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Well, HamiltonJay...

Nana is 101 (102 in December). She was born in a magnificent but small Victorian house in Queens, NY. She has smoked in that house for literally 80 years. When she was a girl, the two fireplaces heated the structure, and when I was a girl, the house was still heated with a coal furnace.

The house contains pocket doors, leaded glass, marble-fronted fireplaces, octagonal rooms, front and back stairs, two clawfoot tubs, ceiling medallians and dentil mouldings.

Anything that should be white is WHITE. I know, because I clean them twice a year when we all head over there for spring and fall cleaning. The house is immaculate.

When she dies, the house will be sold. We will NOT get what it is worth and it has absolutely nothing to do with smoking. The fact is, Nana's house is in one of the very crappiest (and most dangerous) neighborhoods in New York City. I wish to God I could jack the damned thing up and move it to a decent neighborhood. If I could do that...we would get top dollar for it, no doubt about it. As it is now, though, we will get about $450K for it, and somebody will come in and rip all that lovely woodwork and plaster down in order to convert the house into illegal apartments whick will soon hold approximately 25 illegal aliens. I plan to call some experts in to carefully remove the beautiful things before it even goes on the market. No sense letting them go to waste -- I'll use the pocket doors, etc. in my own home. The new owners won't give a rat's clymer about antique ceiling medallions, so the price will be the same.

It seems to me that you are a shrewd businessman. You seek out properties that are in need of repair, you fix them up, and you sell them for a good profit. Bravo! That's the American Way. Try coming to a neighborhood like Douglas Manor in New York City (that's where I grew up). I guarantee that you will pay a king's ransom for even the smallest, most-in-need-of-TLC house. Why? Because the houses are one-of-a-kind. They are old. They are beautiful. And they have that most important of attributes: location, location, location.

Regards,

Vermiscious,

I agree that high demand will allow crap to sell for high prices... there are neighborhoods in my town that 10-15 years ago you couldn't give away, now with a yuppie/artsie influx from NYC in the last few years they go for ungodly amounts.

I have said from day one, home owners largely buy on EMOTION. I have seen the neighborhood effect you speak of, and I have seen the boom and bust cycles of urban renewal.

You are absolutely right, there are places and markets where anything no matter how bad can name their own price... this however is a very very very small part of the market, not the market as a whole. You are also right that there are smokers who do keep their houses pristine, with no evidence of smoke what so ever... those too in my experience are few and far between as well. It doesn't take long for a few pack a day smokers to get their walls that tell tale beige hue.

Defects affect salability of a house... and cleanliness is a HUGE one... if people walk in and smell, dog or cat or are overwhelmed by smoke smell, you are going to not get top dollar in the overwhelming majority of cases.

Tell your Nana happy birthday!