I had a rental that smelled of cat pee.  Stripped the carpets, painted the sub floor with "Bin" primer.  Heavy odors may require 2 coats.  It's expensive but it works.  If it's a wall you'll need to put an addtional coat of what over color & type of paint you want.  Bottom line, don't live with a cat that smokes!

Yes! I didn't know the percentage but we had a prime example in Miami with Little Waynes house. It smelled like marijuana (really bad) even after he left the place. Listed $18M, sold $10M. That's almost 50%!

    Cigarettes, indoor dogs, and black mold caused by poor ventilation.   Other than expensive remediation, stripping the interior, Kilz, etc. there is not much you can do except sell at a price that is way under market.  

   But when you tell this to dog owners, smokers, or people who fry fish indoors on a regular basis, they can get very defensive and go into denial.

Fortunately, I haven't had to do this more than maybe three or four times in the last 20 years. I call in a professional who will destroy odors with ozone and an HVAC professional who will clean out all the ducts and mechanicals. 99% of the time this removes all odors. But carpet, curtains need to be remoed first and a home repainted. Just did all that on a home I sold which had been rented for the last year and the smell of stale curry spices was enough to knock you off your feet when you came into the house. We did all of the above and no more odor. House sold.

Smoking has been on the decline but once in awhile you get someone who smokes in the house. That's not an easy smell to get out. Wash walls, Prime & Paint- hope for the best. Many times it's sold As Is because the people are still living there & still smoking inside. We had an elderly woman who did that, she had limited resources & no one could tell her to go outside so it sold As Is, naturally for less. 

Typically, I reduce the asking price by 30%.  

Air fresheners are a joke, Ionizers do work but they are limited.

Often it takes removal of carpeting, sometimes the subfloor too. and Kilz paint everywhere to seal it up.

Then repaint everything and put down new flooring.

Investors look at stinky homes as opportunities and often get them for more than 30% off.

Yes, Inna Ivchenko 

I know of a Seller who paid several thousand to have a house de-smoked and then lit up again (inside the house) w/in 48 hrs. ???

Inna excellent point, I have quit smoking 24+ years ago and I totally agree with your message... I prefer to be blunt with the home owners when it comes to this subject:)Endre

If it’s really bad we remove all the carpet’s and drapes and redo the flooring but sometimes steam cleaning and a fresh coat of paint can erase a lot of that smell.

Inna Ivchenko I didn't know it was 30%, but I do believe it will reduce the selling price. Nina Hollander has a good response.

Sometimes you just have to price for condition and smell.  If the sellers are aware of it (say smoking) and won't quit or take it outside, there isn't anything you can do.  If they are willing to move out or remediate the smell, carpets, drapes and any upholstry must be steam cleaned.  Walls need to be painted with Killz or preferably Zinzer (it works much better), wood and tile floors need to be washed, carpet may need replacing as well as the pad underneath.  Air registers/vents need to be either washed and painted or replaced, air ducts need to be professionally cleaned, windows need to be opened and the air unit filter needs replacing with one of those expensive charcoal filters designed to remove smells.

Did this in one house my parents bought where two heavy smokers lived.  No smell of smoke.  Had one flip my investors bought that smellled awful, that one needed trees removed which helped incredibly and the filter was the other item done which took care of the rest (the house was also painted but that was later on and wasn't an issue).

I listed a "curry" house years ago. Clients told me they were not going to stop eating.  Interesting comment to my request to perhaps opening some windows when they cooked. They refused to make any adjustments. The house ended up selling for substantially less. 

I just sold a condo that had chain smokers, it stunk so bad i would have to change coats as my clothes would stink. It sold about $25,000 less than any other unit. The ceilings were a yellowish brown.

Nose blindness always afflicts those in stinkhole houses.

For nicotine, they deny the cost of remediation. 

Same for urine saturated porous surfaces.

If you can 'smell it' the value is reducded to 'fixer upper.'

Inhertited real estate has a path forward. Owner occupied is a referral candidate.

There are ozone ionizers & stuff that works now but you have to stop the initial 'stink' like smoking. Then the walls need to be sealed, etc. 

I do not think it decreases 30%, it's a hassle for sure & some clean freaks will not live in a previously smoked in house. But .... that was the norm in the 50-70's so ?? are those houses off the buyers radar?

If we are talking cat urine, that smell then never be eradicated... You have to replace the carpet, and treat the wood underneath before replaciing with a new carpet.  I had a sitaution like this once, its a delicate talk with the Sellers,  but I managed to have her do that, and get all the walls washed down and even painted some... Took care of it..

Show those places to folks who smoke heavy, who will feel right at home. Or look for buyers with head colds, walking pneumonia but prepare for a lawsuit when their head and sinus clears up and breathing deep in the new place after the closing with the old thick matted shag carpet stinking to high heaven lands them in the ER. If you can smell it, better not try to sell it and lighting a candle, baking brownies is not going to voila fix it. In the there, clear the air sweet and sour.

That has been my experience in the past.

clean, paint, new flooring.

Inna Ivchenko - well, Jim Cheney has a good answer.

Inna Ivchenko good to know. I will pass infomation to other agents.

It can be a process, but needs to be done. Cat allergies may be strong. Have to take drastic measures, but alas, they may not help.

I would recommend my clients to smoke outside for 2 weeks (patio area / or back yard ) while preparing their home before listing it on the MLS. Fragance candles / air fresheners will help with the smell. 

In the wild, scent is normal & part of life. In civilization, it is a stigma

Depends but likely getting rid of carpets/curtains, through cleaning/treating sub-flooring, Bin, and new flooring. HVAC to clean out ductwork. The right price helps. Air fresheners only signal odors are being covered up.

You need to do whatever is necessary to remove the odors.

Advise the Seller to sure the issue before accepting the listing...

Thank you for the question.

In CO pot has been legal for a few years, and having this smell on occaion in listings is fairly common.

Very offensive to me personally and to others. It’s very costly to remove odors so buyers will discount heavily. 

I suggest a remediation source. The rest is up to the seller. If they do it fine, if not it is someone else's listing. 

Get rid of the smell...period

Ozone machines work wonders. I had one stinky cigarette smelling townhome that took 4 weeks of ozone but the smell was totally gone.

Inna,

We have smoke (fire) removal experts in our state.  A