Mold, Rehab and OPHP

Mold is a Real Estate Investment Reality!

By Deb McMillan © 2008

I went for a day of education and I learned more than I bargained for!

In May of 2005 I met Jeanne Townsley-Smith at the National REIA Vendor Show. She teaches air quality training and mold rehab and remediation. Her training curriculum is recognized by EPA and Indoor Air Quality Council members. She is a Certified Mold Remediation Specialist, practicing mold inspector and indoor air quality consultant.

From Jeannie, I learned plenty about mold. I learned mold is necessary to fight bacteria but it can be hidden well enough that it makes people sick without their knowledge, or it can be visible enough to scare away buyers, renters, or lending companies for potential investors.

Mold Can Reduce Purchase Prices
I was thinking that I could use mold data as a health and safety reason to get my short sales at a bigger discount since it took extra effort to get rid of the mold. The man who works with me, Mark, and I took the training class to get our certification

They say awareness is the first step, and believe me after that class I was aware of mold. It’s everywhere!

Some mold is not enough to hurt some people. Some types of mold will only agitate your allergies. Other types of mold can be toxic and harmful to humans and pets. The toxic molds that are commonly found in houses that have had water damage can cause serious health problems in people depending on their immune system.

About the same time I completed the course and learned “enough” about mold, I bought a house with a very leaky roof. I was curious to see how much mold was hidden in the attic under the insulation and on the trusses. As luck would have it, Jeanne had been in the house about 2 years earlier when it was still an REO and wanted to make an offer.
It was a war zone full of mold priced too high for the condition of the house, and she wasn’t able to get the bank to accept her offer.

While hearing from Jeanne how moldy the house was two years ago, we wanted to know want was under that fresh coat of paint. Was it a cover up? What did I really buy? We were both curious to see how bad the “hidden mold” had become.

Mold Rehab Training
We decided we would have a mold rehab training class in my new house. During a six-hour training course, Jeanne and her partner Mark Murrison, armed us with all the personal protective equipment we needed, tyvek suits, goggles, gloves, and respirators.

The students and I didn’t think that we would find much mold to demonstrate the steps of removal as we started removing the drywall from the kitchen ceiling, exposing the back side of the drywall covered in black and gray mold. It had been feasting on the paper backing! There just might be plenty of mold in this house.

Jeannie wanted to remove the kitchen cabinets and show us possible mold growth and damage that might be hidden behind the cabinets, the wall, and the plumbing. This was almost free “deconstruction!” The cabinets looked almost worth keeping until we saw what was behind them. We found water marks and mold 6 to 8 inches high around the entire perimeter on the back of every cabinet.

We removed the drywall behind the cabinets though they did not have much visible mold. They were WORSE! We discovered that the condensation line from the AC had been draining on the floor for MANY years. The water that laid there was wicked into the drywall. When it never ever dried out, mold grew. And grew and grew. There was 3-4’, yes feet, of mold on the drywall. And the bank painted over it! An unsuspecting family that might have liked the kitchen cabinets would probably never have known…until they couldn’t breathe.

The bathroom had been completely remodeled by the bank before the sale. They installed a new vanity, toilet, and tub with surround. The bathroom, as well as the whole house, was freshly painted. The question now was what else had the bank covered up?

All the drywall in the bathroom will have to be removed and the cleaning process that we learned that day will need to be done before we can begin to put it all back together.

Don’t Use Bleach to Clean Mold
One major ah ha we learned was to NOT use bleach to clean up mold. So many people say to use bleach. When you clean with bleach you actually wipe the head of mold off and bleach it white. You can’t see it any more. It can still reproduce and make it hard for you to breathe.

The bank had covered up so much. It is unconscionable and unethical what the bank did and then tried to sell it for almost market value. If you or I did that to another investor, we would be sued for no DISCLOSURE. And the bank said nothing. I have no recourse. I bought the house “as-is”. They will, however, get a nice letter on my attorney’s letterhead with really vivid pictures of the entire mold and the nice paint job. We’ll see if they having anything to say.

Morals of the story:
1) Mold can be our friend.
2) Suspect freshly painted houses by the bank!
3) Get trained by Jeannie and
4) BEST OF ALL – 6 six hours of OPHP (Ohio Professional Housing Provider accredited education) training – hands-on rehab, EPA regulations, and inspections. And if it is your house, cheap help with the “deconstruction.”

You can contract Jeannie at 513-200-3941 or Mold Institute Protocol Training Institute

Deb McMillan, OPHP, CMI, is a real estate investor and writer living in Hamilton, Ohio. She has written a home study course on Short Sale Success Systems, which teaches investors how to get deep discounts from the bank when buying pre-foreclosures.

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