Buying a foreclosed home?

Sometimes your dream home becomes available in the form of a foreclosed property. Currently, home foreclosures are at record levels with nearly 2 million foreclosed properties available for purchase. It is predicted that this number will continue to rise and reach 5 million through the year 2011. This rise in foreclosures also means that there are many great deals to be had if you are in the market for a new home. Often, these homes are sold for prices well below market value because the bank or mortgage holder is eager to sell them. However, investing in a foreclosure can be extremely risky.  Property inspections in advance of their sale can be hard, or impossible. Many buyers are purchasing foreclosed properties “as is,” not realizing what is waiting for them once they take possession.

Indoor Air Quality in Foreclosed Homes
Many homes in foreclosure have been locked up tight for many weeks or months without utilities, giving ample opportunity for mold to grow at amplified rates and airborne contaminants to remain trapped in the home. Not only does this pose a potential structural problem with the home, but it could also pose significant health risks for anyone who enters. In some instances, unsuspecting home buyers who believed they were getting a great deal on a foreclosed property ended up paying thousands of dollars to solve severe air quality issues. For only $125 and very little time, a Home Air Check test can be performed on the foreclosed property prior to the sale, and an accurate assessment of the indoor air quality can be made.

Could the foreclosed property you want to buy be a former meth lab?
In 2007, the DEA seized over five thousand clandestine methamphetamine laboratories (meth labs) in the United States. Formerly, these meth labs were set up in remote and rural locations, usually on private property. Now, with the advent of more sophisticated manufacturing practices, they are increasingly being found in private residences in busy suburbs and cities, as well as in apartment complexes. Although the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reports that the rate of clandestine meth lab seizures has been declining since 2003, it also states that many criminals are producing meth on a smaller scale, becoming more sneaky in their production of the drug, moving from site to site after only a few months of use, and breaking up the meth production to more than one site in order to avoid detection. This means that the number of actual sites used as meth labs is growing, and many of those properties have been the subject of past and present foreclosures. But one thing has not changed—the operators of these methamphetamine manufacturing facilities do not conduct their business in an environmentally responsible manner. The mess they leave behind can pose varied risks to those responsible for cleanup or for the people who may live there after the cleanup. And that cleanup isn’t cheap. The cost of de-contaminating a former meth lab property can range from $3,000 to $150,000, depending on the size of the house and the scope of remediation.

Are meth labs really dangerous to your health?
Methamphetamine is an illegal synthetic drug manufactured from various chemicals often found in common household items and over the counter medicines. Cold and allergy medications containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine are "cooked" with other chemicals to produce meth. These chemicals are often found in everyday household products and can be dangerous in their inherent form (see section on VOCs). Of the 32 chemicals that are commonly used in the production of methamphetamine, about one third are extremely toxic. Add the “cooking” process where these chemicals are evaporated into the air, and the situation has gone from dangerous to deadly. It is estimated that about six pounds of highly toxic waste is generated from every pound of meth that is produced. Vapors and hazardous chemical spills can seep into carpeting, insulation, woodwork and drywall. Plumbing lines and septic systems can also become contaminated with waste chemicals from meth production. Toxic VOCs are drawn into the home’s heating and cooling systems and spread throughout the ventilation system when it’s activated. Many of these chemicals remain in the home for months and years, and aren’t always removed in the toxic clean-up process.

The following is a list of typical chemicals that produce VOCs that have been associated with meth labs: