The unique selling points that only your nose detects

Kirsty Mcluckie on the aromas likely to aid a sale

Potential purchasers of your home at the door?

Quickly slip a focaccia mix in the bread maker, grind some coffee beans and put a match to the prelaid fire.

Only then should you answer the door if you want to sell your property – or so we have always been told.

Pleasant smells may indeed have a subconscious effect on our impressions of a new home but, of course, it does depend on the type of property you are viewing.

The smell of bread coming from an Aga in a rustic kitchen would conjure up a very welcome picture of domestic bliss when viewing a country cottage.

And fresh coffee as a subtle undertone in the air – and as a precursor to being offered a cup – would be a good way to be both hospitable and to make a potential purchaser stay longer in your property and engage in conversation.

A blazing hearth on a winter’s evening is always going to feel welcoming although the smell of smoke in a house that doesn’t have a fireplace is very likely to have the opposite effect.

And the scent of neighbours setting fire to old tyres in their adjoining garden is definitely not going to have the same effect as the earthy smells of woodsmoke or a peat fire.

This week an appliances company published its findings on the smells most likely to turn you on, or put you off, a property that you are viewing.

As well as baking bread, fresh coffee and an open fire, the aroma of clean laundry and fresh flowers were listed as selling points, according to appliancesdirect.co.uk.

Being greeted by the smell of pets in a home is the most off-putting pong when viewing according to the respondents, followed by the scent of stale cigarettes.

An overpowering smell of cleaning products, a whiff of damp and the aroma of a rubbish bin complete the top five worst smells you could face when viewing a property.

Thankfully, the survey obviously didn’t take in the poor people who viewed my last house when one of the children was going through potty training.

Mark Kelly, marketing manager at Appliances Direct, said: “While the research shows there are some smells vendors really need to avoid when having viewings, there are some great opportunities to entice potential house buyers by filling the home with desirable scents.” I’m not sure I believe it. As long as a house smells clean, it is unlikely that anyone is going to sign on the dotted line or add a few thousand to their offer because your kitchen had the aroma of an artisan baker’s shop.

There is a great risk of overdoing it too. In the same way that leaving designer coffee table books lying around give an impression of pretentiousness and would make me actively hate any property that displayed them, surely everyone is now on to the baking bread trick?

If I entered a house which fanned me with desirable smells in every room, I’d likely think that the owner was trying to get one over on me and be put off buying, rather than being subconsciously charmed by my nose.

As for the smell of dogs, as long as your pooch hasn’t rolled in something appalling, I would argue that a nice biscuity clean doggy aroma around the place would be a selling point, to at least half the population of fellow doglovers.