Looking for anyone who may have experience in purchasing a home from a smoker and what they did to remediate the smell. Here’s the short of it. I suck as a Reddit story teller so you my friends will get it in long winded bullet points. TLDR at end. On a phone so sorry about grammar/typos.
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My husband and I found a home we both agreed on (we both like two different styles/wants/etc. finding a home that makes us both very happy is hard-especially in this market. It has been beautifully redone in all the expensive areas (kitchen, bathroom and floors) right in line with my taste. It appears that it was bought by an investor to be flipped.
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We had seen the home twice, put a strong (VA loan so already at a disadvantage) offer in. Took my in laws to see it today and they immediately noticed it smelled like smoke. I noticed a smell, but didn’t realize it was that until they mentioned it. My husband and I withdrew our offer.
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The sellers agent called ours and said they were aware of the smell and willing to negotiate. The house was listed at 429 (a little higher than the area, but probably not far off). We want to go in at 390 + closing covered due to the work that will need to be done. But I am going to ask to bring a specialist in before I submit my offer to ensure this isn’t going to go as deep as the drywall. (This may be overkill, but if they have something better or get a better offer, they can take it).
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We already planned (before we even knew it was smoke) to replace all the doors and windows. It’s a 90s house and just needs it. The AC was replaced last year (unsure of when exactly) so it’s likely the new ac only has ~1 year of filth attached to it.
My question is: do you think the work we intended on doing + specialist cleaning + more new paint will fix this? I don’t think the smell is very bad considering I didn’t notice at first. So I have some hope here, I’m also not a smoker (anymore 10 years since I quit ??), but I’m ultra sensitive to second hand smoke now. I don’t want this to bother me, and it’s my biggest worry that it doesn’t go away. We live in Florida, so it’s hot and humid year round.
What are you experiences with smokers homes? I know the general consensus is to walk. And we still may do that. But I want to hear the good and the bad potentials if I buy it.
TLDR: want to buy a precious smokers home that has been renovated by an investor after they moved out. We have plans already to replace doors and windows. due to the smoke we want to offer 390 with sellers covering closing on a 429 home. Reasonable? What are your experiences with a smokers home?
A picture of what it looks like currently here