Smell has a big influence on me. I have a very sensitive sense of smell...a curse really. When house-shopping, I turned away from homes within "smell range" of a paper-mill in my area. I knew I couldn't live with it on a daily basis even though plenty of people lived in the neighborhood and only groused when the smell got "bad".

I just smoke a lot of cigars - chases away the offending odors & replaces them with enjoyable ones :)

If it smells like food; I'm ok w/ that. If it reeks of smoke or cat pee; I'm getting the hell outta there.
I used to live near a fish prosessing plant in the uber humid South, and, to me, it wasn't nearly as awful as rooming w/ smoking cat owner

Except, Wingfeathers, some people find cigar smoke offensive.

Wingfeathers, every time I glance back at your post, I crack up.

I will never (ever) buy another rental property that smells like smoke. I say that, but...if the right deal comes along....Actually, my husband says we *will* buy another smokey property if needed, but, bless his pea-pickin' heart, I know he'd run the other way if he smelled curry!

Another question, if it does smell, what are some good ways to remedy that? Use air purifiers or use candles?

Some smells, like smoke, are absorbed by sheetrock, insulation, flooring, ceiling fan blades, slab, ..., and you have to do your best to scrub and seal everything you can. Some companies advertise that they'll clean your air ducts for you, but there's a good chance they won't guarantee it. I've come up with slow-cooker concoctions that include vinegar, cinnamon, vanilla, apples, etc. Hopefully, over the years, you'll cook up enough good-smelling meals to mask the unpleasant smell, but every once in a while, you or a friend may get a whiff of that lingering culprit.

try living in between a river that smells like dead fish, and a cat/dog food plant. and i mean BETWEEN: one block the river, one block the plant. it explains the rent being so cheap.......

a five guys was put in downstairs about six months after i moved into my apartment......i hate the smell of peanut oil now.

I'll never understand why 'curry' comes up so high on the offensive smells list. I think it smells fine and tastes down right awesome! Definitely not on par with smoke, urine, or something decaying.

i hate it when houses smell like wet dog. ugh.

I think the residual smoke smell is a little exaggerated. I smoked in my former apartment, and I quit two months ago. My sense of smell came back, and I couldn't smell anything. Neither could my non-smoking friends and family. We moved about three weeks ago, and my friend, who lived here before me, smoked in the apartment until about a year ago. It smells completely normal. Sure, you can smell it on furniture and curtains, but in the sheetrock? Come on.

However, smell was one of the big reasons I moved recently. We lived on a gravel alley, and our neighbor across the alley loved to feed stray cats, and never picked up after them. The strip of lawn next to our building smelled strongly of cat crap. I knew it was bad, but didn't realized how bad until we had spent a night in our new place. Blegh.

I spent my junior year abroad at the University of Dijon. Guess what they make there? The whole place smells like Dijon Mustard. My hair smelled like Dijon Mustard. My clothes smelled like Dijon Mustard. They put Dijon Mustard on the hamburgers at McDonald's. That smell was in every frickin' crack of the entire city. There was no escaping it. I haven't eaten Dijon Mustard since.

I live in a high rise, and I get certain smells at certain times, like when a neighbor who can't cook tries, and I can smell burning food. I know when his maid is there, because I can smell the Pinesol. On Sunday morning, someone always makes pancakes which have a distinctive aroma, but the oddest smell has been chicken salad. It was so strong, it was like someone had made a HUGE batch. It smelled delightful, and it was so intense, even the cat was sticking her nose up, sniffing, sniffing, sniffing. Apparently she liked it too.

A little off topic, but there is a forest fire across the river, and the smoke is overwhelming here. We can't open our windows or go out on the terrace. It's burning in an Army heavy weapons training area, and unexploded ordinance is going off, starting more fires, and creating more smoke. It's like a war zone. Sometimes you just can't plan for odors.

When I was house hunting, there was one house that hit me with odor like a brick wall as soon as I stepped inside. It smelled like smoke, stale food, and just general dirtiness. I am very sensitive to smells, so I was thinking "no way" the whole time. Turns out, it was the best house for me, so I bought it anyway. At the closing, I had the previous owners agree to pull out all carpeting (it was wall-to-wall with hardwood underneath) before I moved in. Then I washed the walls and had them all repainted. That got rid of any smell.

I would never buy a place that smelled like smoke- especially the hallways. I don't want to breate it in!