Buying A House: C or D?

I couldn't smell anything. I assume it's been cleaned, I think at least some of it has been painted. The plaster in the house is all original. But we have kids and my sense is that the tobacco residue is pretty bad for you whether you can smell it or not? I mean, I think the most potent argument is indeed "every single old house has tobacco residue in the walls and wood, it's only a question of whether you actually know about it or not," just trying to get my head around it.

my parents moved our family to a house that had a smoker in it

before we moved in: all carpet removed, all surfaces cleaned and painted

there was still a faint smell if it was humid, but after they replace the kitchen cabinets, that mostly stopped. the wood was porous enough that it soaked up some smoke smell and even refinishing them didn't get rid of that

even after changing every surface, on some days with the right amount of humidity and atmospheric pressure, a faint smell of smoke would bleed through the ceiling because it was trapped in the insulation

How much of a negative would it be for you if the house you were looking at had smokers living there previously? And by previously I mean "10 years ago" -- the people who have lived there for 10 years don't smoke, it was the people before them.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, February 21, 2017 11:33 AM (thirty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

how would you even know this if it had been 10 years?

The current owners told us.

oh ok

we're renting a place right now and the third floor space (a finished attic) was definitely the smoking den of the previous tenant, it smelled very strongly especially since we moved in during the humid summer. i don't notice the smell anymore, i think it's dissipated quite a lot. if i owned the place, i'd paint the walls and throw out the carpeting and i imagine that would make it even better.

in other words it would definitely not be a negative for me if i otherwise loved the house. we have major pet allergies in our family, and we're not even really considering it a problem houses we see had pets in them. we'll just get rid of the carpeting, clean the air ducts, paint the walls, and do major cleaning (all which we would do for any house we see, pets/smokers or not).

there are still butts smoldering on the driveway

ha

Also this place costs substantially more than we'd been thinking of paying (but is also much bigger) -- in a lot of ways it seems worth the stretch but I sort of feel like if we're going to break the bank it shouldn't have ANYTHING that gives me pause.

we'll just get rid of the carpeting, clean the air ducts, paint the walls, and do major cleaning (all which we would do for any house we see, pets/smokers or not).

ha, see, i can't imagine doing any of that (but I think the current owners did when they moved in)

smokers living there 10 years ago would not give me pause in any way

yeah, my anecdote aside, living in that house was fine

but if they didn't replace/paint/clean things thoroughly, it's possible some rooms could still have musty cigarette smell when the weather's off

there are a lot of things that give me pause though. it occurred to me today that we've seen over 20 houses and have been looking for 10 months.

Yeah, us too.

dang man, I think I saw 30 houses in one month, but I was a very motivated buyer

also I wasn't quite sure what neighborhood/house style I wanted and was looking by myself on open house days and going out with a realtor other times -- I'd see four or five in a day with the realtor, but a couple days were a loss because I just wasn't into the area/house on reflection

we are motivated too! inventory where we are looking is apparently the lowest it's been in years. there were fewer houses on the market at the peak of the season in 2016 then there were in the middle of winter in, say, 2011

xp yea i tihnk we've been seeing way less lately because we've refined criteria and location to a very specific degree

third-hand smoke is apparently a thing - i.e. toxins left over after cigarettes have been smoked, so e.g. in a small room you can smoke a cigarette with the window open and a fan on, the smell won't linger particularly but there will be traces of tobacco carcinogen stuff on surfaces. i don't know how long the toxins remain though.

yikes

the house at the end of my block sold after probably a month, and while really nice it's on kind of a busy street so I could see that

the nice one that's across the street and one house to the north, it sold in like... 48 hours

third-hand smoke is apparently a thing - i.e. toxins left over after cigarettes have been smoked, so e.g. in a small room you can smoke a cigarette with the window open and a fan on, the smell won't linger particularly but there will be traces of tobacco carcinogen stuff on surfaces. i don't know how long the toxins remain though.

Yeah, this is exactly what I'm talking about, this stuff freaks me out but I can't figure out whether they're saying "it last two months" or "it lasts until the house falls down"

10 years is a long time though

also are you looking at older houses or newer construction? all the houses we are looking at are at least 100 years old and im trying not to think too much about the layers of toxic shit present from older now-outlawed building materials

yeah also important to remember that probably everyone i know grew up in houses someone had smoked in at some stage

maybe concentrate on worrying about radon or whatever g ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

or lead paint, or asbestos

houses are deathtraps, time to pitch some tents

everything causes cancer eventually

Yeah, this one's just about 100 years old. Original stucco on the outside, original plaster on the inside.

You should probably burn it to the ground and start over, just to be on the safe side.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/aa/Safe_ver1.jpg/220px-Safe_ver1.jpg

imo around the 100 year mark you're going to find a bunch of houses where asbestos is less likely unless they did a lot of insulation work (blown into attic or walls) during renovations

which kind of makes me think I should ask someone about some attic insulation, but that's in a spot I'm not going to get into anyway

i'm not so sure about cigarette remnants, but where i'm from if a house is found to have blow in asbestos insulation present the house is purchased by the government, wrapped in plastic and demolished.

http://i.imgur.com/R2aZKFh.jpg

made an offer on this place yesterday, did not get it :(

https://www.redfin.com/OH/Lakewood/1218-Cook-Ave-44107/home/70835246

we were one of six offers

there is always a feeling of relief though when we hear that our offer was not accepted, we've yet to make an offer on the "perfect" place and each of the 3 places we've offered on had some aspects that we were not happy about, so it is somewhat easy to say "oh good riddance, we'll find a better place"

sorry bud :(

should i buy a 1750 farmhouse y/n https://www.redfin.com/MA/Hopkinton/41-E-Main-St-01748/home/8554401

holy shit that place is awesome!

seems like a really good deal too y/n? hopkinton is not too far out of boston

im already getting exciting about this little hippie craftsman house, wish the kitchen was bigger though

https://www.redfin.com/OH/Lakewood/1236-Saint-Charles-Ave-44107/home/70835600

I like that one, but the ceiling in the kitchen has to go.

I wonder if in CAD's farmhouse, the "Circa 1750" plate conveys with the property.

http://i.imgur.com/NuexZ6A.jpg

yea it is bad xp

im already getting exciting about this little hippie craftsman house, wish the kitchen was bigger though

― marcos, Monday, February 27, 2017 1:02 PM (thirty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://www.redfin.com/OH/Lakewood/1236-Saint-Charles-Ave-44107/home/70835600

― marcos, Monday, February 27, 2017 1:02 PM (thirty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol no joke from 1995-2000 I lived just a few houses down from here on the other side of the street at 1205.

ha cleveland is a small place

woohoo!! we made an offer on a place we saw yesterday and it was accepted

i'm freaking out a little. i'm excited about the house but uh this a big purchase

the biggest! i hope the sale goes smoothly!

thanks!

next few months are going to feel a little crazy

the front porch is huge and im really excited about it

https://ssl.cdn-redfin.com/photo/159/bigphoto/365/3886365_24_1.jpg