A few years ago, when I was pregnant with our youngest son, Derek and I were going to buy a duplex. It was very reasonably priced and the income potential was amazing. Not to mention, it was located in one of the most sought after downtown neighborhoods in Colorado Springs.
After we got our offer accepted, we had our inspector come "take a look" at the property. Yes, the wood paneled walls and the shag carpet had to go, and the kitchen on one side needed a face lift, but this was all well worth the "passive income" that this property would give us. We even considered living in one side while we "fixed" it up, as the schools were great in that area, and there were a lot of kids around for our older son to play with.
Our inspector spent 3 hours going through everything on the main levels. It all looked pretty good. We then headed to the basement. When we had originally made the offer on the house, the tenants were still living there, and the basement was PACKED so full of their "stuff" that we did not get to explore much. Now that the "stuff" was gone, we noticed that it was quite possible to make a tri-plex out of this duplex, as there was a "rough-in" kitchen area! Wow!
Then we saw it ... or should I say "smelled" it. Around the whole perimeter of the bathroom ceiling and "kitchen" ceiling there was A-Fungus Among Us. Our inspector immediately told us that she was licensed to inspect for certain things, but MOLD was not one of those things. She shined her flashlight around to get a look at (without moving, touching or disturbing) the mold. From our untrained eyes, we were able to see 3 different types of growths covering at least 15 square feet of ceiling and wall space. Where the drywall was missing, we could see it on the structural beams. She told us to have a biological mold lab test it. We did, and had the results back before inspection deadline.
There were, in fact, 5 different growths. One was mildew. Four were mold. We received the report and spoke with one of the lab technicians. Our first question was, "Are any of them dangerous?" His answer was, "You could probably live there about a year before someone died or became mentally ill. I would not recommend infants, or those with allergies (my older son) living in those conditions at all. In fact, ma'am, if I were you, I would never go back to that property. We are dealing with extreme amounts of toxic mold, here." ...Woah.
We looked into remediation and was told that although we should really tear down the entire place, should we only remediate it, the cost would be upwards of $30,000. This price would not include the rebuilding of the structure that would be removed. Our total bill would run us almost $60,000!
Needless to say, we provided the listing agent with all of this information, which she passed onto the seller and got out of the contract. Furthermore, we notified the other tenant of the situation. She moved out the next week.
This really scared us. I grew up in the humidity of New York and Portland, Oregon. I had seen mold take over a lonely piece of bread, plenty of times. I have seen cheese change color. Nothing scary. I had heard of toxic mold, but never expected it to pop up in Colorado!?! This is a place where I carry lotion with me 24/7 -one in my car, one at work, one in my husband's car, one in each purse, one in each room of our house ... you get it. How does MOLD grow in a high desert like Colorado? It got me thinking ... and researching. Had our inspector not advised us to get the mold tested, we would have gone forward with the contract, in our ignorance ... and I can't even imagine what would have happened. This was a near miss for us, and has taught me to take MOLD very seriously.
From there, I started doing my homework on mold, and educating the people around us, our clients and co-workers ... and have really been pushing for a state-approved disclosure form, regarding mold, for our real estate contracts. We should have one within the next year...yay!
MOLD ... Get the FACTS.
Comments(2)