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Posts: 2276
  
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | So I had a post about finding a house! We went and peeked in the windows today and it is perfect! A nice "garage" that can easily be made into a barn with a few changes! We are completely in love!
The only downfall we could see was that in the window(it's a foreclosure) it does say that there is mold present. We couldn't see anything that looked alarming from the windows and it says the basement is finished but we couldn't see.
We are going to be calling our realtor but I wanted some input on what you guys think about the mold. Would it be a deal breaker? |
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 Midget Lover
  
Location: Kentucky | Every house has mold, whether you can see it or not. I'd get my Realtor and a home inspector involved though for sure. I would want to stay protected. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| Depends on where it is and how much of it. It can cause structural damage if it's that deep or it could only be cosmetic at this point. Again.. can you find out where it is located at in the house? |
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 Hog Tie My Mojo
Posts: 4847
Location: Opelousas, LA | I would get an inspection and go from there. It could be a huge issue and they could have just put the sticker on the window to cover thier rear. |
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Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | Can we do an inspection before we start the process to make sure it's not a huge issue before we decide to try and buy it? I really should call the realtor and ask these things lol |
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Expert
Posts: 1857
| I think you have to put an offer in before you can get an inspection done. Just because you put an offer in doesn't mean that you still can't back out once the inspection comes back. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1392
Location: Central Texas | It would not be a deal breaker for me at this point. I would put in an offer based on the house passing an inspection. Surface mold, while not good, can be fixed. If the mold is so bad that you have to tear down walls and redo framing then it had better be super cheap. I don't mind fixer upper houses as long as it's not structural damage.
Can you set up an appt to walk through the house and find out where the mold is?
Edited by GraciousLegacy 2014-02-14 12:22 PM
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 Proud to be Deplorable
Posts: 1929
| All depends on what type and how much is in the house. Mold removal can be costly. |
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Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | We are calling the realtor on Monday to set up a time to go in and look around and see if she can find out any info on it. The house is a reaaalllly great price for what it seems to be--$109,000. The house is the exact house I am living in right now at my parents....same size...the layout. It's all the same and I love my parents house! For some reason I have a great feeling about this. A few months ago we found a house that we really liked but something happened on his credit(long story) so we weren't in the position to buy so we took a break and waited. Well, a couple days ago I just had a feeling I needed to look on the internet and this is the first one I find but SO says his credit still isn't where it needs to be. So he goes to the bank to have a credit check and THAT DAY the thing on his credit dropped off so his credit went right back up. I just have a feeling it's right. |
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Posts: 2457
| FlyingJT - 2014-02-14 11:56 AM
I think you have to put an offer in before you can get an inspection done. Just because you put an offer in doesn't mean that you still can't back out once the inspection comes back.
^^ THIS.
Put in contingencies in your offer. This means that if the house doesn't pass inspection or whatever "deal breakers" you have in mind, you as the buyer get to walk away.
Be mindful that you will still have to pay fees for the inspection, escrow, etc that a good realtor will be able to spell out and explain for you. But paying those fees is a TON better than being stuck with a house that is crap and can't be insured. |
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Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | We love our realtor. She has been recommended by a few of our friends and she is all about first time home buyers and she has always explained everything. We just love her! She was very understanding about what happened with his credit and having to put it off. |
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 Sorry I don't have any advice
Posts: 1975
Location: Sunnyland Florida |
Certain types of mold can kill you. If they are disclosing up front that it has mold, hire a Mold Inspector to test the home to see which type of mold it has. It is very costly to get rid of the bad types of mold. My friends Mom (42 years old) almost died from mold in a brand new house, and it took them months to figure out that her new house had mold from a very small leak that went un-noticed.
Most real estate contracts (all in Florida do) disclose the fact that mold can be deadly and should be insepcted for.
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Expert
Posts: 1561
| LOL@ the mold hysteria!! The EPA is doing a good job making people scared and keeping themselves relevant. |
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 The Vaccinator
Posts: 3810
Location: Slipping down the slope of old age. Boo hoo. | If you have allergies or asthma, a home with mold (even mild mold) can be miserable. And if children are involved, it can be extremely miserable. A home inspection will be worthwhile! As another poster stated, there are various types of mold. Some are very bad -- are considered toxic. |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | My niece and her husband bought a house and it passed all inspections. They pulled up carpet to replace it and it was loaded with mold. The house ended up being declared not fit to live in and the property was condemned. They couldn't go back to the seller since they said the seller wasn't aware of any problems. We are talking about a house that sold for $170,000. |
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I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | Itsme - 2014-02-14 1:19 PM LOL@ the mold hysteria!! The EPA is doing a good job making people scared and keeping themselves relevant.
It's evident you don't have a clue what you are talking about. Black mold is very real and very dangerous. |
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Expert
Posts: 1392
Location: Central Texas | Nevertooold - 2014-02-14 2:04 PM My niece and her husband bought a house and it passed all inspections. They pulled up carpet to replace it and it was loaded with mold. The house ended up being declared not fit to live in and the property was condemned. They couldn't go back to the seller since they said the seller wasn't aware of any problems. We are talking about a house that sold for $170,000.
Oh wow I've never delt with one that was bad enough to be condemmed. I've seen them cost thousands and thousands to fix but never not fixable.
So they just had to pay for a house that they couldn't live in??? How does that work?? That would suck. |
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I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | GraciousLegacy - 2014-02-14 2:12 PM Nevertooold - 2014-02-14 2:04 PM My niece and her husband bought a house and it passed all inspections. They pulled up carpet to replace it and it was loaded with mold. The house ended up being declared not fit to live in and the property was condemned. They couldn't go back to the seller since they said the seller wasn't aware of any problems. We are talking about a house that sold for $170,000. Oh wow I've never delt with one that was bad enough to be condemmed. I've seen them cost thousands and thousands to fix but never not fixable.
So they just had to pay for a house that they couldn't live in??? How does that work?? That would suck.
The house was torn down and the lot was sold and they were responsible for the difference. This happened in Illinois. |
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Hog Tie My Mojo
Posts: 4847
Location: Opelousas, LA | GraciousLegacy - 2014-02-14 2:12 PM Nevertooold - 2014-02-14 2:04 PM My niece and her husband bought a house and it passed all inspections. They pulled up carpet to replace it and it was loaded with mold. The house ended up being declared not fit to live in and the property was condemned. They couldn't go back to the seller since they said the seller wasn't aware of any problems. We are talking about a house that sold for $170,000. Oh wow I've never delt with one that was bad enough to be condemmed. I've seen them cost thousands and thousands to fix but never not fixable.
So they just had to pay for a house that they couldn't live in??? How does that work?? That would suck.
They tore down and completely rebuilt the racing office at Lone Star Park because of mold, and it wasn't an old building. I think there are actually more issues with newer construction because they are built so tight to save energy. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Itsme - 2014-02-14 2:19 PM
LOL@ the mold hysteria!! The EPA is doing a good job making people scared and keeping themselves relevant.
Wow, clearly you don't know anyone affected by mold.
I am. I can tell you in just a few minutes of the system coming on if a central air and heating system has mold in it. A barn we use to horse show at was terrible in their arena heating system. If it kicked on during a class I would have tears streaming down my face and be unable to stop sneezing before I could exit the ring.
Our house was a foreclosure in 2008 with mold in the attic. The removal process is quite rigorous and requires multiple clean tests by the company who did the removal and multiple tests verified by at least 1 third party lab. The document we got detailing what they did and the results and cost was quite lengthy.
Personally it's not something I would tackle unless you are prepared to have a blank check in hand.
An inspection can tell you what is on the surface. The cannot tear down walls and look under carpets. You will be lucky if the only mold is what's visible in my opinion. |
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