HOUSE RULES: Smoking can seriously damage the value of your house. According to a survey of 1000 potential homebuyers carried out by the Woolwich, almost 30 per cent listed the smell of smoke and nicotined-stained walls as most likely to put them off. Seventy per cent of those said they would offer thousands less to the seller. Other turn-offs include animal odours and fur (20%), stone cladding (11%) and dirty fridge or oven (10%).
Source: Daily Mail (4 February 2004)
The guy who owned our house before us was a smoker. He had been dead for several months when we bought the place, and his sister had totally redecorated (including new paint across the entire house), and you could smell smoke the second you walked in. We didn't even have to ask the realtor if the guy had been a smoker.
When I'm digging clear in the back of my closet, I can still smell smoke, and we've been living there four years.
I don't know about you, Ray, but my house is for living.
Investment is another thing.
Life is short.