Would you walk away from this perfect house because of slightly elevated mold levels?
Question:3 days before the close date, the lab test showed there were slightly elevated levels of mold in the house. I have a baby, and know that mold can be a big pain in the butt to get rid of, not to mention the health risks. The house has not been lived in, but was instead bought as a fixer-upper, and totally redone. The home inspector said the new roof, drainage, siding, and everything have kept even the smallest drop of moisture from both the attic, and the basement. Yet, he spotted some moisture behind the dining room and living room walls. He has no idea how these damp areas got there. The appeal of this house is that it WAS so livable and ready for us to move into as a starter home. Now, with the health risks and the hassel of fixing a potential mold problem, this house wouldn't be as easy to sell. We might consider the bigger home where we could settle for good, even though the bigger home would be pushing out budget's limit. Would you walk away from this house or go with it?
Answers:
Are you kidding?!?! Why are you even contemplating the answer to this questions especially if you have a child. Don't bye the house with the mold. It's not worth it!
well of course its gonna have mold problems if ain't nobody been living in it
turn on the ac and let it remove the moisture for a week and have them check it again!
If you are not comfortable with the house then you should probably not take it. You will always question your decision.
On the other hand you can get an estimate on the cost of dealing with the mold and see if you can work something out with the seller. I'm sure if you have a problem with it others will also.
good luck.
don't walk run, The mold could be in drywall,insulation. i saw a show were they buy a house like that and it was beautiful. It had been empty it's infested with rats, They saw some mold like ur talking about. They had to have has-mat crew come in & gut it. It cost more $ than they paid for house. good luck
If you can't get a definite call on what the problem is, you might want to walk away. Not knowing the cause will inevitably lead to a bigger problem (or not). But you'll have to be prepared for the possibility that it's a sign of a major problem. The thing that scares me is his saying he doesn't know why this is happening, not that it's there. See if you can get a good contractor to figure out what the problem is. If he can't say for sure, walk away.
I wouldn't buy this house. By the time there is evidence of mold, it has been building up behind the scenes for a while. It sounds as though the sellers have not done a thorough job on the renovations.
"The appeal of this house is that it WAS so livable and ready for us to move into" and now you've found it isn't.
If you go ahead, you'll have all the hassle of rectifying the problem and you'll always have that niggling feeling about it.
If you walk away (which I would do) you'll be sad but it's supposed to be a buyer's market at the moment.
you bought the house already? or no?
if not, i would have an estimate done on the cost of fixing the mold issue completely. do not let the seller give you an estimate, get one on your own. present it to teh seller, request that they have it fixed for you by your choice of contractors. they may try to counteroffer by reducing the price of the house deducting the estimate amount. but from personal experience i wouldn't do that. and i wouldn't close until the mold issue is fixed. if you're using a real estate company, your agent should have suggested this to you already.
we bought our home one year ago this month, and we had a few issues, not as serious as mold. but we got an estimate and had the seller cut us a check for the estimate amount. but where we screwed up is that we let the seller get an estimate. and it was about $2000 off. we had already closed so it was too late. thats when i learned our agent was not looking out for our better interest.
mold can be taken care of if done properly. research whatever contractor you use. and if you can get the seller to agree to these terms, i'd say get the house you want. and i definitely wouldn't get the bigger house if its going to cut into your budget too much. what if something happened and you couldn't afford the mortgage at all? plus you can always sell the home you buy later for probably as much or more than you paid for it. and buy the bigger house. real estate is a great investment.
Please keep in mind that in some states, you would have to disclose the mold problem when you eventually sell the house even if the problem has already been solved. That could greatly affect your profit.
Personally, I'd walk away.
Walk away -- especially worrisome is the fact you can't pinpoint the source -- much later on, by the time you discover the source it could prove very expensive to repair and you will be stuck.
I agree with others and blondie -- Run away.
I am very allergic to mold and discovered a terrible mold problem behind the walls of our bathroom after we moved in and started some minor remodeling.(I was pregnant at the time too) These are things inspectors can not detect. This so called minor remodel plan of our bathroom cost us THOUSANDS more $$ than we could have imagined!! DO NOT MOVE IN! There is no telling how awful the mold could be behind the walls and if the inspector cant figure it out then you probably wont be able to either. There could be a problem in the foundation or in the gutters or a crack behind the siding or maybe its just a simple window needing replaced.but first you need to evaluate how much time money and effort you are willing to spend to fix a mess that could be uglier than it appears. Mold spores spread fast and take a lot of money to clean up professionally. My husband researched how to do it himself but had to remove the walls and EVERYTHING in our bathroom down to the studs, and then even removed some moldy studs too. The job was very exhausting work with four kids (one baby) and we had to stay evacuated from the area for quite a long time for safety's sake. We do have the job done now but it was the biggest headache we have ever faced for a home improvement and it sucked the money right out of us to replace everything. Hold out for the house that is practical for you. For now, your baby doesnt need much space other than your arms to hold it.
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