REALTOR® knows clients don't want homes that smell of smoke

According to a recent survey of BC REALTORS® commissioned by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the BC Lung Association, almost 6 in 10 agree that most buyers are less likely to buy a home where people have smoked, and 12  percent went even further and said most buyers are actually unwilling to buy a smokers’ home.

Toni Pohl agrees. A REALTOR® with Sutton Group, Pohl says the smell of smoke in the building can have a real impact on the desirability of individual units. “If it's a condo and my clients walk into the building and down the hallway to get to the unit - and smell smoke - they’d say 'I don't want to walk past this smell everyday to get home.' It often stops them in their tracks." said Pohl.

“And once we enter a unit where the current owners are smokers, instead of talking decorations/renovations – we’re talking smell, whether it can be removed from the walls, the costs of removing the smell.” Added Pohl.  “I hear things like, "It just feels dirty...... Not what I was hoping for when I buy a new home - especially at these prices!” 

According to Pohl, "buying a condo that smells of smoke is like like buying into someone's history - the worst of their history - and there's no escaping it.”