I looking at a house for sale $100K under what it sold for in 2006. Only catch is it’s had a pipe bust and no one caught it until it was too late and there is mold on just about every wall and door and ceiling on the first floor. How bad does it have to be where you have to call in a removal company instead of just ripping out all sheetrock/2x4s that have mold on them? Or since I’m replacing pretty much everything anyways does that cancel out the need for them to come in and remove/decontaminate the house? I’ve only worked with houses with trace ammounts of mold that you can just pretty much hose down with clorox.
I love these kinds of deals…they scare away most everybody else and this drives the price WAY down. I’d send a letter certified mail return receipt requested to the owner warning about all the horrors of mold and get it under contract for the lowest possible price. After contract, I’d get an inspection fro TOXIC mold and then proceed accordingly. Get TOXIC mold cleaned professionally, clean up normal mold yourself just like you mentioned (rip out sheetrock where necessary, spray down studs with bleach.
All houses have mold. Remove the source of the moisture, clean up the mold, and you eliminated the mold PROBLEM.
jmd_forest
I was at an RE convention where on speaker said to have an air test done on the property. Send the results to owner and now he is obligated to disclose it. After you buy it for song and repair everything, have another test done and show to your perspective tenants/buyers if needed.
Do regular home inspectors do that air test? or should I consult some special company? or would a general contractor be able to do that?..the house is at a great price and I’m ready to offer as soon as I get another bid for all the work. It’s look like a:
4 bed/2.75 bath, 2,100 sq ft
House: $60,000
Repairs/Carrying costs: $20,000
ARV: $139,000
Air tests aren’t part of a normal home inspection. You would need to find a company that does them.