If you’re about to sell your home, you’ve probably made a “to-do” list of the things that need to be done. Declutter your rooms, paint the walls, and fix or replace any broken or worn items, etc.

Maximizing the visual appeal of your home inside and out is essential when staging to sell. But, there is another important task to add to your list and that is making sure your home has a scent that will please potential buyers.

The Right Scents

It’s hard to determine what exactly a crowd-pleasing scent is. That may seem a matter of debate, since an aroma’s appeal can be quite subjective. That said, here are four strategies from the experts at Houzz (https://www.houzz.com) for creating a pleasant home scent for prospective buyers.

Every house smells like something. We all know that no matter how scent-free our homes seem to us, someone else can walk in and instantly pick up on last night’s supper. Maybe the recycling needs to go out, or litter box odor lingers no matter how often the pan is changed. There’s always something. Even the fragrance products you buy might strike a guest as stinky.

Things that are clean smell clean. The deep house cleaning that prepares a home for sale is also going to improve its scent profile. However, be careful that your efforts do not leave the house reeking of ammonia, bleach or any strongly scented cleaner. Using well-chosen products, you’ll freshen up the air when you:

1. Start with a deep clean
Cleaning your home when prepping it for sale means scrubbing the nooks and crannies of all hard surfaces until they shine, as well as washing or vacuuming all fabric items, such as bedding and drapes. This heavy-duty cleaning approach should eliminate minor unwanted odors and introduce a clean, refreshing scent throughout each room.

For carpets and rugs, a good vacuuming or steam cleaning should do the trick. Unless you’re on a mission to remove heavy pet odors, try not to use perfumed rug shampoos, since the heavy detergent odors tend to linger.

2. Eliminate food and pet odors
Whether you’re a cat lover or a gourmand, you may no longer notice the odors from pets or cooked food in your home. For a potential buyer, these smells are at the very least distracting, and in some cases may even be offensive. Remember, buyers are there to view your home and, hopefully, to imagine themselves living in it. You don’t want them focusing on any unwanted odors. To gauge whether such odors are noticeable in your home, ask a friend whom you can trust to tell you the truth.

3. Keep it fresh and simple
When it comes to choosing a scent to permeate your home, refrain from breaking out the potpourri and forget the conventional wisdom about freshly baked cookies. Instead, take the advice of professionals who are against using complex or mingled scents, because according to research people can be distracted by a mixture of smells — they subconsciously spend a portion of their cognitive energy trying to identify the scent.

4. Let the scent reflect the space
Choose a scent that is appropriate for the general environment and aesthetic of your home. For example, if you have a lot of wooden beams and walls, cedar might enhance the ambience. Likewise, if you’re near the beach, go for something fresh.

Bottom Line: Stick to one simple scent. Some of the top choices for Open Houses are:
orange, lemon, basil, cedar, pine, vanilla and cinnamon.

Related Reading:
3 Best Candle Staging Ideas for your Home – Antique Candle Works
4 Steps to Staging for an Open House | HGTV