Banks often turn down valid short sale offers, then turn around and send the house into a 2 year foreclosure tailspin. Banks also yank sellers around with loan modification processes that take a year for denial, then turn around and foreclose on the borrowers who are willing and able to make monthly payments.
Months of Vacancy Can Be Conducive to Mold Growth
While all these bank inefficiencies are dragging out, those pesky things called water, humidity and laws of nature keep working on the house. Banks can cite "policy" and file lawsuits against borrowers, but they can't serve papers on Mother Nature, ordering her to cease and desist from working on the house.
Just take a tour of bank owned houses and note how many of these vacant REO's (stands for Real Estate Owned by bank) have mold problems that could have been avoided.
Banks Bicker Now But Lose More Later
The greater diminished value resulting from mold should be compared to the smaller amount the banks bickered over when they turned down a short sale one or two years earlier.
A $10,000 mold remediation job does not diminish the home's value by $10,000. It could diminish the home's value by $30,000 or $50,000 or more. Mold will cause the house to fail inspections, will taint the house forever because it must be disclosed even after remediation, and the walls, floors and systems still need to be restored after the mold remediator leaves the house.
Mold remediation companies are extremely busy these days.
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