If you’re reading this, it’s likely because you want to know how to increase your home value when selling it – or rather how not to miss out on possible profit. As it turns out, if you smoke inside the house, it’s likely you’re going to experience a harder time making a sell of it, at least at your listed price. This news was actually somewhat shocking in its numbers but not too surprising. The National Post reports today that ‘If you smoke in your home, you might have to add $100,000′ to your total cost of keeping up the smoking habit!

According to a Pfizer Canada survey of Ontario and Quebec real estate agents, the cost of a home’s resale value can lower the sale price by up to 29% if the home smells of smoke as the scent gets absorbed into carpets, walls and ceilings. In fact, 87% of the agents and brokers surveyed said they believe smoking in the home can lower resale value to some extent and 89% said it was more difficult to sell a home that has been smoked in.

If the home your are selling has been smoked in quite a bit, it might just be worthwhile to hire a professional cleaning crew to come in and eliminate smoke and other odours to make it more appealing and livable for the next buyer – not to mention of course for the simple reason that you will then reduce your losses in resale value.