There are many pitfalls a homeowner can experience when trying to sell a house in Fort Collins. One of the trickiest situations you could encounter is the existence of mold inside the property you are attempting to sell.
What choices do you have? There are a quite a few things that you can do to solve this issue; so cheer up and let’s get to work. This article will tell you on how to sell a house with mold in Fort Collins.
Dealing with mold when selling a house in Fort Collins
Mold in general, and black mold especially, or Stachybotrys by its scientific name, can cause severe health issues especially for infants, elderly, pregnant women or for people with respiratory diseases such as asthma. Even for the groups of people considered less vulnerable to molds effects, the airborne particles can cause allergies with symptoms like a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, eye irritation, skin rash, sore throat, etc. if you want to learn more about mold and its effects visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention site for extensive info.
No wonder why mold is one of the things that spook buyers away at first mention. Even if you could find a buyer, if any, interested in buying your house you should expect a severely discounted price due to the mold infestation. Knowing this don’t take the problem lightly as mold infestations impact about 25% of homes in the United States, keep your head up and confront it head on.
How to address the mold problem
First inspect the house yourself thoroughly, from top to bottom, literally from top to bottom for mold tends to develop especially in the attic or closed off areas of the home. Don’t forget the other areas of the house especially if you’ve had a flood or a leaking roof. A wet warm surface is an ideal ground for mold to develop.
If after your inspection you suspect a mold infestation, we recommend you reach out to a mold inspection company due to mold potentially being toxic. These inspections are not cheap but thy will be cheaper than a law suit. These professionals, also known as Certified Industrial Hygienists (IH), will charge you an average of $300 to $500 to test your property for mold levels and their visit might take 2 to 5 hours. The home inspection will clear the air. If there is mold you will have to deal with it, if mold is not found in your house you will have the proof to show to potential buyers.
If you have mold issues in your house first address the core problem that’s causing the mold infestation, otherwise the problem will hit you back like a boomerang. Most of the time the core problem is a water leakage that has to be fixed.
If the surface affected by mold is very small, less than 10 square feet you can, according to EPA, fix the problem yourself. Of course you should be experienced in DIY projects for such an endeavor as this usually means removing the drywall, replacing pipes, etc.
If the surface is large, not easy to reach, or you belong to one of the risk groups mentioned above ask a mold clean up professional to deal with the problem.
A professional company will deal with the mold in two steps:
- Treat the existing mold with chemicals to kill it
- Surface treatment to prevent the mold from growing back.
If you contract a good mold removal company you will get a warranty for a number of years, guaranteeing that your house will be mold free for the mentioned period.
How Much Can It Cost?
The remediation cost can widely vary; the size of your bill often depends on the extent of the infestation. It could be as little as $500 or up to thousands of dollars. If the mold had contaminated your attic and pipes are involved, the cost can vary from $2,000 to $6,000. If you had a flood and the infestation is extensive, the remediation costs can range from $10,000 – $30,000 or might go even higher, depending on the square footage affected by mold.
The national average for mold remediation costs is a little over $7,500, but averages can be deceiving, so budget conservatively when deciding to address the mold problem. After all this trouble with self and/or paid inspections, addressing the core problem, professional cleaning finally your house is mold free and can be successfully listed. Sounds complicated, isn’t it?
The swift and painless alternative: Selling “As Is” – Sell A House With Mold In Fort Collins
As you have guessed by now, the entire process of mold assessing and remediation will be very expensive, time-consuming and costly for a house you want to sell.
We propose you take a look at an alternative, one that is easy, quick and painless. Contact a Fort Collins home cash buyer company. After you take into account your time, money and health you will be pleasantly surprised. When you sell your house to NoCo House Buyers Inc, you will receive a fair cash offer within 24hrs and ability to close on the date of your choice.