Smoking can lower your house price

Before you put your house on the market, it is advisable to make it more attractive to potential buyers.

Today is a buyers market and they can pick and select which is the best property and demand lower prices.

Change the way you think, see selling a home is rather like entering a competition where the best presented home wins.

The smell of tobacco and a home owner smoking during a viewing will without a shadow of doubt put people off buying a home. Even hardened smokers don’t like a house to smell of smoke. Do not underestimate the negative affect it may have on a potential buyer, houses with smokers are harder to sell and that’s the bottom line. Smoking yellows the paintwork and embeds into the carpets and walls. Discarded cigarettes in a garden makes a home feel used and tired. Families will not want to bring their children up ion house that has suffered from smoking.

The fact is when a home becomes harder to sell for any reason the home owners has to face the fact that they may have to reduce the asking price. It may well be that a smokers home is harder to sell and therefore this will have to be reflected in the price. Once more when a non smokers buys a house from a smoker they may feel that carpets and redecorating are necessary and may use these facts to negotiate the selling price.

Selling a home does not require making major improvements such as adding a conservatory or refitting the kitchen, these features are unlikely to add as much value to your house as you might think. Even redecorating should only be done if absolutely necessary, as it will take time and money, and the new owners taste is unlikely to be the same as yours.

It is actually the small touches which make a difference and which will make your property stand out from the rest. Firstly the parking and garden area should be neat and tidy, as this is the first impression that the prospective buyer will get of the house.

Household Insurance for Smokers

When you apply for home owner’s insurance, one of the questions that you’ll be asked is whether or not you (or any family member) is a smoker. If you’re a non smoker, most home owner’s insurance policies will give a discount of 10%.

As with all insurance, policy premiums are determined through studies on the risk factors that certain groups of people exhibit. Those that are found to be part of a riskier group usually have to pay more money for the same amount of insurance. Studies show that homes owned by smokers are more likely to have home owner’s insurance claims against them than non smokers.

1. Smokers burn down houses. There are over 20,000 residential fires a year caused by cigarettes. Since smokers are the ones that have cigarettes, the act of smoking increases the risk that a house will burn down.

2. Smokers tend to have riskier overall habits than non smokers. These riskier habits can lead to more home owner’s insurance claims than non smokers.

3. Because smokers need matches or lighters for their habit, this means that children in the house are likely to have more access to these than children living in houses with non smokers. This increases of an accidental fire started by the children