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."

[Old Professer]

It's Lebanon, and everything stinks in Tennessee.

[Old Professer]

No, life isn't really fair - but, that's life.

[Old Professer]

After we moved in, I noticed that if we closed up the house and were gone for a few hours, when we got back the house smelled like cigarette smoke. The BUILDERS smoked while framing and drywalling.

Boy, I'm surprised it took this long for someone to bring up the fact that construction workers might likely smoke in the new house they are building.

[Old Professer]

Same can be said for people too. Even after they quit smoking the smoke lingers on for a long time as it slowly oozes out of their pores. Would you mind telling us how you come to be an expert on this facet of smoking?

(I have this really weird image in my mind of a stringy-haired little nerd with his nose up somebody's pores)

[Old Professer]

I read once that smokers die of the same diseases that non-smokers do, but more often; I still haven't figured out how many times I may have to die to prove that statement correct.

[Old Professer]

You do come across as being vicious, why, after being asked to refrain, do you persist in doing so?

[Old Professer]

Its like trying to explain an what ugly is to a blind person.

A blind person is perhaps the only person to whom ugly is a foreign word; it would be interesting to read these comments to a blind person and have him determine who here is ugly.

[Old Professer]

"Used car scent"????

[Old Professer]

Sounds like you live in a trailer park.

[Ditter]

What my comment says about me is that I have a sense of smell. Unlike the smokers here who don't believe cigarette smoke leaves a stinky residue on people, places & things. What your comment says about you is that you spin what you hear to fit your beliefs. I think you & I not hanging out together is an excellent idea.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Your comment says alot about you as a person.

I think that was unkind. What's wrong with saying "I notice when someone is smoking?" Its the truth. I don't believe Ditter said: "I notice when this idiot smoker is smoking". I think you, Bogey filled in the blanks. Don't be so hypersensitive. Just because there are some idiots out there who think smokers are the scum of the earth, doesn't mean that such is the pervasive attitude on this thread.

I notice when people around me have smoked. Does it mean I like them any less? Of course not.

[bwteim]

OK, it's just about 24 hours later --- been busy smoking :) and the thread may be getting down to the butt - but it was good, Gabz. Even house keeping hints from Heloise err.. Hamilton Jay for quicker resales.

Will leave you with a possible tag line - not my own creation:

Pardon me, young man, but which is the non-smoking lifeboat?

- FRegards

[Just another Joe]

they tend to SMELL and they tend to be FILTHY.

You know what HJ, I'm going to tell you the same thing I tell all other smoke gnatzies, "BITE ME!".

You don't have a clue about smokers, FReepers, or just about anything else you have spouted on this thread.

All you want to do is say how smokers houses stink to high heaven and are as filthy as the trash heaps of a third world country.
You can go spout your hate somewhere else where it just might be believed.

IF, as stated in the article, smokers houses are being sold cheaper, did you ever stop to think that it could be yet another politically correct stanza in the demonize smokers song sung by every anti-smoker in the country.

"Smokers are evil" "Smokers are killing all of us" "Smokers stink" "Smokers are dumb" etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum.
Now it's "Smokers houses stink and are filthy"

All of you anti-smokers out there can BITE ME!

[Just another Joe]

walls weeping tar and other smoke related agents

I never realized how much BS you put out.
Are you this unfactual on other types of threads.

I have never, and I mean NEVER, seen a wall, "weeping tar and other smoke related agents".
I think that this would have to be right up there with a weeping madonna.

Really, are you this hateful and uninformed on other types of threads?

[Just another Joe]

a house that smells of smoke and has tinted walls won't sell

And what about the house of a smoker that doesn't smell of smoke and the walls aren't tinted?
They exist. Just because you don't want to believe it doens' make it not true.

[HamiltonJay]

Joe,

If you haven't seen it, you haven't been looking. I'll gladly you walk you through the homes I routinely get that are stained, stink, discolored and all sorts of other things from the remnants of smoking.

I don't give a damn if you smoke in your home or not, but to deny that smoking physically impacts properties is flat out ignorance. Further to deny that that impact does impact a potential buyers view of a home is just stupid.

I spend several hundreds of thousands of dollars every year fixing up properties, I look at hundreds of properties per year.. don't tell me I don't know what I am talking about, just because your indignent over the fact that most of the population doesn't want to buy a house that smells like tobacco.

Puff away my friend, I don't really care, just don't make claims that smoke buildup doesn't happen in homes of smokers... it does, just like cat and dog smells build up in homes of pet owners. Smoking is a physical act, it produces physical properties and those properties do have physical impacts to properties.

Next time I'm putting the 5th or 6th coat of paint/primer over a nice beige tar stained discolored wall, I'll keep in mind the fact you don't believe it happens.... Flat world society lives.

[HamiltonJay]

Joe how about reading my posts, I have stated several times in this thread that some smokers keep their homes pristine, and wash their walls top to bottom monthly, and clean out their air ducts routine etc etc... but they are by and far the most minute of the population.

Smoking physically impacts a property, just like owning 32 cats does... I don't care if you smoke or not, but don't come here claiming that smoking doesn't impact homes... the average person, whether a smoker or not, are not NEAT FREAKS.. they are clean and keep their homes in good condition, but they don't nearly clean enough to keep the physical impact of smoking from being noticeable to even the most untrained eye.

[HamiltonJay]

Ah, I see, so you are contending that listing agents are intentionally selling smokers houses cheaper, as a grand conspiracy against smoking?

Man, you have been smoking WAY more than tobacco if you believe that crap.

Agents are paid a commission, the they get a percentage of the sale price, they want to get the highest price they can for a property... otherwise they affect their own pocketbook. If you think agents are collectively going, hey, lets underlist this property just to screw this smoker... you are NUTS.

Fact is, houses of smokers by and large smell, very often are visibly affected by the habbit as well, and frankly buyers aren't going to pay top dollar for a house needing work.... That's reality.... DEAL WITH IT.

[Just another Joe]

Reality is that everyone is different and unique.
Not until the end of this thread did you even acknowledge the fact that it is POSSIBLE that a smokers house even has the chance that it doesn't smell of smoke and doesn't have a dingy tint to the walls.
You have made blanket statements that smokers houses stink and are filthy.
If you can't own up to those facts you don't have a grasp on reality.

As for, "contending that listing agents are intentionally selling smokers houses cheaper, as a grand conspiracy against smoking?" - No it's not the listing agents that are a part of the conspiracy, they are just the dupes.
Like I said, what about the smokers house that doesn't smell of old stale tobacco and doesn't have a dingy tint to the walls. Now that the anti-smokers are wailing about smokers houses stinking and being filthy, (I wonder where that came from?), the listing agents won't even try to get a fair price for ANY house that has had a smoker living in it. Wouldn't be PC, would it?

I agree with you that IF a house stinks, for whatever reason, and if a house has tint to the walls, for whatever reason, it will lower the price.
If a house doesn't stink, even though a smoker has lived there, and if it doesn't have a tint to the walls, even if a smoker has lived there, it should not affect the price.
Now that the antis are putting out this BS it won't matter. If a smoker trys to sell a house, no matter WHAT the condition, the listing agent won't try to get the same price as for a nonsmokers house.

More unfair demonization of smokers. See the picture forming?

[I_dmc]

I note the realtors quoted are from Brandywine Hundred...area of the big $$$.