Moldy Foreclosures
Im looking to purchase foreclosures in a rural area where the houses seem to get mold inside. Does anyone have experience renting or reselling houses with mold what are the neccessary steps to take to get rid of the mold and protect themselves from future liablility. it seems some REO banks may be nervous too not putting there name on the title and just assigning there interest at closing. Is this like a lead paint issue were all the hype dies down in a few years or something much more serious. Should i just plain stay away from houses with mold. Thanks for your insight.
If this issue is visible to you than most likely mold remediation and mold removal will be necessary. When mold appears on drywall it will feed and grow.
Because mold and mildew release mold spores in the air that can float throughout the house, it can cause severe allergic reactions such as watery eyes, runny nose and sneezing, nasal congestion and fatigue, especially to those with a mold allergy. In fact, when mold starts to reproduce inside a home, it can eat away at the structure, cause thousands of dollars in damage and possibly make family members sick from mold exposure.
Depending on the extent of the mold infestation you may also have to have the ductwork cleaned to remove spores.
I would suggest some of the following links as help:
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/thriftyliving/tl-removemildew.html
http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/hesguide/housing/gh5928.htm
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/sedgwick/SGFACS/housing/mold.htm
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/011202/dsd_8305867.html
http://www.thecreativeinvestor.com/residential/modules.php?name=Articles&file=article&articleid=576
http://www.thecreativeinvestor.com/residential/modules.php?name=Articles&file=article&articleid=492
http://www.thecreativeinvestor.com/residential/modules.php?name=Articles&file=article&articleid=556
http://www.thecreativeinvestor.com/residential/modules.php?name=Articles&file=article&articleid=137
http://www.thecreativeinvestor.com/residential/modules.php?name=Articles&file=article&articleid=132
http://www.thecreativeinvestor.com/residential/modules.php?name=Articles&file=article&articleid=128
[addsig]
have a home in the poconos and I will tell you that all the houses that have been built in the last 20+ years have been built with T-111 as opposed to vinyl siding or even alum siding. We do have a prob with mold but only in our bathroom downstairs. Once a week I spray it with non-chlorine bleach and h2o. As far as long term effects on the structure - not sure. Just hoping for the best. Oh, the mold has only just appeared in that last 2yrs. We have been in the home for 4.5yrs.
Quote:
On 2005-04-06 20:34, poconos wrote:
Im looking to purchase foreclosures in a rural area where the houses seem to get mold inside. Does anyone have experience renting or reselling houses with mold what are the neccessary steps to take to get rid of the mold and protect themselves from future liablility. it seems some REO banks may be nervous too not putting there name on the title and just assigning there interest at closing. Is this like a lead paint issue were all the hype dies down in a few years or something much more serious. Should i just plain stay away from houses with mold. Thanks for your insight.
I got 3 with mold and it was easy to fix. It was regular mold so we removed all the drywall and insulation in that room and the shared walls. We had all the ductwork cleaned and treated just in case and then cleaned the room and surrounding area with chlorine, tracked down the cause for the mold - punctured wall pipes - replaced them and insulated and drywalled.
The second house was really only mildew from some folks not keeping the bathrooms properly, the bathroom shower had regular drywall instead of the ones for bathrooms and kitchen, and lack of ventillation. We redid the bathrooms and that was it.
The other house we gutted totally, all walls, ductwork, insulation and just redid the interior since the interior had flooded.
Get to know the local mold guy well, read up on what to look for to help you identify ( to some extent) the type of mold and amount of infestation and pay attention to the areas that have mold. Generally if it is an area that gets a lot of water abuse or have pipes running through the wall then I tend not to worry too much. But if I see mold on say the ceiling or some interior wall that has no plumbing then I become concerned
Disclose everything and you should be OK. I have never had a problem with these. I just tell what was done to remediate the problem in the seller disclosures and then it is on their shoulders.
The field may narrow by 20% but there is still profit in the other 80%
[addsig]
Hello Glen,
Nope, not a Wes, it actually Dave.
I know of a few investors, myself included that might like to see what comes of this. [ Edited by who_me on Date 01/06/2006 ]
Realestatekid
You can go to my profile and click the link for NIREA.
If you need invesors let me know.