Stop and smell the....definately NOT roses

That is horrible.  Unfortunately that kind of thing can happen when a house is left vacant.

How careless.  First impressions are irrevocable -- and it was such an easily avoidable problem!  It's too bad that someone else's negligence intruded on your day of showings.  I hope that your buyers found another home that they really liked.  Have you talked to the listing agent? 

Vacant homes should be stages for cleanliness. This would inclue takin everything out of the refrigerator, getting rid of all the garbage, and I have even taken baking soda - 5 gallon one and take 3-4 ounces per sink- put in sink and let it go down sink with warm water- it stop any swamp gas or small nats going forared. I aslo put 1-2 ounces of baking soda in trash cans with a liner, so if there is any smell left behind, it is kept to a minimum.

Just my opinion.

But the unwanted small can turn off a potential byer quicker than anything else, out there

All the best and keep on blogging.

Bill

I am amazed when I enter similar circumstances. As the listing agent I take on the responsibility of correcting these kind of problems if I can't get the seller to remedy the situation. I have a regular low cost handy man that's takes care of theses things in a jiffy for $10.00 an hour. Sounds like a $20.00 job. I blame the Listing agent!

With the foreclosure era upon us I have smelt a lot of bad homes.

Melina~ In my 10 years of real estate experience I have learned that one thing you just can't get passed is a bad smell........ it just has to be reckoned with if it is expected to sell.

Melina and folks -

I very much agree with the "First Impressions are IRREVOCABLE!" comment.  Hey, can I use this on my CMA's?

Experts say, and we know it to be true, that people often form impressions based on smell and sounds before the visual decision kicks in. 

Let's say one of the teenaged kids is playing his music at a deafening level, or, heaven forbid, an ignorant seller has a lit cigarette in his mouth during a showing.  A buyer senses this stuff before he even walks in the door.

A couple of years ago, as the market here was booming, a had an estate sale where the owner had four aging cats.  The unmistakeable smell of cat pee was pungent, and we could not get rid of it, no matter what we did!

In a good market, the house eventually sold.  But, today, in our shifting market in Chicago and most other places, it would still be sitting on the market, unsold.

You don't necessarily need to bake cookies (I always burn them, anyway), but SMELL or ODOR creates a lasting impression not easily changed later on!

Call or stop over anytime - it smells pretty good around here!

DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO

Melina, I have a sensitive sniffer and there have been a few times where I have just had to say I will wait for your outside.  The last time that happened it was me and the Mrs. holding our nose just outside the door.  Mr. buyer somehow continued checking the smelly house out.  They did not end up buying it.

My partner often calls me a dog because my sense of smell is so acute, but it sure helps me have clean listings and open houses.

I once showed a duplex where decomposing contents of the fridge had oozed a puddle about six feet in diameter that reeked to high heaven!  My buyer was a contractor, so replacing the floor was no problem to him - he bought it anyway.  I am sure that it stopped many other potential buyers from even considering it though!

When I used to be an appraiser, this would happen to me too, except usually it was the smell of wet dog that would just soak into my clothes.  But thank you for the descriptive blog, I felt like I was with you in that house.

You would think that the listing agent would do something about it. We just showed a home that smelled like (human) urine and for the rest of the day we couldn't smell anything else.

Hi Melina,
When we will ever learn to "preview" before taking clients to a property?  We're all guilty and I'm sure this is one time you wished you had.

Oh, Melina... you didn't open the fridge?  Oh, yikes. There can never be anything good found in a refrigerator in an empty home. haha.  Hopefully the sellers or the L/A can get this cleaned up soon before any more sales go by the wayside.