Foreclosure Inspections

Specific Inspection Topics Interior Inspections
#1

I’m starting to perform less foreclosure inspections than I did several months ago, but I can’t believe that consumers are striving to save money and purchase foreclosured homes at a steep discount when it needs a lot of expensive upgrades, which will not give them a discounted price after they spend their hard earned money on upgrades.

Let me give you a sample.

I showed up at this particular home and everything in this home was full of Mold. I told the Buyers that everything had to be stripped down to the studs and replaced. They replied, “But we’re getting a good deal on the house, we’ll strip it down ourselves and install all brand new finishes”.

This is what they want to purchase…

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#2

I’m not done…

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#3

They have got to be kidding.

25 yd. roll off dumpster rental = $80

Disposal fees = tipping fee is $110 here.

Hauling charges = $225

Labor = ?

Material = ?

I think the total would be scary.

And they want to buy this health hazard?

I wish them luck.

Marcel :slight_smile: :smiley:

#4

Marcel,
That could be the “good” mold. One never knows until it’s tested. Man your roll-offs are cheap!

Around here they’ll just give it a good wipe down, some Kilz and it’s good as new. Only to be resold to the unsuspecting.

What were the moisture issues?

#5

This was a winterized home. They had the water turned on for my inspection (per my request).

It was quite hard to locate the exact cause of this Mold build-up, but I refused to give up until I found the source.

Looking around, I couldn’t locate any obvious signs. When I arrived in the basement, I started moving insulation blankets around with my Termite probe. When I went under the kitchen, I got a face full of water that was puddled inside the insulation blanket. I looked around this blanket area and couldn’t see the defect. So (knowing that this water was right under the refrigerator) I went back upstairs and pulled the refrigerator away from the wall and viola…I could see that the ice maker line was broke. The water in this line probably froze and spewed water all over the kitchen.

Then when they turned the heat on a few days before the inspection, Mold starting growing everywhere within days.

#6

I do mold air sampling for an out of state environmental company that does mold remediation for Bank of America. Good mold jobs pay $300 for the initial air sampling and some photos. Samples are sent to their lab. 45 minutes onsite. My cost is about $50.

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#7

Is that the kind that you can lick off the wall?

#8

Don’t be too quick to judge these buyers. You don’t know what skills they have, or what kind of deal they are getting.

I inspected a home last week, no mold, but about 15,000-25000 of repairs. They buyer was getting the house for 50,000 under the comps.

I told her if she decided to not buy it, let me know because I would.

#9

What are you wearing to go into these?

#10

As a mould remediator I buy houses from clients from time to time. Remediate them, sometimes I flip them sometimes I hold them. It’s not that scary if you KNOW what your doing.
Doug

#11

Street clothes. I did asbestos abatement for 15 years and am aware of hazards.

#12

Exactly!

Several years ago I inspected a mountainside home in Eastridge in La Mesa. Walking around inside was kind of scary, and after crawling under the house, I understood why. I have no idea what was holding it to the side of the mountain. My Client got foundation estimates of something like $17,000, $23,000, and $67,000. She called me up to talk about the quotes. Ultimately I found out that she only wanted the quotes so that she could negotiate with the sellers. Her father and four brothers were engineers/foundation specialists/general contractors, so she was going to spend very little on the house, but she could pocket some nice cash with some good negotiating skills.

Then there’s the other extreme where the Clients don’t know how to replace a light bulb. :margarit:

#13

I think you may have left yourself open for law suit by stating that they need to strip down to the studs…(What if the studs had mold?) .I would think that the appropriate comment should have been “Recommend further evaluation by a licensed and competent environmental engineer/specialist” I think by what you stated would make a laymen understand that he/she would be able to remediate any mold by your recommendation.

Just a thought.

#14

Trust me…I’m not worried. My report did state your exact recommendation. Not only that, the franchise I recommended (Servicemaster) came in to quote the clean-up job and they simply scared them into walking from this MOLD disaster.

#15

They scare me!

#16

Why do you think I recommended them?

I want no part of this deal.

#17

Yep, Barry’s post said something about “…you don’t know until it’s tasted…”.

Or maybe it was “toasted”.