Don't Lose a Sale by a Nose

Flower, Sour, Sweat, Wet and Weird Smells Bring the House Down

The group of real estate agents finished the tour of a house that was about to come on the market and fled, holding their noses.

"It smelled like urine," sniffed one of the agents, who spoke anonymously because she wants to remain in the business. "I don't know what . . . they were doing in there. Some of these houses I don't think they ever opened a door or window. It's a big petri dish."

How is it, she wondered, that people can't smell their own homes?

Homes do reek, even the cleanest. Consider what happened when you came back from your last big vacation -- a couple of weeks in the jasmine-scented tropics, perhaps. You probably walked in the door, plopped the luggage in the foyer, and said something like, "Phew, it stinks in here!"

That smell? It's your very own house odor. It's a blend of your personal scent, your pets, the foods you prefer and the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of your possessions.

It's highly concentrated after the house has been closed up, said Charles Wysocki, a neuroscientist who investigates odor perceptions at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. "But even if you had someone air it out, you'd still notice an odor -- one you weren't aware of when you left."

Suddenly you're smelling your home as others do. You've "reset your olfactory system by being away," said Wysocki. "What they weren't appreciating before is that their own domiciles had odors that they weren't experiencing. They had this phenomenon of long-term adaptation."

He compares it to people who work in an odorous environment. "They become adapted to the point that they aren't even aware of it. If they work on Friday, go home for the weekend, and come in Monday; they still don't smell it."

Such ignorance can be bliss when you live in a stinky home, but not when you try to sell it. "Bad smells take $100,000 off your price," said our anonymous real estate agent.

She briskly ticked off a list of (especially) pet peeves: "Cat pee, dog smells, stale frat-boy sweats, jockstrap odor, cigarettes. Mildew? That's the worst one. I'd rather deal with cat pee. And it harms you physically. It really knocks you out. Potpourri? Can't do it. It's an olfactory attack. Scented candles, ugh."

In her own home she prefers the scent of fresh flowers. "Stargazer lilies, hyacinths and roses all have these wonderful smells," she said. "But some people do not like certain flowers. Paperwhites are one some people just hate."

Sometimes they don't like roses, either.