Yargnits wrote:
Heavy smokers will stain the walls and ceiling. That's the main reason
I wouldn't rent to smokers. He could paint the ceiling a brite white
and save the stir-stick. After the tenents have lived there a while,
he could compare the stick to the ceiling now and then.

Thanks, great idea. I never knew this thread would generate so many
heated opinions on all sides. (Mr. Schnerd, I'm in your camp. And Mr.
Pawlowski isn't exactly wrong about motives.)

The reason I posted is because one of the things we noticed as we went
through the two unoccupied units of the prospective rental acquisition
is that the century-old ceilings were...stucco-ed, I suppose you could
say. My friend relies on me for "tells" about real age of homes, about
potential trouble spots, etc., only because I escaped a Money Pit
problem a few years back only with my life and the clothes on my back.

I was stumped about the DEEP brown pock-marks in the unusual ceiling
finish. I asked the seller if there had been water damage. He denied
it, and I smelled no mold--and he further went into detail about how he
had had the attic insulated at great expense. The roof was good, so I
had no choice but to conclude from the unbearably acrid smell in both
units, that the very attractive (exterior) home was being sold for as
reasonable a price as it was because remedying the cigarette damage
will cost at minimum 10K.

BTW, after making the post I found a couple of sites where cigarette
smokeR detectors sell for around 2.5K.