible smell as soon as you walked into the home. It's a shame too because it had such great potential, but I know buyers would not be comfortable staying in that house for too long.

Jeff, I am one of those people who are hyper-sensitive to smell.  It is such a turn off ... unless of course it's a good smell ... like baking bread!  One of my sellers had a "plug-in" in just about every room of the house. It was over-kill. I told her she needs to remove them as it gives the impression she is attempting to mask some other odor. 

So many times I have walked right out of a home right after opening the front door because of the smell of smoke or pet odor.  Another turn off is scented candles or air fresheners because my clients feel the owner is masking a bigger problem.  I love the fresh baked idea!

There are so many smells that a home needs an unbiased nose to notice if it smells. Someone mentioned stale, unwashed linens, bad odor. Also, I've noticed homes that have HVAC in the garage tend to bring in smells from the garage into the home. We are bombarded with smells. 

Jeff this post reminds me of two posts I read last night. Apparently the scent is going around. Yes smell matters a lot. As I've said in two other posts regarding the same topic, Febreeze while being a good masking agent is just that, a mask and only temporary. To sell a smelly house, sellers need to do one thing. Replace the things that are trapping the smell.

Jeff, smells can go both ways. I inspected a home with such a strong wave of Scentsy candles that you could smell from the front yard, and made our eyes water inside the house. Seller needed to cut back a bit for sure. 

Good morning Jeff. As you know you only have one shot at a good first impression and a home that smells bad does not accomplish that goal.

Make it a great weekend!

Smoke is tough, no question.  But, add to that, at a showing, the owner has left a half dozen air scent products everywhere, and the patio has an ash try with a dozen butts and ashes.  Happens more than one might think.  Usually, the look is enough to end the showing right then.

Hey Jeff - speaking of smoke; I did not know that one can still smoke in bars down here in Florida. (if they don't serve food) I'm from NY. where smoking in public places has been dead for a long time. After playing a few games of pool, I had to leave as I felt like I was dying, but the smell came home with me - ugh!

Jeff~ great post, and as we know "it's all about the look, feel, & smell

Oh, Jeff!  We just can write about this too often!  And even so called "pleasant" smells put people off.  I gag at Fabreze, which seems to be everywhere these days.

Jeff - smoke odor and nicotine staining can be the worst that's for sure.  I had a listing once that had a couple of very heavy smokers living in it.  The white walls were actually yellow, you could see where they had pictures hanging on the walls because there were several white squares and rectangles on the walls after they moved out.