Housing & Urban
Development Home Mold---HUD Mold
Q. I'm just getting involved with
buying HUD home foreclosures for investment purposes. I'm finding that
about 30% of the homes I look at...contain mold. Naturally...I steer clear
of these but...some of these homes are real nice otherwise...great
locations, condition ( other than the mold ), etc. I steer clear of these
because of the fear I have of not being able to re-sale these homes. My
question is...can this mold be removed safely and 100%? I see that people
are buying these and I just don't understand why really. I'm afraid of
getting stuck with a home containing mold because of the fact that I will
have to disclose the fact that it once did have mold. Not good from a
sellers standpoint. I've heard so many different things about this subject
and none of them are the same. [February 28, 2004]
A.
When you say 30% of HUD homes have mold problems, you are really
referring just to visible mold problems. Almost three-fourths of all US
homes and apartments have a serious mold infestation problem. HUD homes
have worse mold problems than normal because the homes have been
abandoned both by foreclosed owners and maintenance-wise by the lenders
and HUD. Before you buy ANY house, your first step should be to use do it yourself
mold test kits from a large hardware or home improvement store to mold
test the air of each room, attic,
basement, crawl space, and inside surfaces of heating/cooling duct
registers [if there is electricity turned on, you would also want to test
the outward air flow from each register] for the possible presence of
elevated levels of airborne mold spores, in comparison to an outdoor mold
control test you will also do. Learn the 25 steps recommended for safe and
effective
mold remediation. You will probably need
to disclose the known mold history and condition of a home you expect to
re-sell, making that home difficult to sell unless you discount the price
enough.
Western USA
Mold Inspector Websites
Las
Vegas Mold Inspector
Los
Angeles Mold Inspector
Mesa
Mold Inspector
Orange
County Mold Inspector
Phoenix
Mold Inspector
Sacramento
Mold Inspector
San
Diego Mold Inspector
San
Francisco Mold Inspector
San Jose Mold Inspector
Seattle
Mold Inspector
Tucson
Mold Inspector