I once owned a house that had previously been lived in by heavy smokers. We cleaned the walls, ceilings, doors, woodwork, etc. with white rags that were anything but white when we were done. We ripped out all the carpet and refinished the gorgeous hardwood floors underneath. We painted the walls and washed the draperies, and the smoke smell disappeared. I lived there two years and never smelled tobacco. But I do recommend cleaning VERY thoroughly before moving in and painting all rooms used by the smokers. I did not paint or do anything with the basement carpet, but never smelled tobacco down there...obviously the smokers engaged in their nasty habit upstairs only.

As for paying less for a house inhabited/owned by smokers or thinking a house is less valued because of this, I don't know. As for getting a credit for carpet, paint, etc. or costs for the clean-up, I've never heard of anyone making such a request. I never thought to do this because I treated the smoke smell as I would any other personal cosmetic change that I wanted to make. It'd be like going in and asking for a carpet or paint allowance because you didn't like the seller's preferences. Cigarette smoke isn't considered a safety issue...it's just part of the house, like pet odors or damage would be.

Just my opinion: having a house that smells like smoke limits your market of potential buyers. Fewer buyers likely means more days on market (DOM), which may or may not result in a lower price, depending on how anxious the sellers are to sell. In a strong market, all they have to do is wait for another smoker who wants the house.

If I saw a house that I was willing to buy and intended on doing considerable work to, I would factor it into my asking price, and then be prepared to walk if the seller didn't want to go that low.

Personally I would avoid a smoker's house if at all possible. I really don't like the smell of tobacco smoke, and there are just too many places in a house for it to hide. But other people are less sensitive to it.

In response to Graywings post: The house I bought had been on the market less than a month in a seller's market. I don't smoke and do consider myself sensitive to tobacco smoke, but I was not turned off by this house. For me, the size and price were right, and the added bonus of hardwood floors hooked me. I agree about factoring in the cost of new paint/carpet in your price. I got mine for 9% of asking price. The paint/floors cost me less than $4k. This was for a 900 SF house.

I've wondered the same thing. So far, 3 smokers' houses we've toured were NOT priced accordingly in this buyer's market. They are still on the market. We really liked one, but hestitated because of the cost involved to remove the smell -- if it could ever be removed. We figured with the huge supply, we could certainly find another house, since this one wasn't a "steal" or anything.

The last time I was buying a house I found one I really liked. I would have made an offer except for the incredible fish smell. This family obviously ate quite a bit of fish. I was so worried that I would not be able to eradicate the smell that I didnÂt put in an offer.

I think any odour can turn off a potential buyer. I posted awhile back about the curry smelling house. It was an overpowering scent as soon as you walked in the door. Carpet would have to be ripped out of the entire house and all walls and ceilings repainted to remove the odour. That's alot of work.

I would be turned off of a fishy smelling house because I don't like fish at all. Homes with strong pet odours, the same thing.

If a smoker is trying to sell their home, febreeze and vinegar in small bowls work wonders to dissipate the smell. Febreeze doesn't harm most fabrics.

We toured a home yesterday that was occupied by smokers. They seemed to smoke mainly in the bedrooms, but it left a lingering smell through the whole house (1st and 2nd floors, bdrms on 2nd floor) There is no spray or scent solution that can mask smoke, I can tell the minute I walk in if someone smokes in their home.

I smoked for 10 years and have been smoke free for a year and I cannot tolerate the smell of smoke. I never smoked in my home due to the lingering odor and I don't think I could purchase a home that has been occupied by smokers without heavily considering the price being appropriate for fresh paint, flooring, etc. It is partially cosmetic, but for some people it is a health factor.

Maybe some of you don't realize that most older homes have had smokers living in them over the years. Before this hysterical
psychological engineering began. That has now turned into something of a witch hunt. Such a big deal you make of it.
Wait until they start ostracizing the drinkers, the fat people, the thin people. Old Grandpa enjoyed his pipe and so did Santa Claus. So we will continue to delight in doing what we want in our own homes.You see this used to be called the land of the free. And the home of the brave. But now they cower oh my,I smell somthing ..it it ..must be, oh god forbid,,, it that smoke? eeeeeek.

my 2¢....

Can I expect to pay less for a home that smokers have lived in? Are they typically valued less than other, non-smoking, homes?

Or can my offer be reduced to cover costs of cleaning up the smoke smell? If it can even be cleaned - is there a way to truly get rid of it?

For instance, if I have to repaint and replace carpets because of smoke smell, how is this handled during negotiation?

There are all types of smokers.. Smokers that smoke mostly outside.. smoke inside some with ventilation in one area and those that don't open a window and smoke through the whole house...

Did you have an appointment to see the house? How much notice was given? How many times have you walked the house?

There are times when my neighbor comes over, it's one of the only times I allow smoking in the house at the table, he's 84. If someone were to walk my house right after him being there, it would probably smell. Any other day, you wouldn't know smokers lived here as we don't usually smoke around the house, we mostly go outside or keep it to one room smoking next to an exhaust fan.

I like to think my house doesn't stink. I've had non smokers here that don't get bothered being in my house, yet were bothered in other houses where people smoked.

If the house is truly that bad, then maybe you can ask for a pro cleaning, which is pretty labor intensive. Once done, it will be fine, or you can do it yourself. It all depends on what type of smokers they were and if they up kept their house.

Things to look for... take a white washcloth with you, bring some Mr Clean, I use a spray bottle water w/ maybe a tbsp of Mr Clean. Put some spray on the washcloth, test the molding, finding a spot that isn't right in the open if you can. You can also bring a screwdriver, pull of the outlet / light switch covers - if there is nicotine, you will see it when you pull them off.

Years ago my Ex & I bought a "fixer upper" that was somewhat priced accordingly, but not as it should be. This was a messy divorce, toys on the roof, high "grass", nothing done inside. They had pets.

My daughter was 3 months old at the time. After we closed on the house, we moved our stuff in, thinking it probably wasn't that bad, don't recall that I even saw the house, not sure my Ex did either. The realtor was his friend, she told him to jump on the house...

We move in after closing, not sure if my daughter even spent a night in the house, the fleas were horrendous. Took me 2 months to get rid of them. I'm not sure I will ever buy another house that had a pet in it after that.

I'm very sensitive to cigarette smoke. If I'm walking through a prospective home and it has the perceived odor of cigarette smoke it's an immediate turn off. If the house was otherwise perfect, I actually would consider the home if I could get it for a price that would allow me to eliminate any perceived smell.

In the late 80's we purchased a home that had been vacant for 6 months. It had hardwood floors through out and fresh paint, was the middle of winter and no perceptible odors in the home. After purchasing it we found out from the neighbors that the previous owner was a heavy smoker and had died from lung cancer. When the woman's sons put the home on the market, they were able to totally eradicate any smoke odor.

An Ozone Generator will get rid of the smoke odor and any other odors you have.

We bought a house recently that didn't have any discernible odors (except an enticing one from the Bath and Bodyworks plug-in deoderizer, which I liked). After we moved in, we realized the deoderizer had covered the smell of dog in the carpet. We cleaned the carpets twice and painted, but it still lingers, albeit fainter.

I smoked for 45 years and quit 2 years ago.

Smoke does not bother me and if I wanted a house bad enough, I would buy and repainted, re-carpet, etc.

Also, have 3 golden retrievers. When they are wet (swimming in the pool, raining outdoors, running through the shrubs that are wet from the sprinkler system) the house smells of dog. But, we have had many guests who say that they cannot smell any dogs/smoke when they come over.

Just my $0.02.

graywings-----you certainly should be ashamed of your comment to Sheshe.

I absolutely agree with her----however, if I didn't I would hope I had enough class to not voice my dislikes on an open forum.

Everyone has the right to "voice" their opinions----called discussion.

Sheshe ... it stinks, plain and simple. Certainly -- smoke away in your home. You have that right. And I have the right to bypass your home when you go to sell it because it stinks.

My DH is a "social" smoker, but decided to smoke a couple in the house the other night after I'd gone to bed. I could've killed the man. He knows not to do it again ... I think I've put the fear of God into him now. ;-)

What a house is worth is dependent on the person offering. Everyone has different ideas as to what items require a discounted. Animal lived there, smoker, wallpaper, no fence, laminate flooring, etc.

Decide what the house is worth to you and make an offer. Just because they are asking for a certain price, doesn't mean that they aren't willing to take a lower price.

Example, we are purchasing a house were the sellers were insulted by our initial offer. Selling agent got real snippy about it so we walked away. A week later, they called and asked us to resubmit because they were ready to accept it. What was funny about this is that we were actually willing to go higher but they blew it on the initial contact.

Isn't it interesting that buying/selling houses is such an emotional decision? Everyone advises us to leave our emotions out of it, but emotions are what it all boils down to...and how much $ the bank will loan you, of course!

The condo I bought 9 years ago was owned by a very heavy smoker, but it was only the powder room that had yellowed walls. I loved the layout, sq ft(and price), and didn't give two hoots that I would have to re-paint and re-carpet(it was blue!!). I'm sure I would have done that with anything I would have bought anyway. ;o)

patty_cakes

FWIW, I would never again buy a home from smokers who smoked inside, even for a deal. We did this years ago...painted all walls/ceilings, put in new carpet, scrubbed all tile surfaces with bleach products, had a professional ozone company come out to do their thing, etc. Even after all that, the house still smelled unfresh to me. (It wasn't exactly a "smoke" smell, but just didn't smell of nothing.)

Same thing happened to my brother with a house where the former owner kept a dog in the basement. He even had the concrete ground down and applied all sorts of "smell be gone" dog things. Still smells like dog.

So, JMHO, but no houses for me with a noticeable smoke or dog/cat smell ever again.

jleek, I am not the least bit ashamed of my comment. It was appropriate to the tone of the post I was responding to.

Everyone writing in this thread except sheshe voiced a reasoned opinion on this matter, including my first post. Look at the words that sheshe used: hysterical psychological engineering; witch hunt; such a big deal you make of it; But now they cower oh my,I smell somthing ..it it ..must be, oh god forbid,,, it that smoke? eeeeeek.

If someone chooses to mock me and an opinion I have expressed, he or she should expect a response such as the one I gave.

Graywings - the difference btwn your post and sheshe's is sheshe did not resort to namecalling. You did. I don't see anywhere you or your opinion were mocked. Sheshe did not name names, did not post to anyone in particular except those that expressed displeasure in buying a home that smelled like smoke. Sheshe's post was not a personal attack. Yours was.

There's a world of difference between toxins attached to surfaces in the form of tar, and a home previously inhabited by "drinkers, fat people, thin people", etc. Unless I'm concerned with neglect by owners who were alcoholics or I'm buying "sprung" furniture formerly sat upon by obese people, those characteristics don't have any bearing on the question asked in the OP.

Yes, you should get a better price on a house you are going to have to cleanse -- regardless of what caused the damage. If a house had toxic mold, wouldn't you expect to pay less knowing you have to get rid of the mold? Carcinogens are toxins too. (Unfortunately "Santa" didn't know that.)

Sparksal - First of all, I contend that sheshe's post was mocking and inflammatory, and I think most people would - there are just too many trigger words, like "witch hunt." And I'm not sure I agree with the logic that a post is somehow less offensive because it attacks many instead of one.

Secondly, go back and read the posts in order to see who posted prior to sheshe and what they said - if it was not directed at me, who was it directed at exactly - terrig, julibatt, geri, you, or groominggal?

Up until sheshe's post, we were having a reasoned and reasonable ON TOPIC conversation that she chose to take in a different direction.

I'm with teelag. Our current house we've been in for 1.5 years now (that I call the toxic waste dump) was lived in for 16 years by a very very very heavy smoker. We didn't realize how bad it was until we moved in (we looked in Dec - the week before had been warm, so the windows likely were airing it out) and started finding tar on EVERYTHING.

After washing the walls *10* times with various substances including TSP, we could still clearly see exactly where every picture the PO owned once was. Finally gave up and stripped it all down to the plaster. All of the woodwork had to be stripped in three rooms.

Last Sept we pulled up all the carpet. I've been wet hand washing the hardwood floors WEEKLY since and they still smell like stale cigarettes.

The ceramic tile in the bathroom needs to be totally removed. It and the grout (8 years old) sucked up the tobacco. Each shower, I get to see yellow condensation where the moisture pulls out more tobacco. On tile that is scrubbed weekly. Because otherwise, the towels are so nasty smelling they are unusable.

I won't even get into the nasty heating ducts, the cabinets, or the ceiling I'm stripping right now.

Never again, for any price.

Count me in with those who would reduce their offer for a home that was saturated with cigarette/cigar/pipe smoke, and who would find the house less appealing in the first place. I would classify it the same as any other damage I had to deal with immediately to make the house habitable - mildew/mold, pet damage, pest infestations, whatever - and the house would have to be extra-special in other ways to make up for the expense and hassle of dealing with those issues. I don't have thousands of dollars right handy to immediately rip out a houseful of carpeting and put down some kind of replacement flooring, since I doubt I'd be lucky enough to have beautiful hardwood floors just waiting to be refinished underneath. We took this sort of thing into account when we set the price of our house - no smoke, but we have pets which have deposited plenty of dander and have had the occasional accident (but no fleas!), and it seems like more kids have asthma than not these days so that dander would be a real issue. Carpet cleaning cannot remove the dander from the backing and padding, so it would have to be removed entirely. This makes my house less desirable to those buyers, and they have to be enticed back somehow.

It's not the same as not liking the colors of the PO's decor at all; there are no health ramifications to teal carpeting that I know of. :-) I could ignore a weird color of carpeting for a time while I got together the money to replace it (if we get the house we've bid on we're going to have to do just that, and I've coped with any number of strange carpet colors in rental digs), I couldn't ignore something that gave me a nasty headache and queasy stomach (among other things) whenever I'm in the room with it! There is no "hysterical psychological engineering" or wound-up emotions about the subject, it is simply that like many former smokers, tobacco smoke and its residue has an unpleasant physical effect on me (and like most smokers I had no idea of what I was inflicting on others. I feel sorry for them now! It'll be 10 years on Christmas Day since I last smoked, thank goodness, although it was the hardest thing I ever did). BTW, the nicotine that settles on surfaces can then be absorbed through the skin of people who come in contact with those surfaces. Some researchers are calling this "thirdhand" smoke, and it is a particular problem for small children, who habitually touch things and then put their fingers in their mouths.

This forum always shoots me down memory lane. I grew up in a neighborhood by the beach. All of the houses were pretty big, architecturally stunning. When I was young, everyone's parents smoked. And back then, everyone smoked inside the house. Sometimes you'd walk into the living room when there were guests and the room would be hung with drifting blue smoke. It used to make me choke, and my eyes would water.

So I would think all those houses had lingering smoke smell and sticky tar on the walls. They've been selling for a fortune, now that my parents and their friends are downsizing. There are no questions asked about smoke smell. People like the large prewar homes, with water views, beach rights, and an excellent school system.

I would think the answer to your question - whether you can get a lower price due to smoke smell - depends on the market where you are and what else the house has to offer besides smoke smell. When I was shopping, I didn't notice any houses that especially smelled like smoke, but there were a lot of carpets that smelled like one too many cats. Yuck. But we didn't have to ask about a discount for cleaning, the listing agent would usually tell us right away that there was a carpet allowance built into the contract.

People build houses to live in them and live according to their lifestyles. When you are buying a preoccupied house there are a lot of things you have to do to make it to your likes.
If someone is bothered by smoke/kids/pets/curry/etc/etc/etc, BUILD A NEW HOUSE. I guarantee you will find plenty of people LIKE YOU who will find faults with your house too. I find it very annoying to comment on people's lifestyles.

Kabir--very nicely stated. Thank you

Anything that makes a house less appealing will make it sell for less, UNLESS there is some other overiding reason people are willing to overlook the flaw (seller's market, great location, otherwise spectacular house, great schools). If the house is a dime a dozen and there are 20 others just like it available for sale in the same subdivision, then yes, the smelly house will sell for less or will sit for longer. But they may have already priced it competitively knowing this.

"If someone is bothered by smoke/kids/pets/curry/etc/etc/etc, BUILD A NEW HOUSE. I find it very annoying to comment on people's lifestyles."

It's not a comment on a lifestyle, it's a comment on the condition of a product for sale.

It's not a comment on a lifestyle, it's a comment on the condition of a product for sale.

The heading of this discussion says " smokers homes". It does not say the condition etc.

My father told us "If you point a finger at somebody there are four which point at you"

"The heading of this discussion says " smokers homes". It does not say the condition etc."

Regardless of how you want to interpret the header, The OP was speaking to the condition of a house that has been continually smoked in

when my dear uncle died of lung cancer three years ago, (he started smoking when he was 16 died at 82) and we put his 2 BR. villa up for sale (he lived (and smoked)in it for over 20 years It was in extremely wonderful shape, updated and decorated really nice(he was a bachelor but had exquisite taste) and in an exclusive active adult gated community in West Palm Beach when the realtor came and did her thing, and she said that even though the home was worth 150.00 (it was only 1000 SF) she doubt if we even got close to that because of the smoke smell UNLESS a smoker bought it, well almost a year later (usually those villas would be gone in a day or two) we ended up selling it for 85,000 to an ex-smoker who planned to tear up the beautiful Italian wall to wall marble tile, prime and paint, buy all new applinces, and have new air and heating ducts put in,
So I guess theres a buyer for everyhouse smoked in or not.

The heading of this discussion says " smokers homes". It does not say the condition etc.

My father told us "If you point a finger at somebody there are four which point at you"

Oh, good grief! I can't believe that some folks are taking this conversation so personally!

You'd have to give us a HEFTY discount to even consider an obvious smoker's house and then we'd probably still look elsewhere.

Unfortunately, it is not a behavior that remains soley with the user; hence it is reflected in the condition of the house. The odor and the chemicals don't stick with the cancer sticks nor their users; they permeate their surroundings and can be potentially re-released into the air. I don't know to what significance they would impact subsequent residents if any, but I have done graduate studies on the behavior of those chemicals and I know they would be significantly re-released from home surfaces (evaporate) any time there are warm temperature swings.

I'm the OP and I want to thank everyone for their comments. I think I now have a good idea of what to do or what to expect should I decide to make an offer. There were many good points made. Thanks!

Oh, thank you ladynimue! Now we can let this thread go.