New research by online estate agent, House Network, has revealed that bad smells can trigger the strongest negative reaction in homebuyers.
House Network has worked with organic home fragrance specialist Wild Planet to look into the importance of fragrances within the home and which scents are better suited to certain climates. The study surveyed 1,000 people who were looking to move and found that 78% of potential buyers would be put off if they didn’t like the smell of the property.
The study also looked into what kind of smells would attract people to a property and oddly there was some clear regional differences. When quizzed on what scents would be most welcome when viewing a property, those in the South East and Wales buyers prefer floral scents; in London and the North-East lime and lemongrass were the favourites: and in the Midlands, the respondents were looking for lavender and geranium.
Eileen Holford, founder of Wild Planet, explains that these differing preferences may be down to the climate, 'Aromas with zesty citrus ingredients tend to work better in colder, fresher regions, like Greater London. This, however, differs hugely in areas which are warmer and more remote, these regions are drawn to stronger, more ambient floral scents like Rose Blush. Sellers should always remember that smell is one of our strongest senses and the one which will often provoke a strong ‘like’ or potential ‘dislike’ response.'
'We were surprised by the results', commented Mark Readings, founder of House Network. 'The research was carried out so that we could find the most popular scent to provide to sellers who are marketing their properties through House Network. We did not expect to find that so many people are put off by how a house or flat smells.'
After all the responses were reviewed it was found that the most popular scents were always lime based so, conveniently, House Network has commissioned Wild Planet to produce a diffuser using the scent in order to boost the likelihood of selling a property. You can order the Limelight diffuser from Wild Planet.
