West Bloomfield home buyer guide - mold

As a Metro Detroit real estate agent who sells about 65 homes a year I can tell you that mold is becoming more prevalent in homes in both Oakland and Wayne County. We are seeing more mold partly because homes are becoming more air tight and also because home owners installed insulation wrong years back and had poor attic ventilation.

Where we see most of the mold problems is in the attic of homes. Many home owners when they sell their home do not even know they had a mold problem until the home inspector finds it. The three majors causes of attic mold are:

1. Improper ventilation. The roofer may not have put in enough vents on the roof. Saving himself a few dollars and costing you in the long run. Sometimes the ridge vents get clogged up with debris and your ventilation is cut in half causing mold. Sometimes there are no soffits or soffits were covered up by siding.
2. Improper installation of insulation. Years ago some home owners stuffed insulation into the soffits. They didn’t know they needed to be open for ventilation. The home owner just thought that he was putting insulation everywhere he could.
3. Running the bathroom vent into the attic and not outside. Again home owners and contractors took the easy way out and just ran the bathroom fan exhaust into the attic. So all the moisture from the bathroom went up to the warm dark attic making an ideal situation for mold to grow.

So if you are a metro Detroit home buyer what should you do if they find mold in the attic? The first thing to do is read about mold. If you are highly allergic, have breathing problems, or have bad asthma then mold is a very serious issue for you. Mold can be remediated and the home can be liveable if it taken care of properly. There are many good mold remediation companies in the Metro Detroit area.

If there is mold in the attic and you are the buyer there is one thing you can count on. The seller will take care of it. This is a major problem and the home will not sell unless the seller takes care of the mold problem. It is just that simple. The seller will pay for it and have the work done. Period. There is no negotiation on this. Buyers do not pay for the mold remediation. ( at least if you are my buyer)

Mold is an environmental and health issue. An issue that will come up on every inspection. It will be a problem to every home buyer. So that is why the seller needs to handle it. It does not matter if it is a home on Cass Lake in West Bloomfield or a home in Ferndale the seller should be having it remediated.

When the home is remediated, the remediation company will solve why the mold is growing (add more ventilation) and remove the mold. They usually isolate the area, by putting plastic up, and bring in fans and vacuums to collect the mold spores. They then kill the mold by using a bleach/mold solution. After they do the mold remediation they do an air test to show you that there is just a normal amount of mold spores in the air. Yes in every house and building there are mold spores floating around.

So if you are buying a home in West Bloomfield Michigan do not automatically cross it off your list if mold is found in the house. It can be remediated and fixed in 95% of the cases. Only if they cannot stop the moisture from coming in or they cannot have better ventilation will the mold return. I hope my Michigan home buyer tips help you understand a little bit more about mold and mold remediation.

Remember we offer a great home buyer bonus when you use Russ Ravary as your realtor. I will buy you a new kayak, or grill, or lawn mower, or snow blower when you buy and close on a home with me.  (up to $500 in value)