How To Remove Home Smells

Almost all homes have smells. Did you cook dinner last night? Did you kick off those year-old work shoes in the entryway? Do you have a pet? Is there dampness anywhere in your home? Chances are that your home smells too but you don’t notice it.

While data suggests that humans can detect at least a trillion different smells, we adapt to smells very quickly.  New research even suggests that the nose can outperform the eyes and ears, so smell is an important consideration when you sell a home. 

Imagine that you’ve just purchased a scented plug-in device for your home. Think of how strong it smells at first. After a few hours you hardly notice it. Scientists aren’t exactly sure why our noses adapt to smells, but point to detection of the subtlest change in the scent of our environment as a potential safety mechanism.

We need to be able to adapt and notice new smells quickly. For our ancestors, this ability could alert a change in smell in some animal they’d killed, signifying it was rotting and unsafe to eat. This phenomenon, known as sensory adaptation, is something we experience most intensely with smells and is why people can’t smell their own home. 

Listing a St. Louis area home? Clear away bad smells.

Listing your home for sale? Then figure out what smells might be lingering in your home. First, give your home a good deep cleaning. A few days later, after the smell of the cleaning products has gone, ask a friend to come over and tell you what smells they notice. Smells often found in homes include: laundry and shoe odors, previously cooked food, pets, smoke and mold. Once you discover the smells and the source of the smells in your home, remove them.

Food. Rid your home of food smells by cleaning all food-related appliances and washing any draperies near the kitchen. When cooking in a home listed for sale, avoid cooking fish or using strong smelling spices and be sure to use a fan or leave the windows open when cooking. Don’t forget to remove food trash from the home promptly.

Laundry. Don’t let laundry pile up to avoid clothing smells. Those stinky work shoes? Try airing them out outdoors before bringing them in. Then put them in a plastic bag and tuck them away.

Pets. Pet smells can be some of the strongest. Of course be sure that litter boxes are as clean as possible. If a pet has ever gone to the bathroom on a rug or carpet, steam clean it.  Also, keeping pets clean will help eliminate their body odor.

Smoke. If you smoke, you must stop smoking in your home while it is on the market. Smoke sticks to everything. Smokers need to deep clean their home before it hits the market. This includes: washing draperies, cleaning carpets, washing windows, washing or painting walls and even changing all the light bulbs. Yes, smoke can stick to light bulbs and when they are turned on and heat up, the smoke smell will return.

Mold. Mold smells are some of the worst to potential homebuyers as they can signal leaks and water issues at a home. Use a dehumidifier and clean any mold. If there is a significant mold issue call a professional to help remediate as it can make you sick.

List with The Boehmer Team 

With over 60 years of experience, our team has helped hundreds of St. Louis and St. Charles County area homeowners sell a home. We offer a home consultation and even staging if needed to present your home at it’s best. Then we utilize our custom maximum exposure home marketing system to help you get the most from your home sale. Contact The Boehmer Team today to learn more about how we help homeowners sell a home.

References:

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/08/why-cant-you-smell-your-own-home.html 
http://www.brainfacts.org/sensing-thinking-behaving/senses-and-perception/articles/2015/making-sense-of-scents-smell-and-the-brain/

http://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/articles/7-smells-homebuyers-hate/

https://www.febreze.com/en-us/learn/have-you-gone-noseblind

 

St. Charles County Real Estate Market Report First Half 2017

Like any market, the real estate market has peaks and valleys. Understanding the current real estate market trends will make you a better-informed homebuyer, seller or investor.  Here are the St. Charles County, Missouri real estate market statistics that you need to know from the first half of 2017.

Number of Homes for Sale

As this chart shows, the most number of active real estate listings occurs in late spring and early summer. In 2017, the number of homes listed for sale in January was 1050, while currently there are about 1485 homes listed for sale in the St. Charles County area of Missouri. But when you compare the number of homes for sale in the first half of the year to the two previous years, you can see that 2017 has fewer homes on the market. These conditions point to a sellers market, where there are a similar number of homebuyers looking for homes and a smaller number of homes listed for sale.

Average Sales Price

Due to a similar number of homebuyers and fewer home sellers, the average sales price of a residential property in St. Charles County, Missouri has increased. So far, every month of 2017 has seen increases in residential real estate sale prices compared to the previous two years. If you’ve been thinking about listing a residential property for sale, now is a great time.

[See: How to Survive a Competitive Sellers Market]

Percentage of Original Price Received for a Residential Property

While sellers like to get the most money they can for their property, buyers want to pay the least they can for a home. Through the negotiation process the price received for residential real estate is often a little less than the original price for which the property was listed. The first half of 2017 shows that with more competition for residential properties, sellers are netting more money for their homes.

Days On Market

Another indicator of a sellers market is a decreasing number of days a home listed for sale is on the market.  The first half of 2017 is currently outpacing the first half of the previous two years with shortest number of days on market. In these conditions there is often more than one buyer looking at and bidding on each home. Homebuyers are sometimes learning this the hard way, when they try to see a home for sale and find out that it already has an accepted contract. 

Homebuyers should be prepared when looking at homes to act quickly when they find a home they like and prepare for possible bidding wars with other buyers. Working with a great buyers agent, like the buyers agents on The Boehmer Team, will increase a homebuyer’s chances of finding a great property for sale before it is sold.

Contact The Boehmer Team for expert home buying or investing assistance. We know the St. Charles County, Missouri real estate market and have information on homes that are not yet listed for sale. Or if you are ready to get the most from a residential home sale in the current market, contact us to help with a smooth home selling experience. 

March of Dimes St. Louis March For Babies

Did you know that in the United States one in ten babies is born premature? Sadly some of them don’t survive and others carry on birth defects that affect the rest of their lives. But with the help of March of Dimes, we have seen the rates of premature birth decline as much as ten percent. Lower preterm birth rates help families and also help save our nation’s healthcare system millions in costs.

The March of Dimes, founded by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, is a nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies.  The noble mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. The funds the March of Dimes raise assist community programs, advocates in Washington, supports medical research and educates families.

Our friends at Fischer & Frichtel take fun and philanthropy seriously. This year their construction team, office team and sales team are competing against each other to see who can raise the most money for the March of Dimes March for Babies. In addition their construction team built an adorable playhouse that looks like a tiny version of one of their beautifully constructed homes. This playhouse will be auctioned off with 100% of the proceeds going to the March of Dimes. Click here to learn about their raffle.

This year the March of Dimes is hosting its March for Babies 2 mile walk in Forest Park on Saturday, April 29th.  The Boehmer Team is looking forward to participating in the walk and would love to have you join us. You can also participate by making a donation here: http://www.marchforbabies.org/team/TheBoehmerTeam

The St. Louis region goal we hope to help the March for Babies reach is a whopping $650,000. So come on out, St. Louis, and join in this great cause that supports families and communities. To learn more about the St. Louis March of Babies event by the March of Dimes, click here.

                                                            

Buy Versus Renting a Home

The choice between buying a home and renting is often dependent on the marketplace in which you live as well as your current circumstances. Here is a list of factors that will help you determine what is best for you.

Do you plan on staying very long?

Those who plan on putting down some roots in a location for a while will fare better to buy, as any upfront fees will be spread out over many years. But if you’re not ready to commit to an area, think you might need to move in the near future, are considering a job change, or expect a pay hike or pay cut, renting may be a better choice.

What is the Economy Like?

The price of homes, rents and stocks can impact the outcome of when you decide to sell a home. Unfortunately, these are some of the hardest things to predict. But in general, even in down markets, a home is a good investment if you plan to stay for a while.

What is the Price of Rent?

What is the price of rent each month versus the cost of monthly mortgage payments? If you live in a city where making mortgage payments is less than rent, it is better to buy.  Currently in the St. Louis, MO area it is less expensive to make mortgage payments than to rent.

GRAPHIC: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303948104579534230618539424

2015 STATISTICS: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/articles/which-is-cheaper-buying-or-renting-032315.html

Taxes

You can deduct mortgage interest as well as property taxes on your home at tax time. The higher your marginal tax rate is, the bigger the deduction. In addition, if you work from home you may be eligible to take deductions home office and a portion of utilities. Renters do not get this privilege.

Maintenance and Decor

If you live in a house, you can decide how to approach maintenance, either doing it yourself or picking your own contractor. Also you have creative control. Paint things how you like and hang as many pictures as you want.

Equity

Renters are paying their landlord’s mortgage and adding equity to their property.  When you buy a home you increase your degree of ownership with every payment. A general rule is that if you intend to stay in your property for at least five to seven years, the costs of purchasing the home are more likely to be offset by accrued equity and increased housing value. Enough equity in a home can be used as capital to make major purchases like funding a second home or your child's education.

                                                                       

Credit Repair

If you have bad credit it can be difficult to obtain a mortgage loan to purchase a home. However renting and making consistent on-time payments will help rebuild your credit.

Find a Home to Buy or Lease

We hope this article helps you make an informed decision on whether renting or buying a home is right for you. Search homes for sale and for lease in the St. Louis and St. Charles, Missouri areas at our website,  www.TheBoehmerTeam.com.  

Super Bowl Success Mirrors Life

Many of you who know us and follow us know that we often reference a T shirt that we once saw on a young man at the movie theater.  His T shirt read “Champions Are Made in the Off Season”. We are not quite sure who to credit for this saying but we love it!  On this Super Bowl Sunday, as with any big game day, we always think about the journey that gets these teams to where they are, the teams that fell short and the preparation, planning and practice involved for all.  That perfect formula of preparation, planning, practicing and execution is true not only in sports, but also in our everyday life.  This type of success does not happen in a day, it’s an every day mission.  What ever it is we are working towards, if we use these same principles, not just in season but everyday, we increase our odds of success.  Remember this, success is not an accident.  Today’s winner will celebrate after a long year of hard work, planning, practice and preparation.  Super Bowl Sunday is notoriously a quiet day for real estate.  Everyone is cooking, prepping and planning for a fun day of partying and football.   Anticipating a big surge in the St. Louis/St. Charles County real estate markets in the weeks to come, The Boehmer Team is working today preparing and planning for that opportunity.  We are adjusting prices, printing flyers, refreshing marketing, running comps and trying to position our clients for a big victory of their own.  Don’t kid yourselves; we will be out of here in time for the pre game festivities!