Smokers' houses harder to sell

Wilmington (DE) News Journal ^ | September 26, 2003 | Maureen Milford

[Gabz]

As tobacco has become less socially acceptable and home buyers are more aware of indoor air quality, houses that reek of cigarette smoke are becoming a harder sell, experts report.

"It definitely is a major turnoff," said Michael Wilson, a real estate agent with Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors in Brandywine Hundred. "Buyers immediately think about what they'll have to do to eliminate the odor. It's a real drawback and a real negative."

[Orangedog]

Why is it BS? If I ask if you smoked in the house and you lie, and later the stench returns after all the chemical cleaners have worn off, shouldn't I be protected?

OK, I've read all of the smoke-nazi venom on this thread...a lot of it coming from you. So if someone "tells" you that the house you bought was a "non-smoking house" and later your over-sensitive nose picks up the scent of tobacco, you want to lawyer-up. Typical. Here's a newsflash for you...life's rough, so go get a helmut! Are you actually trying to tell me that you can smell old cigarette smoke through a fesh coat of latex paint? What are you, a walking mass-spectrometer?! If you couldn't tell that someone smoked in the house before you bought it, WAHHHHHH! Is there any other area of life where you would like to get a lawyer involved? If this is such a big deal to you, then put it in the contract. If you're willing to sue someone because they dared to say something, verbally, that later isn't the 100% truth, well then a fool and her money were lucky to get together in the first place.

But fear not. Smoking will be illegal in a few years. When it is, I'm sure you'll be one of the first to complain about the massive tax hike your state hands down to you when they no longer have any tax revenue from those evil, lying smokers to keep your roads maintained.

There...I feel better now.

[Gabz]

I love having a group!!!!

I am simply amazed at the nastiness coming from the keyboards of other FReepers.

If you don't like smoke fine. Don't want to buy a house from smokers, fine. But to be so nasty about it and continually ignore the main points being made is beyond my comprehension.

I'm seriously thinking of reposting this article with a different title at a different time to discuss the sheeple mentality, the sue happy lawyers, and the corruption in the real estate industry - the main items that had me riled about this article to begin with.

[cricket]

"I read this on Friday and I am still fuming about it. "

and no pun intended? :^)

Share the anger here and I am sick of the nannyfascists, who in reality are far more dangerous as 'culture terrorists'.

A 'seller' is not obligated to please every buyer. And the buyer, of course, is not 'entitled' to your house - the way HE wants it. . .and he is FREE to KEEP LOOKING!

But the times are changing. . .

[Orangedog]

Of course it's a stretch, but then 20 years ago I'd never have imagined the police could set up roadblocks and stop every car for hours to see if you might have a whiff of alcohol on your breath. Even that wasn't enough, so the next step was getting the limit lowered from typically .1 to .08 to increase the arrest rate from the typical less than 1 out of 1000 stopped. So while the specific actions are apples and oranges, the mind-set behind them is not.

Boy, did you ever miss all the fun on the DWI threads yesterday! There were a couple of entertaining battle royales.

[Orangedog]

The smell of cigarette smoke can be washed away. The filth and stench of bigotry and intolerance goes to the bone.

THANK YOU! Glad you can keep your composure AND have the best "shut up" line on the thread!

[SheLion]

they tend to SMELL and they tend to be FILTHY

Excuse me! I hope you got yourself off by typing that sentence.

However, I do NOT live in a pig sty,thank you very much! I resent the fact that your calling me FILTHY. Where do YOU get off!

[Orangedog]

I'm seriously thinking of reposting this article with a different title at a different time to discuss the sheeple mentality, the sue happy lawyers, and the corruption in the real estate industry - the main items that had me riled about this article to begin with.

Please ping me if you do....I'll try to behave myself and not attack the sheep(no promises).

[SheLion]

This business of calling me FILTHY is getting out of hand. I'd love to sucker punch someone about now!

[Judith Anne]

Yes, I just read this thread...I think these folks are hilarious...just a bunch of BS. I do believe that if a chance for a nice tidy profit came to them, to buy a house from a smoker and resell it at a profit to a smoker, their vaunted airs of superiority (which are much stinkier than tobacco) would disappear forthwith. ;-D

[VermiciousKnid]

It is more a matter of a person's general cleanliness. If a slob tries to sell their house, it will stink and require a ton of clean up. It will also present a deal to a motivated home buyer. If a person is clean and properly maintains their homes, the chance of the home needing the cleanup work is much less and the value should be properly reflected.

Exactly

I've known smokers who were clean freaks, and whose houses were as spotless as spotless gets, and I've known non-smokers whose houses...well...let's just say they wouldn't appear on Martha Stewart's magazine cover.

BTW...I've only rented an apartment once (just after I was married), but when we moved out of the apartment after buying our house, the custodian came by to give the place the customary once-over (so we could get our security deposit back). Not only didn't he know we smoked, but he didn't know we had a cat, either (a lease violation, that). Nevertheless, he said, "Wow, you guys are CLEAN," and promptly signed the deposit form. Oh, and the walls were white, too...even after more than two years. Of course, I did happen to wash my walls twice a year (fall and spring cleaning), and I also took down the blinds every other month to soak them in a bathtub full of bleach, and I actually knew how to use a bottle of Windex (once a week) on the windows and mirrors, and I kept the wood floors and our rug vacuumed, and...well, you get the point: I CLEANED THE APARTMENT. WELL. And I am by NO ONE'S estimation what would be called a "clean freak."

But I ain't a slob, either. Both smoking AND non-smoking slobs have dirty houses that smell funny, but anybody who needs professional help to properly clean a house is just incompetent.

Regards,

PS: I'm sorry...you might need professional help cleaning a house or apartment if they had once had a dead body decomposing in it for two weeks in July. Other than that... a weekend of elbow grease and some bleach should be able to take care of everything.

[GeekDejure]

This business of calling me FILTHY is getting out of hand. I'd love to sucker punch someone about now!

They're Democrats, SheLion . . . what else would you expect therefrom ???

.

[Max McGarrity]

But...but...but, if they're DUMMYCRATS, what are they doing here?????

[Gabz]

I don't care about your statistical "reality." My reality is I sold my house for my asking price, which was higher than the most recent sale of the identical home on the same street that had been owned by non-smokers.

That is my reality.

My house neither smelled nor was filthy and you are an arrogant prig for even suggesting such a thing about another person.

There was no brownish tinge on my once white walls, because my walls were still white, which was evident when I took down the pictures that had been in the same place since the walls had been painted 5 or 6 years previous.

Both my husband and I smoked in our home for the entire 11 years we lived there and had 2 dogs also, and at one time even had several cats.

My reality is that I received the price for my house I was asking.

Reality just doesn't seem to be to your liking - what a shame.

[Max McGarrity]

What d'ya wanna bet Banzhaf will have a new legal "kit" to sell on his website in a week or so? Goes right along with his kits to "get custody," "sue your employer out of business,"force your neighbor out of his home," "make yourself the most disliked human on earth," etc.

[LittleJoe]

Smokers are joining the ranks of gun owners (of which I am a proud member) as the new hated minority.

Yep, it's called divide and conquer. When we are all divided into despised minority groups, the elites will have total control.

Keep in mind that it all grew out of the War On Drugs. But what the hell, it's all for our own good!

[engrpat]

This is apples and oranges. The case you build is government action the other is the right of a purchaser to buy what they want. If a house has a strong smoke odor then the buyer has the right to say no. No one is forcing anything here it is the market at work.

[SheLion]

They're Democrats, SheLion . . . what else would you expect therefrom ???

I think your right!

[SheLion]

I have smoke eaters all through the house. I have ceiling fans. I burn candles. Now......when I have a non-smoker come in, they can't believe that I even SMOKE!

And in the winter, you can go outside and smell the great smell of wood fires burning. To me, the smell of wood fires and cigarettes are wonderful!

[Judith Anne]

We smokers are a persecuted minority, and as such, not being responsible for what has happened to us, I think we need legal protection from busybody creeps and their judgementalism. I'm offended, aren't you?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[Gabz]

It seems your major problem is that you want the market to decide when it comes to restaurants but now when it comes to selling your home.

As you usual you have no clue about my thoughts or problems.

I stated it very clearly.

The market is the market and should be left to its own devices. The so-called "experts" who are highly paid anti-smoker charlatans are encouraging government regulation and lawsuits - that is not the free market. Aslo neither of them know anything about real estate in Delaware, and I do, which actually makes me more qualified than either of them to comment.

My position on the real estate free market is no different than my position of the free market when it comes to restaurants.

The government and the lawyers need to stay out of it.

In the future if you don't understand what I am saying, please have the courtesy to ask for clarification instead of asssuming you know.....because you have proven time and again you do not.