Run, don't walk, away! This smell is indestructible. Carpet, paint, etc will not work well enough. My friend lives in an apartment that was apparently lived in by an Indian at some point and the smell can still knock you over. He has brand new carpet and fresh paint and they cleaned the air ducts. And no, you don't get used to it.

You're better off buying a meth lab house.

 

It's definitely a strong odor. I'd recommend you look elsewhere if you have a sensitive nose. I lived in an apt building above someone who cooked some strong stuff and at times it was unbearable.

 

I dont think it should get locked....assuming the OP is asking a serious question, there is nothing wrong with it. Curry is a VERY strong smell, and IMHO, offensive when not on food. It is a problem in terms of realestate, and not an offence to Indians....just to curry.

To answer your question, you will need to budget the removal of all materials that absorb smell.....carpet, paint, anything soft and permeable. Rip out the carpet, repaint the walls with 2-3 coats, and get an air purifier.....it will help a LOT. If the house is in a good area (prime to near prime neighborhood) then it wont hurt the value. You might have a harder time selling it, but eventually you will. Overtime, all odors disappear.

 

Use it as a bargaining point. Let them know that the carpets, paint, etc etc needs to be replaced and bargain down the price.

 

I agree with Cory (Quickag). Unless you are willing to rip every soft surface out of the house, power clean the concrete slab, wash all wall surfaces including the ceilings (maybe especially the ceilings), seal the concrete slab and repaint everything, then this isn't the house for you.

Strong odors whether it is curry or old cat piss linger long after the original owner is gone and in damp weather will come back no matter what you do.

I have bought homes that had both odors and never got the smells out satisfactorily.

Ya live and ya learn.

As an aside, any homes owned by people of middle eastern to oriental heritage who are not native born Americans have grown up with a different standard of care to their dwellings. So you may be very surprised at what else needs work.

I am in the real estate business and I can drive down the street and tell you with an over 90% certainty which homes are owned by native born Americans and which are transplants.

 

I've noticed that this section of the forum has a lot of indian bashing. dude, i'm indian(NOT BORN IN INDIA, in new jersey) and i never eat indian food at all but here is a suggestion, just buy some oust spray cans or use one of those rental carpet cleaners or something and get one of those automated mist sprays.

 

Wow, cleaning or replacing all potentially absorbent material is more than I want to do when buying a house especially when the house already have many expensive interior upgrades done to it. As for air freshener and incense, those will merely cover up the smell not get rid of it, so that is not an option.

Thanks everyone for your valuable comments. I'm definetly not against Indians, maybe I should've said curry instead of Indian food in the OP. I just need more information for a $300k purchase that I will live with every day.

 

If you replace the carpet, clean the walls with a clorox/water mix and then paint them, all the smell should vanish. Then after you move in and live in the house it will become filled with the smells you want it to have. Using those deodorizers, etc. will do nothing to eliminate the odors completely, but clorox will do it.

 

Thats what I meant. I KNOW you are not being prejudiced against indian people in your post. Thai people love curry as well. I know you are concerned, as I too, HATE the smell of curry. De-fuming a house is definetely a project, so if you are not prepared to deal with it, and unless the house is going for a particularly good deal, Id leave it alone. However, my personal advice, as well as another member above....use it as a bargaining chip to drop the price by about 10K or so. The seller might say no, but if you have a problem buying a funky smelling house, so will other people. So you might actually get a callback to buy it at the price YOU want.

 

i have a daily driver with purple window tinting, developing a lust for taco
LouisLogic/UglyTruth/Sin-O-Matic

buy the house if the price, location and condition represented a value. you will need to paint, clean/remove carpeting, update the kitchen apliances consider the $$