House with tobacco smoke smell--help!

[Daniel Rubenstein]

Hi all,

My wife and I are planning on moving to Las vegas. We found a nice home in the area that we want to live in. Problem is, the previous owners were major smokers and the house reeks like smoke. The tried washing the carpets but still smells heavily. Besides the smell they are listing the house at about 20-25K above highest comp in the area. It was repainted last year, and kitchen redone, but definitely not worth the 365k they are asking for it. The average comp in the area is about 330k

We ask a smoke and fire damage expert if they can clean the house of the smell, paint with kilz, and guarantee the smell will be gone, and they said no guarantee.

The sellers said they will not pay to clean the house of the smell unless we sign a deal. The problem is, without a guarantee, if we pay to clean the smell and the house still smells, we are out a lot of money.

So the question (or questions) is:

1) Has anyone had really bad smoke smell from over 15 years of smoking, and successfully totally removed the smell? if so how?

2) Any creative ideas for structuring the deal so we can try cleaning the house and somehow for sure get our money back from the sellers for the cleaning even if it doesn't work?

3) Should we really bother? Its one of only a few houses available in the area we want to live, and we need to move in the next couple months.

Anyways, whatever help or guidance anyone can provide us will very much appreciated. We really do not know what to do!

Thanks!!