Renee Burrows, a REALTOR, in Las Vegas NV has an excellent series for home buyer’s “Things That Can make Your Las Vegas Financed Home Purchase Blow Up in the Middle of a Transaction.” Even though Renee is not a REALTOR in Wellington Florida what she writes about in this particular series can apply to Wellington Florida Home Buyers.
Congratulations! Your lender just approved you to purchase an area home by looking at your check stubs, debt to income ratio and you are now approved to purchase an area home!
Hold the phone here, *you* may be eligible to purchase a home but is the house eligible for financing? This series is designed for you to research a home’s eligibility for financing.
DISCLOSURE: I am not a lender, title company, home inspector, contractor or appraiser. I am only speaking from personal experience by working with financed area home buyers. Hopefully, you have hired a Las Vegas area real estate agent who will be able to spot things that can *potentially* cause problems with your financing (mostly FHA/VA) before your contract to purchase a Las Vegas area home.
Much of Las Vegas is currently priced in fire sale status. Many times when you see unusually inexpensive homes there is a reason – they are not eligible for financing and the seller does not wish to rehabilitate the home to make it eligible for financing.
Today’s topic at hand is “Water Damage & Mold“.
Water Damage & Mold may occur for various reasons:
- A Construction Defect From a Slow Leak
- Malicious Exit From the Previous Occupant
- The “Elements” or Weather
- Something “Accidental”
The effects of water damage and mold could be from deferred maintenance, recent or can occur in the middle of a transaction.
An example of deferred maintenance would be a leaky roof (weather elements) or construction defect such as an incorrectly plumbed or faulty toilet base & wax ring.
Even though we don’t have “Freezing Elements” too often here, it does happen every once in a while resulting in a cracked pipe here and there. More often than not, weather elements would be from heat & lack of utilities – baking, melting and cracking plumbed items.
Accidents do happen and some you have to wonder about bordering on being “malicious” from a former occupant. An example of this would be: a refrigerator water valve or plumbing valve left on. Water company comes to turn on water and forgets to check the meter. House gets flooded. Another example would be a deep nail or screw in the wall securing something and it hits a pipe – water may pour down walls.
Many of the above examples may cause problems with lenders funding a loan. Sometimes the sellers are willing to remedy the situation, many times in the case of REO (aka BANK OWNED) – not.
A good home inspector will have a moisture meter on hand to be able to tell if suspicious water damage or moldy area is dry or if moisture is still present and feeding the moldy source.
If your financing goes “kerplunk” due to water damage or moldy mess, you may want to consider switching to an FHA 203K rehab loan.
Michelle Gibson of the Hansen Real Estate Group Inc is a full-time REALTOR who has been specializing in Wellington Florida real estate since 2001. This veteran to the real estate industry has expertise in technology, marketing and social media.
Great post and fabulous information for consumers in all areas. Water damage and mold issues can certainly be deal-killers if proper guidance isn’t given to buyers during the process.
Thanks Debe!