I hate homes that smell of cigarettes or cigars!  Funny thing is some owners deny their home smells or that they even smoke! 

I've had prospective buyers walk in the front door of a house where the owners smoked and turned around and walked out without seeing the rest of the house.  It does make a huge difference in it's saleability. 

Funny you posted this.  I showed one here in Darnestown.  It is in impeccable shape, beautiful antiques and stinks like smoke.  The interesting thing is the owner is a doctor and the buyers are doctors.  My buyers are not smokers.  Not sure if the owner/doctor is a smoker or someone that lives in the house, but it is definitely there! Not sure if they are going to write or not?

I can't stand that smell. I think telling your client ahead of time is a great idea. Good luck.

If what you say is true,  "I got them to agree to keep the house a no-smoking area, starting about a month before it went on the market.  The smell pretty much went away, and the house sold in a week for top dollar"...and..."He smoked these nasty French things.  And his house took three months to sell and went for at least $100,000 less than had it been odor free".  I would prep the doctor by saying Im going to save you a hundred grand on this house, the only catch is that you will have to live in a hotel with your furniture in storage for a month after you purchase the home

Plan for an August settlement, no one stays in Washington during August anyway

How eloquently put....love the hand and cig drawing..smile........the smoke gets in your pores.......in the walls, carpets......furniture...but mostly in your nose.......and that association 'colours' your perspective whether you're conscious of it or not..........good reminder!  :-)

Hi Pat, I think it is harder to get rid of than animal smells if at all.  Love Ron's approach!  And where do you get your wonderful images?

A smelly house can really ruin a deal. 

Patricia:  Stale cigarette smoke is something that could take years to go away... if ever.  It just permeates everything.  And... as one who never started smoking (it killed both my parents)... if your sense of smell is good... that smell is just so obvious.  I totally believe that this could impact the value of a home by $100,000.

I've had clients walk in; turn around and leave at the first hint of smoke. I wish I'd caught it on tape... every seller should see how limiting this one item is.

What's funny is that some of the heaviet smokers I know are nurses.  But i don't know of any doctor who smokes.  Hmmmm....

Hi Patricia, Cig smoke can definitely kill the sell of a home.  so many people, like me, are allergic to cig smoke.

I can instantly tell a house with a smoker in it.  Even if they smoke outside the odors are on the clothes hanging in the closet/  Ughhhhh 

Pat, yep, you can tell the second you walk in that smokers lived there.  Not to mention the ugly smoke stains on the walls when you remove the hanging pictures.  Why don't people wise up and quit this particularly dreadful habit?

Jin, cigars really push me over the edge!

Mary, I've had the same thing happen.  Sometimes, allergies kick in.

And Audrey, yeah, a lot of doctors do smoke!  Maybe it's the teenager!

I can't stand to go in to houses that have had smokers in. We had one condo in our condo conversion project that had yellow walls thanks to smokers! It took us a coat of bleach, 3 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint to get rid of the smell.

P.S. Thanks for your help last week with the MAC question. It was nice to finally put a voice with the face in the rain. (Sorry it had to be on a question...Hope you won at the track)

I've been working on a post about smells...! Cig smoke is one of the worst! Yuk.

Patricia,

This may help with problems like this!!! Click here! Thanks,   Fran

It's kind of funny that all the posts are all anti-smoking, as well they should be.  Here's the truth, though.  There are still people who smoke.  I'm not one of them and I'm not even an ex-smoker (never picked up the habit) but I've sold houses that have had smokers and agreed to smoke outside and houses with smokers who essentially ignored my advice.

Guess what!  The houses sold.  Maybe not for tippy top dollar but for something the Sellers agreed to and were willing to accept. 

I have this theory.  Other smokers will buy smoker's houses. I've also had buyer clients that I thought were clean livin'. I turn around and the husband is outside while the wife is still looking at the house.  The husband is smokin'  (or vice versa or both).

Remember the days when smoking was cool. If you didn't smoke you weren't with it. All those old movies.

Mana, well, it's worth a try certainly!

Ron, Even I leave DC for August!

Liz, a lot of time, I don't think that people realize it's smell that is turning them off to a great place.  It's sort of subliminal.

And Virginia, my images came out of a box I bought at the Mac store!

Robert, there's that old "if they can smell it, we can't sell it saying!

Karen Anne, if there isn't a lot of carpet and drapery, it can take less than a year.  Sometimes you have to change out the wall-to-wall and window treatments.

Chuck, sometimes, I think it's allergies!  The stuff makes me nauseous.  

And Marlene, when I lived in New York, I had a roommate who smoked like a chimney - and she was a nurse at Sloan-Kettering.  Um.  A cancer hospital?

Kay, of all the nasty smells, I think cigs are the worst!

Cindy, You're right - and they don't even realize it a lot of the time.

Brian, they're being had by Liggett and Meyers and don't realize it.

And Todd, when you're showing a condo and pass a smoker's unit on the way, even that's sort of nasty

Kelly, it's always fun to write about smelly stuff!  Can't wait to read it!

Fran, I remember that post that you wrote!  That sounds like a wonderful invention!

And Ken, smokers do seem like a good target market, but how do you reach them?

Sounds like the tour we had today.  One house smelled horribly of smoke from cigarettes.  One smelled horribly from animals of some kind.  One house had animals all over it. (Don't let them run out the door!) But my theory is still, don't mention it to potential buyers.  They may LIVE THAT WAY TOO!

Pat, When a house smells like smoke, you can bet on selling strategies going up in smoke too. 

A doctor that does not smoke will probably hate the home no matter how great it looks! These people need to stop smoking inside if they seriously want to sell the place!!!! (Bill smokes, but not with clients - only when I am in the car - lucky me)

In my first year I had someone blow smoke in our face as they sat outside their condo and we walked past to look at another unit. I forgot about that...Thanks for the memories.

Yep, that nasty cigarette smell lingers on forever... a definite deal-breaker...

Patricia-We use a air sanitizer for our listings..and it takes the smell out in about a week providing no one is still smoking in the house!  Congrats your posts was selected as a Blogger's Choice Selection Award Winner.

Congratualtions on the Bloggers Choice award, Patricia! You gotta shake your head, because all the best staging talents in the world can't make an offensive odor dissapear if there is no clean-up and upkeep, guess the sellers really don't want to go? I stage for a smoker, the home smelled fresh, she had a lazyboy by the front door in the garage where she smoked, and no one was ever the wiser!

Patricia- I wrote a Post last year about offensive smells, not cigarettes per say, just smells.  Anyway, I know that Best Western uses some type of spray or something for their smoking rooms, and it works pretty darn good.  Having just quit again 4 months ago I can tell you I was disgusted with my own house.....but now I don't care who you are, or what allergy you have, you don't smell anything.  It isn't in the walls, and I washed the couches, drapes, carpets, etc. and the smell is gone.....I know  because I asked.......  :) :)

Patricia...this is a very good post.  Most people don't realise how much odors in a home are costing them.  Not just smoking, but food odors, pet odors etc.  When you begin to think about it in those terms, it makes sense to get rid of them quickly.  Congratulations on your inclusion in the Blogger's Choice Spotlight!

Patricia, Great post. Homes should pass the sniff test. Homes that smell of smoke, pets or spices turn off people who are not used to those things.