Some houses stink
We’re in the smelly time of the year. In the heat of the summer and the most closed-in part of the winter, houses smell. Sellers, don't think that using perfumed candles, or sprays, or baking cookies helps. You only add a new smell to the mix. It is sort of like using deodorant when you haven't showered since last week.
We are now at the end of the winter. These are the common smells my buyers and I wrinkle our noses at: houses where a family member smokes, has dogs, has cats (and their litter boxes), where people let laundry collect, where people don’t take the trash out often enough.
Buyers, learn the difference between smells that are part of the house and those that are part of the family. Most family smells leave with the family. Family smells include: dirty laundry, dog beds, cat boxes, "science projects" in the refrigerator, smoking, diaper pails, trash bins...
House smells include: damp basements, leaking waste pipes, leaking oil tanks or fittings, mold, mildew, urine outside of toilet or cat box...these are much harder to remove.
As we learned last week, smoking smells in condos can come from another unit, so can foul cooking smells and other family smells listed above. If you are buying a condo, whiff around the halls a couple of times before you buy. Some hallways get very stale, musty, moldy or smoky during the smelly times of the year.
One of the “pass the chips” open-house-frenzy houses that I went to about a month ago was a home where the owners smoke. It was very noticeable. Many, many buyers came through the house at the first open house. I was sure it was going to sell with that many lookers. It didn’t. It is still for sale at a lower price.
I showed the house to another couple a week or so later and found that the carpets had been cleaned, a window was left open in the kitchen and deodorizers were hung around the house. My client opened the basement door and shut it quickly. “What’s that!” She shouted. I opened it and explained that there was a car freshener thingy there to deodorize the basement. “That’s not deodorizing, that’s an assault of artificial vanilla” said my client.
Two weeks after that, another client of mine saw this property and said it reminded her of “a non-smoking room in a hotel where someone smoked anyway, but was trying to hide it.”
I love my clients, and their noses.
Sellers, be aware that your house smells like you and not everyone is going to like it. In this case, cleaning the carpets was a good first step, but more cleaning was necessary to remove the smoking odor. Clearing away the smell-makers can make the difference between a sale and no sale. It can mean selling for less.
Have you turned down a house or condo because of a smell? What smells are the worst?
