We are in escrow right now to buy a home (5 days in) and the seller just sent us a Terminix inspection report they paid for themselves a few weeks back. The did not find an pests but they did find fungus: "Fungus has damaged the roof sheathing at the eaves in multiple locations" "Evidence of fungus was noted at/in siding which appears to extend into inaccessible areas" "Fungus has damaged barge rafter at/in roof line" "Evidence of fungus was noted at/in barge rafter which appears to extend into inaccessible areas" "Fungus has damaged trim at/in front door" "Evidence of fungus was noted at/in front door which appears to extended into inaccessible areas" How bad does this sound? The house was built in 1979 and I really like it but don't want to deal with the hassle of a systemic fungus problem with this house. Any ideas/insight/suggestions? I am having my own home inspection this Tuesday morning.
Ha, and I just got the disclosure documents. Seller discloses they dont know if or when the roof was ever replaced on their 36year old roof and they said its at its end of life. Yeah, I think I'm going to walk, don't want to deal with this.
It's a total tear off and re-roof. In that process the damage would be addressed. how thee hellll does anything to do with the barge rafter become extended into an inaccessible area? I definitely would think about walking away from that one unless there's a 20-25 thousand dollar reduction in asking price. it sounds like a huge can of worms to me though. The cost of remediation could reach the $60,000 range if licensed remediation (HAZMAT) specialist have to be called in. Fungus/black mold is nothing you really want to mess with.
Eh I would take the Terminex reports with a grain of salt. Pretty much any house has fungus in certain areas. That's the equivalent of taking your used car to the dealership for a used car inspection. They are going to flag everything no matter how minute the reality. I would use an independent to do home inspections from here on out and try to get the homeowner to cover it if it hasn't been done already and your realtor proves to them you are a legitimate buyer. They will have to get it done sooner or later so...
Have the buyer get a microbiologist in there to do a full report, then have mold remediation firm bid out the work. Then figure out who's going to pay for it. I have a good friend in mold remediation. it can get very costly.
Thanks guys. I ended up buying a home made in 2000 that was a bit more expensive/bigger/nicer. It also has a concrete tile roof so it should last a while with maintenance.
Congratulations on your new place Ali. Yeah, you don't want to mess around with black mold. I'm renovating 70% of the units in a 36 unit complex. They built it with the cheapest plumbing components imaginable. Needless to say, 20 years later the leaks have resulted in a huge amount of black mold problems. The eradication expense is astronomical. Black mold colonies that mature create a shit ton of structural decay that is all unseen until you open up the walls and floors.
It almost sounds like they'd be better off bulldozing and rebuilding. Congrats, Mr. Ali. Welcome to the landed gentry. Concrete tile seems heavy for roofing.
That would work if the investor was willing to fork over all the cost and tie up the investment with no return at all for the 1-1 1/2 years it'd take to go through the permits process and demo/reconstruction and have absolutely 0 dollars coming in. Reconstructing 2-3 at a time still leaves 34 units showing a return. It's a business not a owner occupied.
