Before you spend your afternoon lighting sugar-cookie-fragranced candles or baking for hours to have an inviting aroma wafting throughout your newly listed home for sale, read this.
A new study by Eric Spangenberg, dean of the college of business at Washington State University, shows that home aromas may not always produce the expected desire.
It seems that some aromas can have a direct impact on people's tendencies to spend. The professor studied responses of 402 people browsing in a home-decor store in Switzerland over a nearly 20-day period two years ago. When an aroma consisting simply of orange filled the store, shoppers spent 31.8 percent more. But add scents like green tea, basil, and complex blends of orange and the shopping spree decreased.
Whether it's a store or a home for sale, the study makes the argument that fragrances may affect cognitive functions in the same areas of the brain that are responsible for decision-making.
The study found that while complex scents may be pleasant, they can still be a distraction. It seems they have an effect on some people that causes them to subconsciously spend time trying to identify the aroma.
Smells that are subtle go, more or less, unnoticed. So people don't actually concentrate on what they're smelling. They don't ask their significant other, "Can you smell that?"
It makes perfect sense. Actually, this principle applies to many things in and around the home that's listed for sale. For instance, if you have lots of personal pictures displayed, it's likely they will distract potential buyers. They'll get a little curious and start exploring your photos and commenting on them to the agent or whoever they are with while viewing your home.
Yet another no-no is to have many medications out or even in your prescription cabinet. Yes, just like the home's aroma and the photos on your counter, this can be a distraction. Even if the medicine is tucked away in drawers or cabinets, chances are it will be discovered. When buyers pass through a home, they open closets, cabinets, little almost-hidden drawers. It's what they're supposed to do. They're thinking of putting their own "stuff" where your stuff currently is. So they need to check out all the spaces available. If they stumble upon unusual or private medications, they may stop and look them over instead of the house.
The best policy when showing a home is to show it as if you don't live in it. Okay, stop your laughing. How's that possible? Get your home staged or at least consult with experts who can give you a few pointers. A few weeks of living in a model home will make you remember what is was like when you first moved in–spacious–free of clutter.
So pack up your private belongings. Tone down the scent--especially of pets. And find a way to clear the clutter. You'll be glad you did because it may mean a faster sale of your home and for more money.
Published: February 22, 2013
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