Quick Home Sale: Eliminate Cigarette Odors

December 7, 2009

By system

In today’s real estate economy, here’s some home selling tips that could make a difference for you. If you’ve ever looked at online auctions, you’ll notice that sellers often use the words “from a non-smoking” home in their ads. Non-smokers immediately take notice. Stricter legislation and increasing media coverage is bringing the topic of smoking to the forefront of people’s minds even more. The effect of the economy on real estate is like the effect of cigarette smoke on a home. Who knew it could affect so many different things and be around this long? Since values have fallen, and buyers have thinned out, even the slightest edge in a competitive marketplace helps.

Many houses have a slight odor to them that comes from things like pets, cleaners or cooking odors. If there’s a smoker in the house, it could smell like nicotine too. Most smokers don’t smoke in their homes, but for those that do, it can affect the future sale of the home by reducing the number of buyers that would be interested. Smoke goes everywhere, and tobacco odors can be re-activated by heat or humidity, so scrubbing the residue is a major undertaking.

When sellers face an uphill climb to sell their home, you hate to see buyers walk away because the smoke removal task seems so daunting. It’s not just the effort involved, but the total cost can influence a potential buyer. Window coverings and carpets need to be professionally cleaned or in the case of allergies, completely replaced.

Along with the carpet and curtains, you’ll need to tackle the walls and ceiling. Smoke residue builds up and stains these areas. These surfaces will almost always require complete repainting. Because the nicotine can bleed through multiple layers of paint, you’ll first need to wash, rinse and dry all surfaces, then apply a primer that is made for sealing out stains and odors. Without it, nicotine stains can seep through several coats of fresh paint overnight.

Other surfaces that need to be scrubbed include: cabinets and drawers (inside and out), furnace ductwork and filters, windows and closets. Because smoke seems to be attracted to lights, clean the fixtures, bulbs and any ceiling fans in the home. An often missed spot is tile grout. It’s no fun to clean because it’s porous and absorbs everything. If the tile is in a bathroom, the grout may need to be replaced because humidity can cause odors to resurface.

Check the effectiveness of the cleaning by leaving the house for a few days with the windows closed. Then bring someone that’s sensitive to cigarettes through the home to see if they can smell any smoke. Do anything you can to get the edge in a competitive real estate market. When you remove cigarette smoke from the home you are selling, you will end up with a larger pool of buyers. In a slow market, you want all the home selling help you can get.

Read practical info about internet marketing – please study the site. The time has come when concise information is really within your reach, use this possibility.

Popularity: 1%

Bookmark Now