Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I wouldn't deal with mold. If it has been unoccupied during the summer it just got worse. It's a bad thing on too many levels. There's a house in a friend's neighborhood that was foreclosed, not checked for mold (I suppose), shut up with no a/c, mold grew worse during long hot summer, someone bought apparently thinking they could solve the problem (it was definitely noticeable), and now the grass is tall and my friend only hears "it's been foreclosed on". Again I guess.
Let the seller stew on it, rather than you ruining your day.
Stew on what? He's past all his deadlines contingencies or dealing from what I read. He used the sellers agent because he thought he was gonna save money. Now you're in a pickle. Wow imagine that someone out for their own interest willing to screw someone over to make a buck. If he backs out there can be legal action to force the sale. How much are you looking into possible attorneys fees, loss of earnest money and credit hit vs getting the remediation done? Good luck getting a house after this. That's if you can find a realtor in your area willing to work with you after this fiasco. Youre gonna kill your credit, and lose a ton of money either spending it with a lawyer or whatever you put down AND STILL Be possibly forced into a sale. ok you did something stupid but to competely decimate your future is not very smart. You most likely have to remodel/refurbish anyway. There are mold remediation companies out there that will come in and remediate. If you gotta remodel and even if you don't you can still get rid of mold. I don't care what house you live in it has mold somewhere
This is a GREAT lesson on why you protect yourself as a consumer. You ALWAYS want someone on your side of the table looking out for YOUR best interest. Before I purchase a house I go to a lawyer. Costs me a few hundred bucks but I'm ok with that considering the possible risk
Last edited by Electrician4you; 09-13-2013 at 09:00 AM..
You might consider claims of fraud on the part of the seller and seller's agent. And report the agent to the local board and state board and any state professional licensing agency.
You need to be pro active. You may have thought it was pro active to not have your buyer's agent and to do it yourself but it was actual passive to not enter into a contract with a professional realtor who looks out for your interests and to let only the seller's interests be protected. (Yes, some areas lawyers are the only ones who write the contracts, so extrapolate).
This amount of mold didn't suddenly happen. You can yourself or hire people who will look into next door neighbor talk and things like lots of cans of air freshener and maybe a few visits by cleaning crews, etc. Get some scoop, get an attorney and hold your own.
Do you know if they had other contracs that didn't work out?
They are holding on to you for dear life because the cat might be out of the bag now. You can let the facts be known...that you are so upset about this mold report on a home you thought you'd like. But be careful how you say it or they can sue for that too.
Hi, We just got a mold test report yesterday, and have the closing next week. This had extrenely high numbers for the Toxic mold that can cause health issues. This is in Virginia.
Can we now walk out of the contract although there is no home inspection contingency? I dont want to buy the house and spend thousands of dollars for mold remediation.
The mistake we did - We did not hire a buyers agent. We did specify home inspection contingency and sent the home inspection report - which said possible mold , but failed to give an addendum saying that sellers have to fix this. This is costing us too much, learned the hard way to go with a buyer's agent next time. seller agent just took adavantage of this and saying that they dont have obligation becasue we dint give addendum. and saying we have to close no matter what :-(
We would be fine with any other type of issue (smaller issues), but this toxic mold issue is actually making us very concerned and worried. We also plan to rent this property and are afraid for people renting with small children and people with asthma and lesser immune.
To be specific, here is the report details:
Stacybotrys mold (Raw count=12, spoers/m3 =120, allowable should be < 35)
Trachoderma (raw count=70, spores/m3=700, allowable should be < 200)
PLS PLS PLS ADVISE!
A buyers agent would not have made a difference. People get into bad buying positions all the time and they have buyers agents.
When you buy a house, YOU are buying the house, not some agent so if one is willing to put possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars at risk and then not take the time to learn about what is involved, a buyer agent isn't going to help. Yeah, now we'll hear about how a buyer's agent would have done this or that, nonsense.
First of all, the problem you have isn't something a buyer agent can fix anyway. Once one side of a contractual agreement disagrees with the other, it is lawyer time. First, it costs you far less to hire an attorney or get a read of the contract to understand your rights than it does once you factor in where the money for that buyer agent really comes from, your pocket.
Aren't you forgetting something? If a buyer and seller disagree, no real estate agent can make anything happen unless both buyer and seller decide to agree. It takes a legal decision in a court and real estate agents can't represent you in legal matters, which is exactly what you have here.
Did you make a mistake? Maybe not.
If you really believe that a buyer agent is paid by the seller (or seller agent) then you're going to trust someone being paid by the very people telling you that you have to close to say otherwise? Just think about that.
You state you intended to rent out this property. Given that you really ought to put some effort into learning more about what you're doing, hopefully you'll get some legal advice first.
Real estate agents can't give you legal advice. That is how it is.
There have been a lot of homes sold with toxic mold and a lot of those transactions had both seller and buyer agents.
The main problem here isn't having or not having a buyer agent, it is a lack of effort to prepare for a purchase.
If yo don't know or are not aware enough to protect yourself in a home purchase transaction, how can you know if the buyer agent is doing things right? Trust?
Tell that to all the people who bought homes with toxic mold that also had a buyer agent.
Can we now walk out of the contract although there is no home inspection contingency? I dont want to buy the house and spend thousands of dollars for mold remediation.
. We did specify home inspection contingency and sent the home inspection report - which said possible mold , but failed to give an addendum saying that sellers have to fix this. This is costing us too much, learned the hard way to go with a buyer's agent next time. seller agent just took adavantage of this and saying that they dont have obligation becasue we dint give addendum. and saying we have to close no matter what :-(
PLS PLS PLS ADVISE!
Ok how can you specify a home inspection contingency yet you don't have a home inspection contingency? Confused. What were your contingencies at the start of the offer?
A buyers agent can't tell you what to do or make decisions for you. All they do is try and protect you by putting as many contingencies as possible this way you have a way out in the case of a issue. How much is the mold remediation. Maybe ask for a credit upon closing to do the remediation. What kind of mold infestation are we talking about? Little corner or is the whole house black with mold it looks like it got a fuzzy paint job
Hi, We just got a mold test report yesterday, and have the closing next week. This had extrenely high numbers for the Toxic mold that can cause health issues. This is in Virginia.
Can we now walk out of the contract although there is no home inspection contingency? I dont want to buy the house and spend thousands of dollars for mold remediation.
The mistake we did - We did not hire a buyers agent. We did specify home inspection contingency and sent the home inspection report - which said possible mold , but failed to give an addendum saying that sellers have to fix this. This is costing us too much, learned the hard way to go with a buyer's agent next time. seller agent just took adavantage of this and saying that they dont have obligation becasue we dint give addendum. and saying we have to close no matter what :-(
We would be fine with any other type of issue (smaller issues), but this toxic mold issue is actually making us very concerned and worried. We also plan to rent this property and are afraid for people renting with small children and people with asthma and lesser immune.
To be specific, here is the report details:
Stacybotrys mold (Raw count=12, spoers/m3 =120, allowable should be < 35)
Trachoderma (raw count=70, spores/m3=700, allowable should be < 200)
PLS PLS PLS ADVISE!
Stacybotrys is deadly black mold and is most commonly found in homes or buildings which have sustained flooding or water damage from broken pipes, roof, wall or floor leaks, etc. Wet conditions are required to initiate and maintain growth. Black mold produces trichothecene mycotoxins, which can take several years to break down and can be nearly impossible to remove from homes. It is known to cause pulmonary hemorrhage in infants and other lung dieases in adults.
Trachoderma is toxic green mold and is known to cause asthma and also infects the immune-compromised. It requires relatively higher water activity than some other indoor molds, and is influenced by flies & poor sanitation practices. Some strains of this mold produce potent mycotoxins which are hosts of many cardiovascular & nervous system diseases.
This kind of thing should have been in the Seller's Disclosure to you. There is a current, ongoing, and potentially dangerous problem here, and I would report this home to the health department, as well as report the seller's agent to the Board of Realtors locally and state-wide.
To be specific, here is the report details:
Stacybotrys mold (Raw count=12, spoers/m3 =120, allowable should be < 35)
Trachoderma (raw count=70, spores/m3=700, allowable should be < 200)
PLS PLS PLS ADVISE!
Were you able to contact a good real estate attorney today? You can't afford to delay.
Don't resign yourself to losing your down payment just because a few posters believe that to be the case. That would be a premature assumption. The house may not even be habitable in its present condition. You may want to check to see if a certificate of occupancy is required by the local municipality.
Again, get with a good real estate attorney to press your case against both the Seller and the Selling Agent.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
