In a previous post a guest author discussed why artificial scents don’t make cents when selling your home. While cigarette smoke or pet smells are also marketing killers as I mentioned in August, covering these odors up is the wrong solution.

Today I showed a beautiful home in Wasilla.  This home was in the $400,000 price range and was beautiful inside and out.  My clients were a little interested in it but we had to open the front door and the back door just to breath. 

There were plug in scent dispensers in almost every room.  Some rooms had more than one.  There were aerosols cans in the bathrooms, counter top deoderizers, and scented candles in the living room.  There were signs that a pet had been in the home, but no pet smell was detected, no odor but the overpowering sweet/chemical perfume of the artificial scents was in the air.

The buyers and I discussed the possibility that all of the carpet may have to be ripped up in order to clean whatever smell was being masked.  It must be an awful smell to require 17, yes that’s SEVENTEEN, plug in scent dispensers in the house.

Much better than hiding an odor with another chemical is to clean whatever is causing it in the first place.  Clean, has no smell.  If there is a bad odor, it needs to be removed before placing the house on the market.  It is usually not that difficult to find the odor.  Even if the clean up job is a big one, it will pay off with a higher sales price. 

Almost always, buyers are suspicious of a house with lots of candles and scent dispensers.  

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 Back in February a guest author wrote Why Scents May Not Make Cents When Selling Your Home.   This point driven home as I was showing houses in Palmer yesterday. 

We pulled up to a nice looking home.  It had good curb appeal and was in an attractive neighborhood.  But when we stepped inside the buyer almost turned around and walked out. 

She said her throat was closing up and she was having trouble breathing.  This house had new paint, a nice backyard and good layout.  It was priced very competitively.  In fact, the listing Realtor had paid for new carpet to be installed to help it sell.  Likely, this was to help eliminate the cigarette odor that permeated the old carpet.  The carpet was beautiful, but the place still stunk. 

The odor was a mixture of stale cigarette smoke and scented candles.  The prospective buyer couldn’t help talking about it the whole time we were in the house and she couldn’t wait to leave.  This house is going to repel most buyers because most buyers don’t smoke.

We looked at four other houses yesterday that didn’t stink.  She liked parts of all four and wants to see a few more before she makes up her mind.  The stinky house was on the bottom of the list…in fact it doesn’t even make the list.

The sad thing is, the smelly house is probably the most attractively priced.  But the price may need to drop even farther to find a buyer. 

All because of the way it smelled. 

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I asked John Hill of Lynne Lake Home Inspections to contribute an article on radon and he was kind enough to oblige. John has first-hand experience with radon in Wasilla and the Mat-Su Valley. This article is the second in the “healthy home” series. The first was about fragrances. 

RADON

Another thing to worry about!

By

John C. Hill

 Lynne Lake Home Inspections

Did you know radon is the second largest cause of lung cancer?  The Surgeon General and the EPA recommend all homes be tested for radon and reducing radon in homes that have elevated levels.  Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas produced by the breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water.  It cannot be seen, smelt, or tasted.  The only way to know if you are at risk of exposure is to have it tested.  For more specific information concerning about radon refer to the EPA website document entitled “A Citizen’s Guide to Radon” .

All of us that have been involved in real estate transactions have heard people say we do not have radon in Alaska, therefore we do not need to test for it.  Radon is everywhere and there are recorded tests in the Matanuska/Susitna Borough that show this to be false.  I have tested my past home in Willow and found elevated levels requiring a mitigation system to be installed.  Moving to a new home in Wasilla, this past year found elevated levels of radon in the home.

Once discovered to be above the recommended level, radon presence can be greatly reduced to safe levels by mitigation.  Cost can vary by the system used but an average is around $1,000.  Further information can be obtained from EPA publication entitled “Consumer’s Guide to Radon Reduction” .

The home in Willow had the radon reduced by the installation of a sub-slab suction device which consisted of an access being made in the slab.  It was then sealed to a 4 inch vent that connected to a special radon fan in the attic.  The fan was then vented through the roof.  This system reduced my radon level well below the recommended level and cost about $850.  My new home will be mitigated soon and will be very easy to do.  My contractor installed a vent through the center of the home in the walls as the home was being built.  This vent will be sealed to my crawl space vapor barrier and connected to an exterior vented fan in the attic.  My contractor also installed an electrical outlet in the attic for the future fan if needed.  This simple addition to my home will cut my cost to about $300 to complete the system.  The cost for the contractor to do at time of construction was very minimal.

Radon exposure in the home can be deadly but does not have to be ignored due to cost.  The amount of money I spent to make our home safe was small in comparison to possible life threatening exposure.  To find out if you have risk of radon in your home you can contact a radon measurement professional or you can self test with a purchased test kit.  I encourage all of you that read this article to take some action toward discovering if you are at risk.

For those of you who are buying, selling, or having a home built, take some time to read the EPA brochure entitled “Home Buyer’s and Seller’s Guide To Radon” for more information.   

If you have further questions or you would like to schedule a test, please give me a call at 907-232-5675 or email lynnelake(at sign)att.net

Thank you John, I really appreciate you taking the time.

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A Wasilla Real Estate News reader who works in the Environmental Health Field has contributed the following article.  We look forward to adding  a “Healthy Home” category on this site soon.

For many home sellers who believe the TV commercials that claim chemical sprays “sanitize” the air, plug-ins “freshen” the air and fragrance emitting devices actually clean the air, well…this may not be good news. 

The savvy home buyer has added chemical fragrances to their list of what they don’t want to smell when they are looking to buy a home. These chemical fragrances are now listed right next to mold, cigarette smoke and animal urine by many home buyers.

Home buyers today are more educated than ever. Even inexperienced first time home buyers understand that fragrances do not clean the air, they contaminate it and more often than not make people very sick. They have kids with asthma and allergies. They themselves might suffer from migraines, anaphylaxis or fragrance sensitivity. Read the rest of this entry »

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