Home inspections: More intricate, more valuable

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Home inspections: More intricate, more valuable

Philadelphia Inquirer - Philadelphia,PA*

By Alan J. Heavens

Inquirer Real Estate Writer

http://www.philly.com/philly/classifieds/real_estate/20080113_Going_u

nder_the_microscope.html

Buyers are getting pickier about the condition of the houses they'll

consider, understandable given the number of possibilities available

for them to choose from.

But their concerns go much further than overgrown hedges or chipped

paint on the front porch. Buyers are again asking about lead in the

paint and water, asbestos, radon, indoor air quality, and mold -

questions many appeared to put aside when competition for houses was

the stuff of bidding wars.

Avoiding things that might cause chronic illness doesn't always seem

to be the prime motivation.

" I really don't think that buyers are more concerned about

environmental or inspection issues, per se, than they were three

years ago, " said Myrna Malkin, an agent in Weichert Realtors' Fort

Washington office. " But I do believe that because the market

conditions are currently more favorable toward buyers, they are more

likely to include these contingencies in their contract and to use

the results of these inspections as tools for negotiating. "

Yet Bari Shor, an agent with Prudential Fox & Roach in Center City,

said the buyers she deals with are more concerned with health issues

than with leverage.

" They are using what they see in the paper - increased inventory and

mortgage issues - and not mold or lead paint as a bargaining tool, "

Shor said. " Because of these concerns, home inspections have become

more intricate and difficult, " which was also true during boom times.

" Even in those times, " Shor said, " I'd never allow buyers to forgo a

home inspection - and would make them sign their lives away if they

were insistent. "

Environmental issues like these have been a public focus for so

long, said Noelle Barbone, director of Weichert's Delaware Valley

operations, " that buyers have begun to become more comfortable with

knowing that if they are present, most times the conditions have

remedies, and if the price is right, they can handle the repairs. "

Regardless of the condition of the market, environmental issues

create problems for real estate agents and brokers, who are often

pressed by buyers to offer advice in areas in which they have little

or no expertise.

According to lawyers, the No. 1 source of litigation in residential

real estate transactions is the failure of sellers to disclose

property defects. Real estate agents are required to have sellers

disclose " red-flag defects " including asbestos, radon, lead-based

paint, toxic mold, and poor indoor air quality, as well as such

structural issues as foundation cracks, leaking windows, sagging

floors, and buckling walls.

There was a time when real estate agents could have an opinion on

just about everything involved in the sale of a house, said J.C.

Melvin, a Las Vegas real estate trainer and motivational speaker.

These days, Melvin said, " the smart agent - at least one who is not

going to end up testifying in court - is the one who says: 'I don't

know.' "

Shor agreed. " I can't offer an opinion about whether or not a house

has mold because I don't know anything about it. That's for the

experts to figure out. "

In general, " red flags " go up because buyers don't understand the

process, or their rights, or what to expect from their agent's

services, said Marie Spodek, a real estate consultant from

City, Neb.

Because they move only every 8.2 years, buyers aren't generally

aware of everything involved in a house purchase, especially

environmental concerns that have come to the forefront since their

last purchase, said Spodek, who sold real estate in Philadelphia in

the 1970s.

" Sometimes, buyers don't want to pay for tests for asbestos, lead-

based paint and radon gas, " she said. " We have to push them up

against the wall and make them do it. "

Even if they don't discuss environmental problems, Realtors should

be sufficiently well-versed in them to know what buyers, sellers and

professionals are talking about, said Ron J. Passaro, president of

Res-I-Tech home-inspection services in Bethel, Conn., and founder

and first president of the American Society of Home Inspectors.

Passaro brought his expertise to the Tri-State Realtors Convention

in Atlantic City in early December, where he conducted two seminars

for agents and brokers.

What does he consider the top environmental problem? Anything that

contributes to the deterioration of indoor air quality, since the

Environmental Protection Agency says indoor atmospheres, where we

spend 90 percent of our time, are 100 times more contaminated than

outdoor air.

A variety of sources degrade indoor air quality, including radon, a

gas that comes from the natural breakdown of rock formations in the

earth. It is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United

States, attributable to 20,000 deaths every year.

Passaro said the most accurate test for radon " lasts from nine

months to a year. That's not practical in a real estate sale, so we

use short-term screening devices, " placed in a home for two to seven

days.

" They are fairly accurate, but do not give you the annual average, "

he said.

Homes can be made radon-safe by installing a sub-slab ventilation

system, in which the gas is intercepted before it enters the

structure and is vented to the exterior.

Mold is a more complicated issue. Twenty percent to 30 percent of

the population is affected by mold, Passaro said, and though there

are 20,000 to 30,000 different kinds of mold, most are friendly. He

suggested that anyone with concerns hire an inspection firm to take

samples of spores for testing.

(His Web site, www.houseinspect.com, has information on mold and

other problems that inspections might uncover.)

Though there is a misconception that lead paint is found just in low-

priced inner-city homes, it is also often commonly found in suburban

dwellings. Removing lead paint from surfaces is not usually

practical, Passaro said, so it might be prudent to remove a source

such as a window that produces lead dust when it rubs against the

frame.

Lead in water typically comes from solder used to join pipes, he

said, and needs to be treated at the point of use, with a filtering

system under the kitchen sink.

Storage tanks buried underground (a practice that gained popularity

in the 1950s, Passaro said) remain a concern today because of the

possibility that leaks could result in contaminated soil, water and

air.

Many insurers will no longer write policies on, and lenders won't

provide mortgages for, properties with buried tanks. But removing an

underground tank and installing another above ground " is not a deal-

breaker, " Passaro said. " In many cases, it is a straightforward

removal and installation, and the cost could be below $2,500. "

Asbestos could be found at one time in 3,000 products, many of them

used in home construction - most commonly for siding, insulation and

roofing and around pipes and boilers. If a house has asbestos, the

options include leaving it alone, encapsulating it, enclosing it, or

removing it, Passaro said.

Urea formaldehyde foam insulation was banned in 1982, but the

prohibition was lifted by a federal court in 1983.

" It's not much of an issue in home sales today, " he said.

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Contact real estate writer Alan J. Heavens at 215-854-2472 or

aheavens@....