Your home’s curb appeal may be the first thing potential buyers notice about your house but what’s inside is really what often makes or breaks the deal.
The way your home is staged affects a buyer’s decision on whether to put an offer in, but that’s not the only thing that’s making first impression on them. The way your place smells when people first walk through the door can also greatly affect a buyer’s decision to buy your home.
Baking cookies just before an open house or a showing is a “trick” that real estate agents have long used to increase the likeliness of selling a home. They say doing this makes the house smell more like a home: warm, inviting, cozy.
In a competitive market, though, having your home smell like every other home may not be so helpful. If you’re looking for an alternative to baked cookies that will make your home smell amazing and make potential buyers more inclined to put an offer in, these three scents might be able to help.
#1 Freshly baked bread
Just like chocolate chip cookies, the smell of baked bread makes us think back to our childhood days. Waking up to the smell of freshly baked bread and following that sweet aroma to the kitchen before finally taking a bite is probably one of the best memories anyone could ever have of their own childhood home and associating that with a house that they’re about to buy can make it easier for them to imagine living there and experiencing the same thing.
Of course, the most legit way to have your home smelling like freshly baked bread is to bake a loaf or two prior to an open house or a showing. Interestingly enough, there are plenty of ways to fake this scent now. You could either go for a bread-scented candle which you’ll find from artisal candle makers online or you could get yourself some bread in a bottle a.k.a bread-scented room sprays.
#2 Fresh, clean laundry
The smell of freshly washed laundry is one that makes you smile when you think of home. Specifically, line-dried laundry. There’s something about it that laundry from the dryer just can’t beat. If you haven’t tried it yet, go ahead and wash two of the same things then hang one out to dry in the sun and toss the other one in the dryer. You’ll see that fresh line-dried laundry has an almost perfume-y scent about it that’s clean and comforting.
Thankfully, you don’t have to wash all of your curtains and other linens around the house and dry them out in the sun before showing your home to potential buyers. Instead, what you can do is light up a few strategically-placed scented candles around your home. Laundry-scented candles are rising in popularity nowadays so finding one that you like shouldn’t be a problem.
#3 Freshly brewed coffee
Looking for a budget-friendly, no-buy option? Just leave a pot of coffee brewing in the kitchen before the estimated arrival of your guests and soon the aroma of freshly brewed coffee will fill the air. While there are many candle and spray options for coffee, we recommend doing it the old-fashioned way. Candles and room sprays could never accurately capture the warmth that comes from a freshly brewed pot of coffee which is really what draws people in.
These three scents can make people imaging living in your home better. It’s like giving them an insight of what’s in store for them when they buy the home so they’ll be more inclined to put in an offer. Remember to clean your home thoroughly before an open house or showing, too. Nasty scents can linger around the home just a strongly as nice scents, if not longer.