<p>All great suggestions, thanks. Sounds like there are several products. I’ve made a list and will see if one of them works. I want to stop using the candles though since enough people seem to react negatively to them.</p>
<p>To be clear, I don’t believe my house smells bad. But it is old and can smell a bit musty if it’s been closed up for too long or after several rainy days. The candle was not so much to mask anything as to add a pleasant scent, but I get that what I like may not be for everyone. At this point I just want it to smell fresh.</p>
<p>Some people have asked whether I should re-price it. The market around here is terrible right now, but we have already priced it aggressively (according to our agent) so before we lower it we really want to give the Spring showing season a try. Come June, if still no nibbles, we will reassess price.</p>
<p>My mother in law plans to list her condo soon. Someone is going to have to tell her about the mothball smell. My kids don’t even like to go over there because they come home smelling like mothballs.</p>
<p>I put a small pot of water on the stove with vanilla and cinnamon in it. Let it simmer but not boil. As the water level goes down add water and a little more vanilla or cinnamon as needed. Your house will smell like a apple pie was baking in the oven.</p>
<p>The house down the street recently sold for about $200,000 under similar homes. Problem- the owner had smoked in the house for 27 years. (and clearly had not updated anything in that time either!) The smell was just awful.
Smell matters A LOT! I believe the new owners changed the carpet (duh) and the drywall to make the house liveable.
Your house does not sound that bad…but know that if the house has a permanent smell, the price may have to reflect it.</p>
<p>I hate the smell of scented candles, incense, etc. On top of that I’d think it was weird for someone to have a scented candle smell in the house I was looking at - I’d figure they’re trying to cover something up - mold, mustiness, cigarette smoke, other smoke, etc.</p>
<p>If you have odors in the house you’re trying to cover up then don’t cover them up - get rid of them. I just put a new carpet in a house and the first connotation I have when I walk in the house is with a model home since that’s how they smell.</p>
<p>The baked bread/cookie smell is the stock answer for someone who wants to have a pleasing odor for people. The best IMO is nothing artificial. Just sell the house as it is. If it’s not selling in a reasonable timeframe then the price is too high.</p>
<p>Both my DH and my boss get headaches from perfumes and perfumed products (which sucks for me, because I love yummy lotions). Neither one of them would spend two minutes walking through a house which had been scented with candles.</p>
<p>My favorite house-smell is sort of Christmasy, but might still work this time of year, and couldn’t be simpler: Put whole cloves and orange peels into a big pot of simmering water.</p>
<p>I used scented candles…usually in the pumpkin, spice type varieties…and yes I am trying to cover up smells ( smells of cooking ) I tend to cook a lot of spicy foods and they linger. I don’t want to smell last night’s dinner wafting through the air ;)</p>
<p>I would want to cover the cooking smell also. While my dinner was delicious the other night, once I headed upstairs to bed, I could still smell it! When I make briskets for the Jewish holidays, I am smelling brisket for days. I enjoy the smell, although when I wake up I would prefer a coffee aroma or something sweet, not a fatty piece of meat ;)</p>
<p>While selling, it is also not a good idea to cook with a lot of spices on a regular basis. While house hunting once, I literally had to leave a house from the pungent aroma coming from the kitchen. I’m sure the sellers were used to it and had no idea how strong it was.</p>
<p>I love to cook, much of it spicy or otherwise ethnic, and DH love his fish. Of course, having our home listed has really put the brakes on all of that and I really miss it. </p>
<p>We’re headed to Paris next month. Staying in an apartment for a week. I told DH I’m really looking forward to “cooking in” while we’re there and he gave me the strangest look. At least I won’t have to worry about keeping it show ready!</p>
<p>We bought our first house when I was pregnant with our first child. I had terrible morning sickness, and I couldn’t even look at all of the houses that had baking smells of any kind. We finally learned to skip the Sunday open houses (full of cookies) and do private showings instead, with our realtor calling in advance to beg the seller’s agents not to add any scent, even those that were supposed to be appealing.</p>
<p>We’ve also used the pot of simmering water with cinnamon. For a quick baking smell, pick up a package of frozen bread dough (3 to a pkg) and bake a loaf the morning of a showing. We’ve sold two houses over the years using that combo, so it may have contributed to our success. Who knows? One was on the market for five days (1989) the other for almost 24 hours (1998).</p>
<p>Lge62: we’ll be putting our house on the market this spring, so we’ll soon see the effectiveness of this method in the 2012 market. The big problem in 2012 is pricing. We all think our home is worth “x”, but what is someone else willing to pay? We’ve always priced our homes at the minimum we were willing to accept in order to hook the buyers while the listing was hot and get on with it. It is worth it to us to have the opportunity to move on with our housing plans sooner than later.</p>
<p>because the poster is interesting in possibly buying a home now … and I would guess did a search on buying or selling homes and found this thread</p>
<p>Personally everyone in this family is very sensitive to candles and cleaning smells and would leave if we detected any. Hate any artificial scents. Would be suspicious of any baked smells too. </p>
<p>OP, any update on your sale? You’re probably long gone!</p>