House Flipping on Long Island: Is Mold Contamination Being Addressed Properly? Long Island Mold Guy
House Flipping on Long Island: Is Mold Contamination Being Addressed Properly? Long Island Mold Guy
HOUSE FLIPPING IS BIG BUSINESS ON LONG ISLAND, as a matter of fact its big business all across the county. There are TV shows about it, seminars and it seems anyone with enough investment money can get involved. A large portion of these flips are either distressed or foreclosed properties. Distressed and foreclosed properties are notorious for having problems, one of these being mold contamination. The homes are sitting with no environmental controls in place and it is quite easy for mold to grow. The goal of flipping homes for investors is making money.
Mold remediation in Nassau and Suffolk county can be very expensive, especially when the mold is all over the house. This may not be an expense that some house flippers are willing to fit into their budget. Some flippers will simply put their demo crew in to remove all the walls, carpets and any other visibly contaminated building products without taking proper precautions to help prevent the spread of mold spores throughout the home. After demo a cleanup may be done with a broom and maybe some sort of shop vac. That will basically be the extent of getting rid of the mold in the home at minimal cost.
The new sheetrock then goes up, the fresh tile in the bathroom, the shiny new kitchen cabinets and all the other gleaming new fixtures that home buyers love when they walk into a freshly flipped home. Sure everything looks fantastic, but is this home contaminated with mold? It very well could be as a proper mold remediation may have not been completed here. One step during the home buying process is a home inspection. The home inspection is a must as you want to make sure that everything is in proper working order. Who is inspecting your families possible new home to make sure that it is healthy enough for the new occupants?
In this day and age of the house flip it makes more and more sense to have a mold assessment done along with your regular home inspection. I am not saying that all house flippers do not remediate mold in their investment properties and i am certainly not looking to point fingers at anyone. They all know themselves and what they do. If the shoe fits…
There are investors who will go out of their way to have a mold assessor come in and then hire a local experienced, certified and licensed Long Island mold remediation contractor to take care of the mold and then have the assessor back in to clear the job and provide that flipper with a clearance letter than can then be presented to the buyers showing them that all potential mold and moisture issues in the home they are about to purchase have been rectified and that it is now safe to move into. The house flippers that decide to not remediate properly won’t have that clearance letter, and who knows perhaps the new buyer or buyers agent won’t even ask if the house had any mold problems. And a lot of times no one does ask. Does this make it ok? Maybe in some peoples minds it is ok.
The mold is gone, we did a nice rebuild and we are moving onto the next flip. Maybe the person that bought the home is immune suppressed, or someone that may be susceptible to the mold thats still in the home. I know we all want to make money however being ethical is important and the investor needs to decide if being ethical fits into the budget.
A good idea for budget conscious investors is to perhaps form a relationship with a reputable mold remediation contractor to work on a budget friendly pricing system for their flips. If they are doing a large amount of homes that have mold in them the mold remediation contractor can more than likely work something out with the flipper to remediate the homes at a fair price that helps everyone involved..the flipper, the mold remediation contractor and that home buyer that is ready to make a life long investment for their family.
For further info on flipping homes with mold i’ve provided a couple of links. Of course you can always contact The Long Island Mold Guy for a consultation. I can answer any questions or concerns you may have with your moldy Long Island flip house.
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/67/topics/393073-mold-repair-cost-in-townhouse
http://theunextreme.com/10-flipped-house-problems-make-you-flip/
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