One of the main reasons I wanted to sell my last house was because of the smell. It was an old semi-detached home, and our neighbours had a basement kitchen where they did a lot of cooking. The gourmet food they cooked may have smelled great to them, but the odours that leaked and lingered into our house were not pleasant for us.

A new poll by Royal LePage shows that the odour of a home has a huge impact on buyers' decisions about whether to buy a home. The idea of "staging" a home to make it look attractive to buyers has become popular during the last decade, with many new home staging companies offering advice about how to make the house more attractive to buyers. The poll says that while appearance and cleanliness are important, 53 per cent of buyers said strong odours such as pet and cigarette smells had a stronger impact on their impression of a home than overall tidiness and cleanliness, strong wall colours, or an outdated facade and landscaping.

"Often, people who smoke or who have pets are so accustomed to the smells that they don't notice it," says Diane Usher, a senior manager for Royal LePage. "We always recommend that our sellers get a second opinion of their home to know how potential buyers may see it."

The poll, conducted by Maritz Research for Royal LePage, shows that renovations can improve the value of a home, but if they are in "too much of a unique style," they can be detrimental when it comes time to sell, says Royal LePage.

Men were more concerned than women about the décor, with 41 per cent of men saying that they would be willing to pay a premium for an updated décor, while only 30 per cent of women said they would pay the premium. Overall, more than a third of potential buyers said they would pay more for a home with an updated décor.

"As the real estate market begins to moderate in many markets across the country, the need to impress buyers becomes even more crucial," says Usher. "A combination of the right renovations with modern and tasteful décor is the best way to do that."

There's no doubt that the kitchen is the heart of the home, and the fastest way to the hearts of home buyers. Seventy-nine per cent of buyers said they would be willing to pay a premium for a home with a renovated kitchen. But when asked if they would still pay a premium if the kitchen was renovated in a style that was not to their taste, less than half of those who originally said they would pay the premium were still likely to do so.

"The way you live in your home is not the way to sell your home," says interior designer Timothy Badgley of Acanthus Interiors in Port Hope, Ont. In a Royal LePage release about the findings of the survey, Badgley says, "Not all renovations are created equal. Style and décor are especially important with large renovations, as these features will be costly to change for a buyer and they can be a major factor in buying decisions."

While it's common to see houses undergo major renovations shortly after a new owner moves in, most buyers say they would prefer to buy a house that doesn't need work. Sixty-three per cent of those surveyed said they would buy a higher-priced home that does not require renovations, rather than a lower-priced fixer-upper. But the poll also found that 65 per cent of buyers thought it would cost more than $5,000 to update a newly purchased home to their tastes, and 57 per cent said they wanted to do that within six months of moving in.

When we moved out of our semi to a new detached home, the house we bought was vacant. We liked viewing the empty rooms and deciding how to decorate it from scratch, but interior designer Badgley says that generally, vacant homes are harder to sell than those with furniture.

"People often mistakenly think that viewing empty properties will give them an accurate sense of the space available, but, in fact, it's hard to really understand the size of a room without furniture and other objects as reference points," he says. An empty room allows buyers to focus on negative details instead of getting a sense of the overall space and the flow of each room to the next."

He says in oddly shaped spaces, it can be hard for buyers to visualize furniture arrangements.

"We see a real trend emerging in staging empty condominium projects," he says. "The newer units tend to have much smaller spaces and buyers often have a hard time visualizing how their furniture will fit. Staging really helps buyers envision themselves in the space."

Royal LePage has created a quiz for sellers called, "What kind of homeowner are you?" .

By taking the quiz and answering some questions about the way you live in your home and how you describe your house, you can get an idea of how much work it will be to prepare the house to appeal to potential buyers. The site also includes tips for preparing your house for sale.