When you are trying to sell a home, smells or lack thereof are very important in helping you accomplish this task. I usually recommend no smell if possible because an odorless house is certain to please all audiences.
However, many companies and businesses have learned that by carefully applying fragrances you can increase sales. As people, we have five senses and I’d argue one of the most important senses for controlling mood and emotion is your nose’s olfactory sense of smell.
We saw an interesting case study recently that when Starbucks introduced breakfast food into the menu their coffee sales declined. The reason was the smell of the food was overpowering the coffee smell that its customers liked and had become accustomed to. Starbucks caught on fast and went straight to food scientists to engineer their food products to have less smell. The changes worked and sales increased.
At Amare Real Estate Services in Morgan Hill, CA, we recommend using basic and popular smells that have universal appeal. There are some very fancy and creative designer candles that border on being perfume with clever names like Ocean Mist, A Day at the Park, or Tropical Blend featuring exotic flavors like pineapple and what have you. But when selling a house, it is best to stick to the basics. You want the scent to appeal to the broadest audience. For that reason, we recommend these tried-and-true scents as your go-to:
• Vanilla
• Lavender
• Rose
• Citrus
• Pine & Cedar
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Nutmeg
• Mint
Scented Candles: Scented candles are the most popular way to add fragrance to a home. If you are using scented candles, pick one scent and stick to it for the entire house. You need at least one candle per room. I would only put candles in a couple of rooms, not everywhere because you don’t want the scent to become overpowering. The most important places to put the candles are at the entry and the master bedroom.
I have found using too many different candle scents confuse buyers and it can be jarring if two different fragrances don’t blend well together. Make your life easier and stick to using only one fragrance throughout the entire house.
Most artificial candles are made with paraffin wax which is a byproduct of petroleum refining. I’d recommend sticking with natural candles made of Bees Wax because they are healthier and do not let off toxins and carcinogens when they are burned.
Essential Oils: Essential Oils are a great natural product alternative to candles. You can get some natural herb smells like tea, mint, and eucalyptus that you can’t get with candles. They can be a little more expensive and harder to use which is why candles are the most popular. Essential Oils are made from organic plant extracts and have been proven to have therapeutic health effects.
If You Can’t Get Rid of Bad Smells: Ozone Pure Air specializes in eliminating unwanted odors. These are odors that don’t just go away if you open a window and try to air the property out. They are specialized machines to produce Ozone from the air. Ozone is an oxygen molecule with an extra oxygen that is also the same molecule that protects our atmosphere from space. This molecule is highly reactive and bonds with odor causing compounds and neutralizes them.
A home that smells nice will make your prospective buyers comfortable while creating that warm and cozy atmosphere that everyone’s looking for.
What’s Important to Us at Amare Real Estate Services?
At Amare, we want to sell homes, but more importantly, we want to do it the right way. That means we support our community 100%; we run a green business, and we make our customers a #1 priority without exception. At Amare Real Estate Services in Morgan Hill, CA, we help people to change the course of their lives by turning their dreams of home ownership into a reality.
Sources: USA Today and Wikipedia-