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<p>Exactly right. I won’t even look at a house that smells like scented candles. It’s a red flag.</p>
<p>Just adding that I also find the scent of candles to be a red flag when looking at a house. Your realtor would tell you if the house has an odor - he or she has a vested interest in getting it sold. Since he/she has said there really isn’t one, then I would not worry about it.</p>
<p>Alrighty then, sounds like there are more Nays than Yays on using candles.</p>
<p>I will stop using the candles for a while. With enough notice, I can bake cookies or pumpkin bread. And the baking soda idea is a good one, will try that.</p>
<p>I would be weary of candles, as I would think that they are hiding odors. Also, candles make me feel lightheaded, dizzy, and nauseated. Try to be careful with different scents, as they may trigger unpleasant reactions in potential buyers.</p>
<p>Good luck JTH! I know it’s incredibly stressful to sell, particularly in a market like this. Have faith, though. I had my house on the market in the fall, and then took it off during the holidays. I put it back up in early February and I’m scheduled to close on the sale next week. Some days I thought it was never going to sell. The ups and downs are rough. But hang in there - I think things are slowly turning around.</p>
<p>I will not stay in a house with any scent from candles or oils. However, while I know a house smells great with baking I would also wonder if that was a gimmick to cover a smell. I would always see a house a number of times and if there was baking each time I would wonder and then ask about odors. Opening windows for fresh air is my idea of a good time. You could consider having a mildew/fire specialist come in and look at your lower space-- they are experts are odor removal and may have a solution or give you some new ideas. Good luck!</p>
<p>How about fresh flowers? A neighbor forgot she had lit a candle and it started a fire. Don’t recommend candles.</p>
<p>Another option would be Glade Plugin air fresheners.</p>
<p>There is an odor sponge you can buy, it comes in a round plastic container and is in grocery stores by the mops and things. </p>
<p>Other than that, bake bread. Maybe also use a dehumidifier overnight. I like the fresh flowers or bunches of eucalyptus leaves (which are very long lasting, dramatic, and cheaper than flowers). Probably not on the candles, although Anthropologie has some super good smelling ones–if you go that route, stick to something really neutral like lavender so you don’t make people wonder about the cover up.</p>
<p>No candles, no scented air “fresheners”. They are yucky and would definitely make me suspicious you were hiding something.</p>
<p>Yes, the ‘hiding something’ impression is a definite risk here. We recently sold a house where road noise was a problem for some potential buyers. I put a small electric waterfall outside. The attempt to hide the problem, I think, just made it stand out all the more, so we removed it, bit the bullet and lowered the price, and the home finally sold. It is what it is. We then bought a smaller place, and I can promise you that we were very sensitive to smells…no one wants other people’s odors or a house with potential mold problems. Anytime we saw anything scented was an immediate red flag to see if the owner was trying to cover up a problem. Sorry…I know it’s tough to be a seller in this market…very good luck to the OP.</p>
<p>I baked bread in our oven just in advance of an open house. We had 3 bids that day and it sold over asking, but no idea if the bread helped!</p>
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<p>I wondered about that when I read the OP. I wonder if there is a specialist one could hire who could determine if a musty smell was due to mold or perhaps something in the ventilation system which needs to be addressed.</p>
<p>We just sold our house this fall and had a musty odor in the basement. This is what we used (Fresh Wave Gel) and it worked great.
[Amazon.com:</a> Fresh Wave Continuous Release Odor Eliminator Gel, 64-Ounce Jar: Health & Personal Care](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Wave-Continuous-Eliminator-64-Ounce/dp/B0015MN7HA/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Wave-Continuous-Eliminator-64-Ounce/dp/B0015MN7HA/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t)
It sold in 87 days. Ninety is the average in our former area. We felt very fortunate!</p>
<p>I’ve also heard the cinnamon idea is ok because it smells like something is baking. But something that removes the odor is of course preferable.</p>
<p>I was going to recommend Fresh Wave too. It’s really good at absorbing odors.</p>
<p>I’m allergic to many scented candles so if you were to do that i would just walk out and look at a different house. Is it priced okay?</p>
<p>I’ve put an orange or lemon thru garbage disposal before showing. Also, did the baking and left the cookies out. Realtors that sold house I hadn’t seen in 3 years staged the showings with flowers.</p>
<p>A great cleaning product that smells lovely is Sun & Earth’s all purpose cleaner. It has a wonderful natural citrus scent. All of their products I’ve tried are great and I think they are a very socially responsible company.</p>
<p>Over 20 years ago, a RE agent told me that he would always put a little vanilla on a makeshift aluminum foil tray, and placed it in the oven on warm, to give the suggestion that someone just baked cookies.</p>
<p>It’s not just a sign that you may be covering something up (which it definitely is) but as noted many people get sick to their stomachs from the smell of anything perfumed or scented. </p>
<p>But here’s a great pumpkin bread recipe:</p>
<p>[Downeast</a> Maine Pumpkin Bread Recipe - Allrecipes.com](<a href=“http://allrecipes.com/recipe/downeast-maine-pumpkin-bread/]Downeast”>Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread Recipe)</p>