The nose knows

Creating moods and even selling houses with scents

November 22, 2013

Scents can calm you or energize you.

Research has tied smells with memory and a mere whiff of a certain scent can bring back a childhood memory like it just happened. Studies have also shown that certain smells can encourage shoppers to buy more – even a house.

A home with the welcoming, fragrant smell of that American icon – an apple pie – can help sell a homebuyer on the American dream of homeownership.

Humans are wired to react emotionally to scents. The limbic-system part of our brains lights up when small molecules called odorants pass through our noses and is the same part of the brain that processes emotion and memory, according to the research organization Monell Chemical Senses Center of Philadelphia. Additionally, another part of the brain, the olfactory cortex, where thought processes take place, also is involved in mediating reaction to smells.

"Cross-connections between cortex and the limbic system may be essential in forming lifelong, emotionally-laden, olfactory memories," Monell says.

Smells of home

Other scents also can be sales agents, many professionals say. CPA William Koscinski, Jr., of Allentown has this on his Web site: "Have a fire burning in the fireplace, bake some cookies or an apple pie, or have a pot of coffee brewing."

"The old standard is cinnamon and apple pie," says Colette Cocco, a sales associate with Prudential Regency Real Estate of Allentown. "It smells like home."

But because our responses to smells are almost all learned, one person's heavenly fragrance is another person's stink. "If my beloved mom wore Chanel No. 5 every night while serving me a home-cooked meal, I probably would love the scent of that perfume," Leslie Stein of Monell writes in email. On the other hand, if a disliked parent wore that perfume "while making me clean toilets …" she writes, with a conclusion so obvious, she doesn't need to complete the thought.

Cocco agrees. Smells are wonderful, but response is individualized, she says. That's why she doesn't buy the bake-a-pie theory. What if every holiday, while pies baked in the oven, the family quarreled bitterly? That would not be a happy smell-memory.

Furthermore, "buyers are so savvy, they know that something's being done to manipulate them," she says. "They aren't fooled."

Rather than picturing themselves living happily in a home they are viewing, they might instead become suspicious, wondering what's being covered up.

Fresh and clean

Cocco advocates making sure a home for sale has a fresh clean scent. She also is a health and fitness coach and says using earth-friendly cleaners to get a house squeaky-clean — and cleanliness is a colossal factor in evoking a positive response from potential buyers — is the best way to go.

Similarly, Rudy Benko, associate broker with

Weichert Realtors of Bethlehem, doesn't recommend using commercial air fresheners. Rather than trying to mask an unpleasant odor, he urges, get to the source of the smell.

"When people try to hide odors," he says, "it complicates the problem."

Musty must go

Musty basements emit troublesome smells. People at a home showing always go into a basement and, concerned about allergies, they look for signs of mold and mildew, Cocco says. "They're looking for it with their noses along with their eyes." The solution is to invest in a dehumidifier to keep things dry.

In the basement, kitchen or other rooms, pet odors can be a turn-off, especially cat urine stench present because a seller doesn't have a proper litter box. The thing to do is clean up often after pets. "With responsible dog and cat owners," Benko says, "you rarely can detect a scent."

Nowadays, many people are selling homes that have been sitting vacant, and that also raises an air-quality issue. A house that has been closed up for days or weeks smells musty. Cocco says: "Go in before the showing to open windows and air it out."

The very worst smell is that of stale tobacco smoke. It's hard to believe people still smoke indoors, Benko muses, but some do. Buyer reaction is swift and strong, he says. "They walk in, sniff, and say, 'Forget about it.' "

In using scents to sell, don't overdo it. "A neutral smell," Benko says, "is better than an overwhelming smell."

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