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Be Wary of Stucco Homes

By
Real Estate Agent with Ansley Real Estate/Christie's International 262285

Stucco should raise yellow flags with every agent. The experienced ones understand the inherent issues, the inexperienced ones need to learn about them. Moisture and termites can cause the home to rot from inside out, by the time the issue is noticed it's too late. Then there's the stigma from those issues. Some relocation firms prohibit or strongly dissuade transferees from buying them for these reasons. 

Here's just one video I ended up shooting as it had the perfect combination to ensure disaster. "Renovated", horrible work, moisture, termites and major damage. We start with the stucco nonsense, roll into a wall of termites and top it with obvious water issues....and some agent walked a buyer right into this money pit.

The problems with stucco homes should be obvious to any agent representing buyers. At a very minimum, agents should understand the issues surrounding EFIS and how it can lead to other unseen problems. A home inspection is a start, but a dedicated stucco inspection is often the best suggestion. Your buyer may need to be pulled off the edge....

Thomas J. Nelson, REALTOR ® e-Pro CRS RCS-D Vets
Big Block Realty 858.232.8722 - La Jolla, CA
CEO of Vision Drive Realty - Coastal San Diego

Hank Miller, SRA great information and while I respect your professional cautions and reasons for them, I can share that I've only ever owned stucco homes, and that is 5 in total, and they were never that scary to own.
Now, to your point, a couple needed work because they were built in the 1920's and "concealing in plain sight" work that needed to be addressed similar to what you point out; but I've never been scared to own one - given it's hard to buy a non-stucco home in CA.

Dec 31, 2022 07:38 AM
Hank Miller, SRA

Fair point - stucco is common in many regions and functions fine. The issue around Atlanta is the misuse, misapplication and lack of care around it. We don't have the masonry stucco over block like other areas. Here we have "it's fast, cheap and not our problem in a year" approach the builders used. Here we assume the worst and inspect everything, twice. Then get a stucco bond....

Dec 31, 2022 02:02 PM
Michael Jacobs
Pasadena, CA
Pasadena And Southern California 818.516.4393

Hello Hank - interesting post title that captured my attention. As we know, real estate has a "local" perspective. 

While I am a native Californian where stucco construction has long been used, I have also lived in other places where other building techniques are more common.  It's interesting where conversations can lead especially when communicating/conducting transactions.  Business and otherwise.  

Dec 31, 2022 08:02 AM
Hank Miller, SRA

That's fair Mike - see my reply to Tom.

Dec 31, 2022 02:03 PM