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."

[Gabz]

Michael, I appreciate the info - but I'm not in need of it, nor was I when I sold my other place.

When I started taking down the pictures on the walls, many of which had been there sine the walls had last been painted 5 years prior, the only way to tell the pictures had been there were from the holes caused by the hangars.

[Dead Dog]

There is a mixture of lysol and bleach that works great for cleaning walls.

[CSM]

"I landlord on the side, and frankly anything that is likely to increase my time to get a property ready after a tenant leaves is something to be avoided."

I appreciate your situation. In my state, it is an obligation of the landlord to repaint, thouroughly clean, and shampoo the carpets of the apartment or house. If this minimal amount of work is all that is required then 100% of the security deposit is returned to the renter.

I can't imagine any more would be necessary for a place that I would rent and I am a regular smoker. In fact, my rental history proves that.

(Disclaimer: Still not trying to infringe on your property rights.)

[Godebert]

"I'm not an anti-smoker nazi but what I read of the article looked factual to me. I had a friend who bought the home of a smoker. They scrubed the doors in the house numerous times to get all the black stuff off. Ended up having to just buy new doors. Obviously they bought the thing with the knowledge it was a smoker's house. They just figured they would be able to wash the stuff off and clean it up. Easier said than done. They didn't realize how much the smoke permeates the wood and drywall."

You're either mistaken or lying. Tobacco smoke leaves a tan/yellow film on woodwork and walls, not "black". It comes right off with simple green and a sponge.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

The problem rests with the silly, brainwashed buyers who think their da*n lives are soooo perfect!Those are the people who create a lot of problems for America politically with all their whining about everything.I JUST HOPE THEIR LIVES BECOME FULL OF DISORDER!

[Gabz]

I'm not sure where you see the lie?

It would take me days to explain, but I will try to be brief.

First of all there is major corruption in the real estate industry in Delaware, particularly when it comes to kick backs from various outside services, such as cleaning companies.

Secondly, they are relying on charlatans such as John Banzhaf and James Repace. Most people who normally do not pay attention to the issue of smoking have no clue who these people are. But if a news article refers to them as experts, most people accept what they say as the truth, even if it is far from it.

Mr. Banzhaf is the shyster lawyer going after the fast food industry using the same techniques he utilized and perfected suing the tobacco companies. He earns a very handsome living from depicting smokers as low-life uneducated trailer trash.

Mr. Repace finagled away to get appointed to an ASHRAE commission/board that was working on acceptable levels for second hand smoke. He claims that to clear a room of the smoke of one cigarette would take gale force winds of 300 mph.

Those are the types of lies I see here.

As to believing "that smoker's houses stink?" That is a matter of personal opinion.

I definitely don't believe they sell for less based upon my own personal experience less than 6 months ago.

[Publius6961]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Morons.

I smoked in my last house for over 30 years and sold it for 15% more than other houses in the neighborhood sold for. Preparing it cost me around $800, below average, I think.

[Gabz]

The people on this thread are really pathetic. I am appalled at some of the very nasty comments being made.

My purpose of posting the article was not whether some people dislike the smell of cigarette smoke, but more about the reliance on the Banzhafs and Repaces to tell them what to think. Additionally my other point was it was more people getting on the bandwagon of demonizing smokers.

Most people don't pay attention - until it is thrown in their face in such a manner as this.

[Gabz]

Life is chemicals. Get used to it

You're right.

I hate the smell of new carpets. And this winter when we remove the only 2 in our house we are replacing them with wood floors!!!

The poison is in the dose, always has been and always will be!!!

[Gabz]

In addition to the thank yous, I received full refunds of both security deposits.

Same here.

[Max McGarrity]

If you smoke in your house, you are driving down your property value on resale, its just a pure and simple fact.

Super! So I get a reduced tax rate,right?

There's NOTHING simple about this drive to demonize smokers, and this is just another link in that reprehensible chain.

[swarthyguy]

I JUST HOPE THEIR LIVES BECOME FULL OF DISORDER!

You're carrying around a lot of hate. Off to anger mgmt and sensitivity training for you.

[GeekDejure]

Bitch, bitch, bitch . . . all they do is bitch and complain . . . so I figure the must be Democrats !!!

Let me state it another way . . . If you don't smoke, stay out of my FreeRepublic house !!!

.

[Max McGarrity]

Gabz, we recently refinanced our place and the question of smoking never came up in the appraisal. Our home has continued to increase in value, it's actually worth slightly more than four times what we paid for it 8 years ago. Not bad for a bunch of smokers. But the smoker-haters will latch onto this crapaganda and use it, as you said, to further push for prohibiting smoking in one's own home. Man, I hate these bastages. But will have to say I'm looking forward to the time their eagerness to throw away their neighbors' rights comes back to bite them in the butt. When that happens, and it will, I've already decided to become a liberal dictacrat so I can be in the forefront of the drive to strip them of their dignity, their freedom and their rights.

[Max McGarrity]

It's all in how much you smoke and the way you take care of it.

Joe! Shame on you! Trying to inject common sense in a thread bashing smokers! Didn't you read the fine print?

[Max McGarrity]

p>You are so right. Smoker houses stink. Then your clothes stink when you sit on the furniture.

Why on earth would someone like you EVER be in a smoker's house? Surely not by invitation.

[Gabz]

Reporters read press releases and do not check facts.

Apparently you didn't do much better than the reporter of this.

A corrupt real estate company is what caused the delay in selling my house.
I got what I asked for
I got more than I needed to spend for my new purchase.
I see no financial incentive to quit smoking
The non-smokers that bought my house paid what I was asking.

In short not one thing you claim applies to the sale of my house in Delaware.

The reporter is a moron, because I had a story that proves the exact opposite of what the article claims.

[Gabz]

Maybe then they will think about how stupid it was to demonize people who were carrying a good part of the load for so long.

Bingo!!!!!

[DumpsterDiver]

Isn't this the same ambulance chasing, money grubbing lawyer that is trying to get rich on obesity (suing the fast food industry) lawsuits?

One and the same. Be sure to read the last line in this excerpt:

Fast food's biggest players will receive a demand from the law professor who helped bring Big Tobacco to its knees. John Banzhaf III, of George Washington University, is sending the demand in certified letters to CEOs at six major fast-food chains -- McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut -- as a necessary first step, he says, toward filing a lawsuit against the fast-food giants within six to nine months.

Acknowledging on Thursday that big-money trial lawyers are already swapping lucrative strategies for applying the Big Tobacco lawsuit plan to fast-food restaurants, tobacco-tort king John Banzhaf told CBS News un-self-consciously that "the lawyers have definitely smelled blood in the water."

Banzhaf should know that scent when he sniffs it.

Source: National Franchisee Association

[Gabz]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!