I am receiving chemotherapy treatment for cancer. I moved here in Jan. 07 and began treatment in Feb. There were issues with this rental since the start. I have mold growing from standing water in a crawl space in the basement. The previous tennant informed me this water was there when he lived here. I also found mice droppings in my kitchen cabinets and other places. The tennant also had mice when he lived here. I have complained many times for many more problems here and finally after calling the board of health, the landlord is addressing these issues but in a quick fix sort of way. I found out that the landlord never applied for a certificate of use before I moved in. If he had, it wouldn’t have passed inspection and I wouldn’t be in this over priced rental not to mention costs of movers again. I also lost my job in Feb. due to my illness. Which reason should I use to break my lease, the many hazardous problems or I can’t afford to live here. The rent is $1,450 per month.

Nothing like this is ever easy without a fight.

Im sure if you talk to them about it they may let you do it though. They may have enough sympothy for you to let it go. Otherwise simply threaten court. Its not the kind of scene a landlord would want to deal with in court.

The selection of a home is an emotional decision, and it should be. You should tap into your emotional knowledge when choosing a home. Many personal factors will influence your selection of a place where your family can live comfortably and safely.

However, at some point in the future you may need to re-sell the home. Most people would like to receive at least 4% annual appreciation on the sales price of their home. Now is the time to look ahead and consider any possible sales objections that you may encounter. The value of your home as an investment is directly related to its marketability. If it is sought after by other buyers, your home will sell at the highest price possible for the market.

The issues noted here are not intended to be deal killers. The home you have selected may have some defects, yet meet your needs in many important ways. No home will be perfect. Your purchase decision should be given a careful evaluation and review with an eye toward resale.

Home flippers look for homes with marketing problems such as these. Homes priced below market are perfect for their remodeling solutions. You, too, may think creatively when considering a home. Many problems can be corrected or mitigated. With good design sense, you may be able to make the necessary decisions to improve the home, and perhaps do the work yourself. Or, you may be willing to get design help and use a builder for the work. Remodeling adds a level of risk and difficulty to your home purchase, but possibly, a higher level of satisfaction and monetary reward.

Here are 7 potential re-sale problems:

1) Site Difficulties

Unusual Easements or Restrictions
If unusual easements or restrictions were not disclosed up front, you may not be aware of them until you see the survey and title work. If you discover these, I suggest that you take a step back, and consider whether you will accept an unusual easement or restriction on your use of the property. Some examples: neighbors may cross the property, house expansion is limited, or major pipelines are underground.

Lack of Yard
If a home has much less yard area than others in the neighborhood, buyers tend to eliminate this choice. A steep slope may make the grounds difficult to use and maintain. Yards that have been terraced or landscaped may be exceptions. Compare your property to the yards offered by competing homes.

Commercial View
Homes in suburban areas that view office buildings or retail centers are less attractive to buyers. Buyers choose suburban neighborhoods for their concentration of single family homes, separated from commercial areas. This may not be a problem in more urban areas.

Flag Lot
These are lots with a long narrow strip, leading to the area where the house is placed. Your home will have almost no street frontage, and there may be a building in front of your home. A flag lot in a country setting with a long driveway leading to a large tract may be an exception to the rule. In a subdivision of homes with road frontage, buyers will avoid this type of lot.

2) Likely Objections

High Tension Wires
The general reaction by buyers to high tension wires crossing near the lot is to simply eliminate the choice.

Steep Driveway
I have shown many buyers who will not get out of the car when the driveway is unusually steep.

Busy Street
The noise related to a busy street is a turn-off to many buyers. This is more of a problem if the busy street is in front of the house.

Too Exposed
Most buyers want a certain degree of privacy in the back yard. If the building behind your prospective home looks down on your backyard or into your family room, this will be a sales objection. This could be mitigated by trees or screening.

3) Neighborhood Concerns

Declining Values
If you perceive the neighborhood to be declining, this is a must to avoid. Choose areas that show pride in ownership. However, if you see tear downs and new construction, then the neighborhood may be going through a renewal period, and may be a good risk.

Safety or Security Problems
If you sense that there are security problems – drug dealers, robberies, or safety concerns for your children, take a step back and look at the facts and data on these issues before buying. These kind of problems will turn away buyers fast.

4) Market Matters

Seasonal or Limited Market
Some homes have a limited market – a vacation area, a primarily student market, or an age restricted subdivision. This may suit your needs, but keep in mind that your re-sale will be limited to this set of buyers.

Remote Location
In most cities, areas that are closer to downtown tend to have a larger buyer pool than homes located in remote areas. However, you may choose to trade the privacy and setting of a country home with the resale potential.

No Comparable Sales
This indicates a possible re-sale problem. The home may be very unusual compared to homes around it, or the market may be slow. Understand the underlying reason for few or no comparable sales.

Extended Marketing Time
Has the home that you are considering been on the market a long time? Was the price simply set too high? Has the market been slow? Or, is there a problem with the house that you will need to correct?

Oversupply of Homes
This is a fundamental re-sale problem. If the balance of supply and demand tips in favor of buyers, then sellers will have to compete more aggressively, and prices are usually driven down. A common source of excess supply is from new homebuilders in the area. Or, sales may be slowed by an economic recession or high interest rates. The oversupply of homes on the market may be a temporary situation.

5) Non-conforming Styles

Lacks a Typical Amenity
In an area where nearly all homes are on the golf course, or have a pool, or include a garage, buyers will tend to overlook homes that lack these features. In an area of mostly older buyers, a home with the master upstairs may have trouble selling. Look carefully at what is generally offered in a given area to the majority of buyers.

A-typical Style
Homes that do not fit in to the neighborhood may have trouble selling. For example, the urban modern style may be a good fit in older eclectic areas, but would be hard to sell a uniform suburban neighborhood.

6) Inspection Issues

Water Drainage Problems
Poor water drainage may be a serious and costly remediation problem. Talk with an expert about improving the drainage around the house, and evaluate any previous damage caused by flooding of the interior or water standing under the house. Be sure that you have all the facts on the table and an improvement plan ready.

Structural Defects
Structural defects have an underlying cause. They may be due to loose fill on the lot, clay soil, drainage issues, or poor construction. It is crucial to know the source of the problem, and the cost to repair, before taking on a house with structural problems.

Inspection Issues
Excessive repairs noted on your inspection report indicate that the house was not maintained or was poorly constructed. Be prepared for some serious work on the house. An incorrect application of stucco or other siding may have water damage or mold behind it. A mold infestation may be expensive to remove. Be prepared to document your repairs in order to show a future buyer that the problems have been completely solved. These issues tend to have some stigma attached.

Insurance Claims
It is important to know the facts about a previous insurance claim. If it was due to a fire or flooding problem, you should have full disclosure. Large insurance claims are a red flag, and may result in difficulty in obtaining insurance on the home. Many homes have had repairs covered by insurance, such as hail damage, and these are not a re-sale problem.

7) Improvement Obstacles

Costly Improvements
You may not be able to recoup the cost of certain improvements to your home. These may include imported fixtures, unusual artistry or craftsmanship, exotic woods, European appliances, rare plants, hand decorated walls, etc. If these finishes are similar to locally available materials, they may not have a market value equal to their cost. In general, swimming pools and tennis courts do not contribute the full amount of their cost in the value of the home.

Over Improved
Homes that are over improved for the area, or have excess acreage, often have a difficult time recouping the additional cost. Most people feel safer buying one of the cheaper houses in the neighborhood.

Non Functional Floor Plan.
Floor plans that make living in the home difficult will turn away buyers. Excessive level changes, rooms that are out of proportion, poor access to the backyard, low ceilings, few windows, and other layout issues will result in a re-sale problem. This may be an opportunity to take down walls, add windows and doors, and make creative changes to improve the functionality and value of a house. Design skill and a fairly high budget will be necessary.

Out Dated Finishes
Most homes have some outdated finishes – from needing freshening up, to a complete makeover. This is where design skill and perseverance can completely transform a house. If you are new to remodeling, consider your budget carefully. Often the work required is quite extensive and may grow as the project develops.

Roselind Hejl
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/7-potential-resale-problems-72714.html

In August of 2006 Andrew Doe(and family) a child with cerebral palsy and severe allergies,had poor living condition that involved mold,silverfish all through out the home,Doe family then gave the property owner a 30 days notice after failed inspection with the section 8/ Metropolitian Housing Authority.
The Doe family urgently looked for better housing and once a home was found it wasn’t rent reasonable,so the Doe family found other housing but the owner would have to lower the rent from $650 to $579 to make it affordable for the Doe family.Owner of Apartment agreed to except the rental amount of $579 on August 30th 2006,The Section 8 program were slow to process the request to inspect housing in the time alloted which was 14 days after the Owner of the apartment excepted the amount of $579,instead Section 8 housing caused the Doe family to use all its SSI income of $603 as rent,for the month of September,and that brought horrible hardships on the family,behind on bills and no food.

In section 8 housing, you sign two contracts…one with the Housing Authority, one with your landlord. Let’s look at each contract to see if there was a breach. Then, let’s talk about practical solutions for your current situation. Then, let’s talk about what could have been done differently to prevent this.

Did the new landlord breach a contract? I’m talking about the landlord that agree to accept $579. You say that you had to use all of your $603. If you had a contract with him that said he would accept $579, then he breached that contract with you by refusing to accept only $579. I can’t tell by your question how much you actually paid. If he is requiring you to pay $650 until section 8 kicks in, then I suspect something else is going on. Sometimes landlords and tenants agree to tell the housing authority that the landlord is accepting a lower amount of rent (in this case $579), but then they have a side agreement that the tenant will pay the difference (in this case, an additional $71 or 650-579). That is a form of fraud. If you get caught doing that, you will not just lose your section 8, but you will be required to pay back all of the money that section 8 paid, and you may go to jail. But, like I said, there is not enough information to tell how much you actually paid.

What about the Housing Authority? you say that they were slow to process your request to inspect the housing, but you don’t say how slow. You also don’t show how you have been damaged. You should have paid September’s rent on September 1st. If the housing authority took 14 days to process the request, you still would have already paid that rent. Unfortunately, this is not an unusual situation. If the Housing Authority had a contract with you to provide an inspection within 14 days, and if you could prove that your rent wasn’t due until the 15th day, then perhaps you could argue that they breached it. But I have never heard of a landlord that allows a tenant to move in on the 1st, but pay rent on the 15th.

Or, are you saying that you paid that rent to the old landlord because you couldn’t move in to the new place? If that is the case, why would you pay a full month’s rent if you were only going to stay for a portion of the month. Usually, if you gave your landlord a 30 day notice in the middle of the month, you would prorate your next month’s rent rather than pay the entire month. Again, there is not enough info in the question to know exactly what happened to you.

You lost about $400. Practically speaking, what can you do to get it back? You can’t afford to pay an attorney on an hourly basis, and no attorney will take your case for a third of $400 if you win. Don’t go after the Housing Authority without an attorney. If they suspect that you commited fraud like I discussed above, you will lose your voucher. But you may have a good case against your old owner. He accepted rent for a property that was uninhabitable. The property had mold and was unhealthy. You already have documentation (the failed inspection) that proves the condition of the property. If you can prove that the landlord knew about the condition of the property and failed to fix the problem and that you suffered because of this (it would be great if you can document visits to the doctor in August of 2006), then you might have a good case against the previous landlord. That case might be worth quite a bit more than $400…maybe even enough to convince a lawyer to help you. Ask the housing authority for a copy of the failed inspection report. If you wrote letters to your old landlord to complain about the conditions, you should have kept copies. Then find an attorney in your area that specializes in habitiability issues or tenant’s rights.

What could you have done differently to protect yourself? 30 days is not enough time to find adequate section 8 housing. Having a disabled child probably limits your housing options. You should have waited until after you found housing before giving your 30 day notice. Talk to your section 8 worker to let them know what is going on and why you need to leave your current property. Section 8 is a "use it or lose it" program. Typically, if you don’t use your voucher for 30 days, you lose it. That is because there are a lot of people waiting for these vouchers and they don’t want them to go to waste. But if your child has a disability that limits your housing options, you can request a reasonable accommodation for that disability in the form of an extension (to keep your voucher without using it) of up to 6 months. In the meantime, you could live with family or friends or talk to an attorney about withholding rent from your slumlord to save money.

Good luck.

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I want to buy a foreclosed home, but the inspection found wood-decaying fungi (mold) visible damage in several places. I live in Florida. Is it possible to remedy this and at what cost? Is it curable at all?

with all of the depressed priced houses in florida,why on earth would you want a problem…keep looking…you will find the perfect house for you in perfect condition…we just did in oct…was 423k in 2006 got it for 155k……

Mold has been showing up in random spots of my house for several months now. It’s a green dust-like mold. It’s appeared in all of my downstairs rooms, which are very spaced apart – on the baseboards, on my shoes, on the surface of the wood floor, on window seals, on blinds, on electronics, and various other surfaces. I’ve only lived in my home for about one year, and know of no water damage that would have caused this.

A mold inspector came out yesterday to survey my home for the source. He tested the humidity and the moisture around the areas where the mold was showing up. He said the humidity in my home is actually below normal, and he could find no high contents of moisture. He could not find the source or offer an explanation for the mold. He did give me a referal to a company that tests mold samples – if I get the sample myself and drive it to their facility, he told me the cost will start around $1,000.00 – and that’s just to tell me what kind of mold it is. It will cost significantly more for them to try to find the source. My insurance company does not cover any type of mold inspection or damage.

I’m at a loss now. The inspector said because he didn’t "smell" mold damage or see too much (even though I told him that was because I clean it up on a regular basis), I shouldn’t be too concerned. However, I am constantly cleaning up these spots. I’ve had to throw away many clothing items that have been ruined by it. One of my roommates has a one year old son that I’m concerned about, and my other roommate has severe allergies to dust and mold.

I guess my question is – what would you do? I’m especially interested in answers from people who have mold knowledge and can offer some educated insight. I’ve recently had many other costly financial surprises, and it will be difficult to scrap up funds for this.

Thanks in advance.
More details:
I own the house. It was built in 1942 – it’s about about 1700 square feet. Crawl space. Central AC/heat – a new unit which was replaced about 10 months ago. We live in the Tidewater region of VA. It was bought out of foreclosure, don’t know previous owner. It had been vacant for at least a year before we moved in. Home inspection found no water damage issues either.

First, $1,000 for analysis of a mold sample is outrageous. Buy a $99 Got Mold? Test Kit and use all 6 samples (3 air, 3 surface) and you’ll only spend $249 total, plus you’ll get useful information.
Second, you don’t say what the relative humidity is, per the inspector. So, you need to know the RH and keep it below 50%. Buy a good dehumidifier (not a WalMart unit). Look at Indoor Health Solutions (dot com) for the best.
If your crawl space has a dirt floor, that’s probably where your moisture is coming from. It needs to be sealed with plastic, or ideally have concrete poured over a vapor barrier.
Your "water event" was the year of vacancy. You need to have the whole house cleaned with HEPA vacs, after you beat the moisture problem.
And please don’t throw bleach at mold. Bleach is 95% water. As soon as the chlorine evaporates, the water is feeding the mold again. Mold has to be removed physically. Biocides just don’t work.
Lots more free information is available at gotmoldtestkit.com/fmg3 where you can get a free ebook about how to find mold and moisture problems in your home.

A standard home inspection is performed by a licensed, professional home inspector, and consists of a visual examination of a property’s structures and systems. This includes all areas of the home that are easily accessible and visible, which means that crawlspaces, roofs, and attics aren’t always included in the inspection; it all depends on your particular home. Gutters, chimneys, plumbing, electrical systems, insulation, and heating systems are all part of the home inspector’s checklist. Some inspectors will even test the property’s water quality, though they are not required to do this.

In addition to a traditional home inspection, you may want to hire a professional to check the home for other serious problems such as wood destroying organisms, mold, lead, and radon. While the cost of having these inspections done may make you hesitate, the cost of discovering these issues after closing is much greater.

Hiring a licensed pest inspector to check the home for wood destroying organisms such as termites and mold is always a good idea. Termite infestation wreaks havoc on the wood structures in your home, while keeping their presence a well-kept secret. Often it isn’t until a great deal of damage has been done that you discover that you have termites. This means that sellers may not even know that they have a problem. You buy the home, totally unaware of the hungry pests lurking behind the walls. When you finally discover their existence, you have an expensive problem on your hands.

Mold and mildew can not only affect the strength and stability of the wood in your home, they can also have a serious impact on your health. In particular, spores that are released into the air and get into your lungs are the most dangerous. If you’re sensitive to molds, you could find yourself with respiratory problems such as asthma or sinusitis. Even if you aren’t allergic, you may suffer from skin and throat irritation if exposed to mold for long periods of time. A pest inspector knows where to look for fungal rot, and can recommend ways to get rid of it.

Another serious health hazard that may be present inside the home is lead-based paint. Until 1978, many homes were painted with paint that contained lead. If the home you’re thinking about buying was built before that year, make sure that you hire a professional Lead Inspector to check for lead, and determine if the paint poses any risk to you and your family.

Many home inspectors today test for radon as part of their examination of the home, but it isn’t standard practice. Due to the severity of health problems that can result from being exposed to this naturally-occurring radioactive gas, it is a good idea to hire a certified Radon Inspector to test the home before you close the sale.

Radon is second only to smoking in terms of causing lung cancer. As you breathe in these odorless, invisible particles, the radon damages your delicate lung tissue. Getting the home tested for radon before you move in could potentially save lives.

For a small investment, you can have peace of mind knowing that your future home is safe from serious hazards like radon, lead, and pests. In addition, you could save thousands of dollars in repairs if problems do turn up. Do yourself a favor and hire specialists to examine the home before you sign on the dotted line.

Greg Smith
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/additional-inspections-to-get-before-you-buy-that-home-704010.html

Im looking to buy a home and we found the one but after inspection we found out that we need to waterproof the basement. It has water damage and mold but the house is with a great price, is it worth buy the house and then fixing it up or the cost to waterproof is 2 high? HELPPPPP

We have the same issue. We had some basement repair type company come out, and they explained to us that waterproofing the basement was a waste of money, because if water is getting in, you might have shifting or cracks. They recommended to us to have a sump pump installed along with a drainage system along the interior and exterior of the house. They wanted $20,000 to do all of this. So I guess just decide if you want to go through the added hassel and expenses, now if you guys are quite handy you can do it all on your own for a lot less money and then it might be worth it. Talk to friends and family and ask them if anyone had the same issues and try to get an idea of what your going to go through.

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We are buying a house and the home inspection showed a lot of mold (not the toxic kind, but still mold) in the attic. Has anyone had this kind of mold cleaned up? What kind of expense are we looking at? I need to decide within 24 hours if I’m backing out of the sale, yikes!! Thanks!!!
We know the cause ( a leaky roof that was fixed last year, and improper ventilation and insulation, which will be fixed). We also know it’s not toxic, but I am concerned about allergies – not for those of us who will be living there, as none of us are allergic to mold – but my other kids are sensitive to it.

I don’t want to do the work myself; I want to hire it done but am just wondering what a ballpark figure might be for this kind of work.

Even if not toxic it could still cause problems with allergies. An equally big problem is what caused the mold to develop. Must be a leaky roof or bathroom exhaust into the attic. The cause needs to be found or mold will return. High moisture will also rot the wood in the attic. I would pass on this house unless the seller agrees to remediation and repair costs and money is put into escrow.