You’ve endured a long, tiring, but exciting search for the perfect home. You’ve finally found one; great location, the right amounts of rooms, ideal size, and flawless scenery from all areas of the house. You’ve decided this is the one! Then you discover your perfect Salem, NH dream house is infected with mold. Don’t fret too much! Buying a house with mold may not be as bad as you think. While there are some negative effects of mold, you may still be able to remedy your problem and not have to give up on your dream home.

Causes and dangers of mold

Mold may be present when there is a significant amount of moisture for an extended period of time and a food source. This could be caused by leaks or wet housing materials. Mold grows on many surfaces and digests those surfaces to thrive. It is most likely, but not always, located in attics, basements and crawlspaces. Mold can be quite an eyesore, and some molds can have a bad odor. It can also cause serious health concerns, ranging from allergic reactions to serious respiratory problems. Molds can be blamed for seizures, fatigue and other serious symptoms experienced by mold sensitive people who have contact with the fungus.

Protecting yourself when buying a house with mold

You may not be ready to walk away from your nearly perfect find. However, before you commit to buying a house with mold problems, you need to know you can back out of, or renegotiate the deal. Whether you uncover the mold problem during your walk-through, admission from the owner or agent, or as the result of inspection, you need to take control by adding contingencies to your written offer. Contingencies benefit you if the problem is discovered during a housing inspection or not resolved to your satisfaction. An inspection or mold contingency allows you to walk away from the sale if; problems are discovered; you ask for a reduced selling price; and require the seller to repair the mold.

Appraisal Issues

Mold can affect the appraisal value of a home. For some buyers it can make the home more affordable. However, if you intended to move into a home in excellent condition, it’s best not to make an offer on a mold infected home until you’ve had an independent appraisal. Large overgrowths of mold and mold in unusual locations are especially likely to lower a home’s value.
On the flip side of this some banks will not finance properties with mold issues. It depends on the type of loan so you should check with your loan officer or mortgage broker. The remedy to this is to have professional remediation completed and documented prior to closing.

Call the mold remediation and prevention experts

Unless your problem is minimal, there’s not a lot you can do to remove mold on your own. For bigger jobs you need to call a professional. Soil-Away Cleaning and Restoration is an excellent choice for mold removal. With over 25 years of experience they can successfully remediate the issues. Buying a house is stressful. Buying a house with mold is even more stressful. Let the team at Soil-Away take care of any mold issues so you can focus on what really matters. Call the mold experts at Soil-Away today at 603-641-6555.
Written by E. Aceves