Buyers Guide: Getting Your Home Ready To Sell

Getting Ready To Sell Your Home

Getting your home ready to sell can be a lot of work and can be a stressful task. Almost all sellers have their focus on the visual aspect of their home, what it looks like. They do everything they can in order to make their home look picture perfect. It's completely understandable of course. How the home looks is what is going to be what initially hooks someone on your home. While it is incredibly important, it is not quite the whole picture.

There's one other specific sense that many sellers tend to ignore, overlook, or just forget about all together when getting their home ready for market. It's something that could end up costing you quite a bit of money.

In order to get your home sold quickly and get the best price possible, you need to control the overall buyer experience, and be in complete control of what buyers are taking in, literally, That's why you can't afford to ignore the sense of smell.

The truth is that most of us don't even notice that our own homes have a distinct smell. You live in it, you’re adjusted to it, and it is no longer something you smell. However, think about every house you’ve walked into that isn’t your home. It has a scent of some sort and you notice it immediately, for better or worse. Remember this because this is the exact same thing those potential buyers looking at your home will experience.

Here are three of the main culprits that will give your home a scent that may turn off some potential buyers.

First, do you own any pets? Maybe a cat, dog, rabbit, or other animal, perhaps like a teenager. Second, do you tend to cook strong smelling foods? Sometimes these dishes that taste so good, do not always smell the most pleasant to others. Third, is your home located near something that has a strong odour like some sort of food processing or manufacturing plant. All of these could potentially give your home an odour ranging from strong to faint but lingering. This could end up being a turn off to potential buyers and cost you dollars or even potential buyers all together.

Luckily, it's quite easy to control an odour if you need to, just try these simple steps. First introduce some fresh air to the home. Open all windows and doors in the home to allow fresh air in. Opening all the doors and windows will create circulation and the fresh air will introduce new and clean air in the home and usher out the smelly air. Next tip is to clean, especially if there's a specific source of an odour. If a pet has a certain area they call home or places like laundry rooms, mud rooms, and even kids bedrooms can all be points where an odour or smell can originate. Clean these areas well and you’ll find the odour disappears and is replaced by that typical scent of “clean”. Following up on the cleaning, take it a step further and deodorize. If you know there are specific hotspots that are an odour source try and deodorize with products such as baking soda, coffee grounds or white vinegar. These can neutralize the scents and keep your home smelling fresh. One bonus tip, try to avoid using too many chemical solutions for the above remedies. These themselves can have an odour that may have the unintended consequence of turning off potential buyers.

Simply put, you just can't afford to ignore the sense of smell when you sell. It’s natural to want to appeal visually and rightfully so, just don't forget the smell. It’s about controlling the complete experience the buyer has. Jump Realty can help with this and get your home ready to sell so we can maximize how much money we can get you. Contact us if you need any help.