Is Your House The Full Smokers' Package?

The other day, I showed a house in a neighborhood that I was very familiar with, and I hadn't previewed the place first.  And it was not love at first whiff!

"Wow, Pat!" my buyer exclaimed.  "You found us the full smokers' package!"

The place has new paint and what looks like new carpet.  It's been vacant for a while now.  And still, it reeks, as if the lady to the right had just walked out the front door. 

While I know almost nobody who smokes, it's been my experience that people who do are extremely sensitive to the disapproval and judgments that non or reformed smokers make about those weaklings who just can't kick the habit.  And it's something that I find hard to discuss at a listing presentation.

"Waddaya mean I can't smoke in my own house?" is the usual reaction, and I've noticed that a lot of smokers try to find a listing agent who does smoke and who understands them. 

Big mistake.

You can smoke in your own house while it's for sale.  It will just cost you money.  A boatload of money.  Your house will sell for a lot less than one that is smoke free, and unless the price is way discounted, it's likely to take forever to find a buyer.  Even smokers tend to get grossed out at other people's smelly ashtrays.

If you think that scented candles and potpourri will do the trick, forget it.  Fabreze sprayed on the carpets, upholstery and drapes?  Ditto. And if you quit altogether, things will improve pretty quickly, but some of the residual smell will linger for many months your Nicoderm works it's magic.

There are professionals who can come into a vacant house and get rid of the Eau de Marlboro wafting through the air.  As long as you are living there, however, many of your belongings, even the clothes in your closet, could continue to contribute to an unpleasant reaction on the part of buyer and agents who walk through the door.

If you are a smoker trying to sell, your habit is, unfortunately, an issue you really do have to deal with - at least if you want a happy ending to your home sale story.

So what's that old saying?  If they can smell it, we can't sell it!

 

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53 Comments on Is Your House The Full Smokers' Package?

20 Most Recent Comments Displayed Show All

AUG
15
865,945 Points 18 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Hi Pat - smoke odors definately are not a good thing.  There is some new technology out there that will rid the home of these odors, but it is a bit costly. 
7:51pm • #34
234,764 Points 37 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Hi Pat.    Eau de Marlboro?   Very funny but so very true that a home that carries that odor will sit on the market for awhile.   People are afraid that they can't rid the home of it.   I find more and more homes "smoke free zones" and that actually makes it all the worse for those that aren't.  
7:58pm • #35
1,091,244 Points 201 Featured Posts Outside Blog Hit Router Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master
Hi Pat, Once the oil from the tars get embedded in the walls and ceiling, it can't be just painted away. It will be there until removed professionally and it is not inexpensive nor gauranteed. Property values can be devastated with the smoke tars and sadly it will likley be a part of the property for a very long time. YUK!
8:45pm • #36
1,585,057 Points 430 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Pat

Yep that is one tough issue and those who smoke just don't have a clue about the impact it has on those buyers who don't or who have quite. The smell is not an easy thing to get rid of. And condo buyers can have a tougher time since they worry about neighbors who smoke as well as the sellers.

I love your humor - Eau de Marlboro? Better than Eau de Camel. LOL

Jeff
8:45pm • #37
940,719 Points 94 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp

What a great topic for a blog post. There are a few smokers in our office, and I can even smell it if they have just returned from their break. Imagine what it does to the home!
8:59pm • #38
1,156,728 Points 29 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Pat I usually can't breathe in such an environment.  If only the seller would realize how costly such a habit is on a resale.
9:12pm • #39
360,245 Points 42 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Pat, oh having lived my whole childhood with two smokers, my sister and I have beaten the incredible odds that we didn't become smokers, TOO. It amazes me that you be a non-smoker, simply be in a ROOM with smoke wafting through the air and it will stay on your clothing long after you leave. It is truly a DISGUSTING HABIT.

KILZ is a product that can help if painted on walls. It somehow neutralizes. I bought a house once, long after the smoker had died and long after his wife did, too. When I bought it, there was a dark "frame" on the wall of the picture that used to be there and the guy who left his mark  because he obviously smoked in his favorite spot right below it!
9:21pm • #40
473,477 Points 12 Featured Posts Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Patricia,  "Eau de Marlboro," is never a popular fragrance!  I have been in pricey houses with yellow ceilings, cigarette burns in the carpet, and pervasive smoke smells that make your eyes water and throat hurt.  Ugh!  Great post!
9:42pm • #41
AUG
16
778,390 Points 97 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Pat - I get to experience the full smoker's package on a regular basis. I smell like a smoker when I get home, and I don't smoke. It takes a lot of work to clean this up.
12:05am • #42
701,512 Points 39 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

It's really true. A few years ago I had a heavy smoker's home listed & even after it was freshly painted the smell began to slowly creep back up.  I don't know if they never opened the windows or what but it was awful.  They knew it to but we just didn't know what to do besides throw everything out.
5:17am • #43
652,304 Points 70 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

I used to smoke.  My apartment smelled like smoke, my car smelled like smoke, my clothes smelled like smoke.  I was disgusting.  You can't mask that smell.  Period.  Great post!  
6:02am • #44
1,000,907 Points 43 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Pat - Thank heavens I rarely encounter a home with residual smoker's odors.  Years ago I recall a listing presentation and every wall was smoke stained--two smokers and 40 years in the house made it necessary to rid the house of all carpets, drapes etc.  It takes more than a deodorizing spay to banish the smell of smoke.
6:12am • #45
313,507 Points 17 Featured Posts Called Shot Master

When my Transaction Coordinator moved into her current apartment, she had to wash the walls with water and bleach to get that smell out (and clean the carpets). Horrible.

 
8:13am • #46
158,376 Points 1 Featured Post

Bought a house one time that one bedroom was used as a smoke room.  After we moved in realized there was an order in that one room and we couldn't get rid of it.  Finally painted the walls and ceiling and the left over cigarette smell was gone.  And now with the new chemicals in the cigarettes smokers need to be even more aware.  I was following someone smoking the other day and could smell it in my car and they were a quarter mile ahead of me!!! 
8:32am • #47
619,757 Points 10 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

"If they can smell it, we can't sell it!" That's perfect, Pat -- goes for pet and food odors, too. I'm putting your phrase in my tool box!
9:11am • #48
324,624 Points 88 Featured Posts Called Shot Master

Pat,

 

Can't remember how long I've been on Activerain. But I'm pretty sure I can't remember a post on this topic. Very interesting, and sage advice.
1:19pm • #49
1,352,178 Points 42 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Pat - A house with smokers is an issue for many buyers, and it takes a long time to get rid of the smell.
9:13pm • #50
317,234 Points 16 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor

Pat, this is a great topic.  You have a great quote there "If they can smell it, we can't sell it!"  and I agree with you 100%!  Well deserved to be featured.
9:34pm • #51
292,425 Points 20 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Ger-roce.   Not too many posts get unanimous agreement, but this one will.  Not many smokers out here (although--confession-- I've been chewing Nicorette gum for years and years).  I like how the smokers' walls get coated with sticky tar and nicotine buildup.  Flying insects just stick to it when they land--like fly paper.  Sort of looks like an insect collection.
11:19pm • #52
AUG
17
589,575 Points 31 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

I have noticed that more and more buyers are sensative to smoke smells and are turned off by those listings, you are right its hard to get out of drapes and carpets!
6:31pm • #53

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Patricia Kennedy

Washington, DC

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Evers & Company Realtors

Address: 4400 Jenifer Street NW, Washington, DC , 20015

Office Phone: (202) 364-1700

Cell Phone: (202) 549-5167

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Pat Kennedy -- author of The Irreverent Guide to Real Estate -- gives you a look at life on the streets as a real estate broker in our nation's capital. And her blog is peppered with great advice combined with humor!


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