Buying a home from a smoker/cat owner

[JR Woolf]

Has anyone had experience (positive or negative) mitigating cigarette and/or cat urine smells from a home. Also- when looking at a home being sold by a smoker who allows smoking indoors - how much of a discount did you take into consideration when making an offer?

Current Deal- 1948 beach cottage, original wood floors and some tile. Shiplap walls and ceilings throughout (luckily no carpet). Made an offer site unseen because thought it looked like a pretty good deal- however when got in it for inspection it was clear that the owner owned several cats and also leased 2 bedrooms to heavy smokers who were allowed to smoke inside.

Still in due diligence and have alerted buyers agent that we will be going back to seller with a discount on the offer to take into account the odor remediation. Rest of the house is in decent condition for age. Needs upgrades to kitchen. However, before we even consider going through with the deal we want to be sure that the smell can even be mitigated. Plan is to use the property as a STVR but don’t wanna be stuck with a smelly house that we can’t rent or unload down the road.

[Theresa Harris]

I've heard ozone machines help with the smell, but figure out how much it will cost in time and labour, then add a bit in case your estimate is wrong.  I'm guessing from what you wrote, it is a heavy smoker and someone who wasn't a responsible pet owner as lots of people have cats and their house isn't covered in cat pee.