Black Mold. - Decorah,IA

We have a neighbor a block down where the kids were getting sick - to the point where they were vomiting blood.
Turned out their house had killer black mold (the house is over 100 yrs old).
Seriously - it was condemned.
They got a trailer moved onto their property and lived in that.
The bank would not let them tear down their old house to build a new one on the same spot, so they built a new house next to it (properties out here are 3-5 acres) - they got churches and other volunteers to do as much work on it as possible - and they can destroy the old one after the new one is built.
They've recently moved into the new house (their health problems cleared up dramatically once they stopped living in the old house), the trailer has been removed, and they are slowly taking the old house apart themselves (they wear masks when they go into it) - they have nightly bonfires burning up wood and a dumpster comes periodically when they have non burnable material to throw away.
It's been a nightmare for them, and it's taken several years to get through this, but they are almost finished.
It can be done, but it won't be quick or easy.

Talk to your insurance company. Many insurance companies will help with this. You also don't know if it's black mold. Mold has many colors and varieties so get the testing done so you KNOW what you are dealing with. Just saying "black mold" - well - people use that when they see mold now.

I don't know if you are underwater in your home - but you may have to take out a 2nd on the house and fix it. I don't know how long you have lived in this home but I find it odd that a home inspector didn't catch some of this. And I'm surprised that the inspection didn't find the foundation problem...if they did - I'm surprised the mortgage lender let the contract go through knowing these problems.

What would I do? I would call my insurance company and tell them to come out and see the problems. If you have done due-diligence - they should be able to help you-although I don't know how you have insurance through.

Then I would call my bank and start the process for a home equity line of credit to get the work done.

If that's a no go - I would talk to my church and find out if there is someone in my parish that can help. There are benefactors out there that love to help those in need. You never know until you ask!

I'm sure there are organizations out there that can help. Non-profits. Heck, I'd even contact HGTV to see if they can help! Find Ty Pennington on Revolution (I think that's his new show) and see what he can do to help you! It NEVER hurts to ask - the worst they can say is "no, sorry - can't help" - the best they can do is say "we know just who to call for this!"

You have a lot on your plate and a lot to decide. Make a list of who you need to call, what they said etc., tackle the problem one by one not all at once. Then you won't get overwhelmed.

I don't know if you have a huge lot or not - so I don't know if you can purchase or rent a trailer or even a motor home while this is going on.

My plan of action - if I had no extra $$ to spend.
1. call my insurance company and get a clear outline of what they will cover in terms of "mold identification/screening" I am using that term because that is what I'd call it - not because it is official.
2. If they said, yes - we will cover an inspection - then I'd get a list of names and have the place inspected.
3. if they said no - I'd still call someone and get a second opionion or inspection (even if I had to put on the CC or use my income tax refund).
4. If I had the luxury to rent another place or go stay wiht a friend or family member until a determination was made, I would - (I'd call in every favor from every friend because we have NO family near us)
5. based on the second opion and their written report if truly the "black mold" that is harmful (not all is), I would go to the lien holder (bank) and discuss what options I had - I would also call my insurance - even if the same - and discuss my policy and what it really covers and present that to the bank - FYI your bank may have set up your policy, but I bet it is with someone else - unusual situation for a bank to be an insurance company too.
6. If push came to shove I'd stay with my friends until I could pay off that van and take out a loan to have repairs made or tear the sucker down (if condemend are you still responsible for payment??). As a very last, last resort, I would foreclose and get a good lawyer to possibly hold the bank liable for selling a known defective home (did you see the "snake house" story on the news?!)
Best of luck- what a kick in the tail!

R.,
People throw the term "black mold" around all the time.
If it IS true "black mold (and it sounds like your inspector DID identify it as such), you need to be VERY careful.
Can you guys get out of there right now? Can you stay with a relative until this is solved?
Black mold (true black mold) is VERY dangerous.
Right now you are still in the process of gathering facts. It MAY be fixable. It MAY be expensive. You will not be able to sell it with the black mold.
It will need to be addressed in O. way or the other.
Please take those coughs VERY seriously. And stay somewhere else for now if you can., until you can come up with a plan.
Hoping for you that the mold is contained and the areas can be gutted and repaired--doesn't need to be "pretty" -- just needs to be safe!

So sorry for your troubles. Talk to a lawyer but not just any lawyer - a real estate lawyer.

We bought a house in 2010 and the sellers didn't disclose significant pet damage to the carpets and subfloors throughout the house. (Think cat urine in 80% of the house - you wouldn't think one could miss that but we did!). Anyway, after 6 months and 2-3K we were able to negotiate a settlement with the sellers that allowed us to replace the subfloors and purchase new carpet and flooring. We would have never been able to do it without the assistance of the lawyer. He knew real estate laws and it was obvious that the sellers knew the situation and that they tried to cover it up - which almost worked.

Keep in mind that the bad news was that it still cost us money from our pocket to do the repairs. The good news is that there is no more trace of animal in the house and the vast majority of the house has new flooring. The dream kitchen remodel that we had planned on doing in the house is now indefinitely on hold but that's life.

Good luck with your decisions.

hold on let me get my coffee, who ever sold you the house is on the hook for the repairs due to mold, because there is no way they could have missed that much mold.. talk to the bank and the people who sold you the house and the building inspector, the fact that they conviently missed that much mold tells me that fraud is afoot, oh, and bring a news crew with you when you go to the bank and demand that they get rid of the mold and dont take a no for an answer. black mold is very dangerous, get your babies out of there. the white fuzzy mold is touch sensitive, DO NOT let your babies near it.
K. h.

Talk to a lawyer about the possibility of a quick sale to figure out what works best financially. A lawyer that understands about real estate in your state. If the quick sale is your best best then get out ASAP.

If it is best to stay in the house and repair consider finding an alternate place to live just while they pull all the mold out.

We had black mold in our kitchen. They came in immediately and pulled every bit of it out. They pulled out my entire kitchen leaving only concrete floor and exposed walls. We didn't have to leave but we lived three-four months without a kitchen. We rolled the refrigerator into the dining room and used a microwave. It wasn't fun. Washing dishes in the bathroom isn't that great. It was inconvenient but we didn't have to move out. We were lucky because the kitchen is on one end of the house and we could just block it off with plastic covering over the door so that it was completely separated from us....... we weren't breathing in all the construction....... altho it still gets dusty.

WOW, wel first you need to take a breath this is a HUGE deal and a drastic change is needed imediately. We just sold our house in a short sale and are now renting because we could not afford repairs on our house anymore. Mind you they were not as bad as what you are going through. I think the first thing that you need to do is get the report from the inspector so you have a better idea of how bad the situation is. that way you can make a informed decision. Next I would call your morgage company and let them know what is going on and see if they would take the house back from you, yes this might hurt your credit a little but it isn't anything that you can't recover from. With the house market the way it is right now there are ALOT of rentals out there because people just can't buy houses anymore. You might want to look at some rental properties and think about renting for a couple of years until you can save up some money. That way someone else will have to deal with repairs and you can relax a little bit. We LOVE our condo and are so much more relaxed because we only have to worry about paying rent and everything else is the landlords problem. I think that it is very important that you get out of that house soon or you could really cause some serious health issues for you and your kids. Take action now. don't wait. this is a very serious thing and I hope you AND your husband realize that.

You have to do something -- either get it cleaned up properly or figure out a way to get out of the house. Black mold can cause all kinds of health problems that are very serious.

I'd start with a call to your insurance company. Most don't deal with mold because it's often difficult to tell when/how it began, but you never know -- they may be able to help.

Good luck!

R., I'm one of those people that say to always stay in your house and fix it up. You don't want a foreclosure on your record. HOWEVER, if there is really black mold -- real black mold, not mildew or another type of mold -- inside your walls and in 4 of the 6 rooms, you need to be looking for another place to live immediately. If your family already has a cough and you've got headaches, then it is compromising your health and the health of your children. It is truly not safe to live in a house with that much mold. First things first, get the mold tested. Talk to the inspector who did the inspection about who can take a sample. If it's dark in color it could be black mold, but it could also be any of the other molds that aren't toxic (but are still dangerous). You can't tell just by looking, so it needs to be tested.

When we bought our current house, we put in an offer on what looked to be a fantastic house just a few blocks away. During the home inspection the inspector found what he thought could be some mold in the laundry room and crawl space. He said probably no big deal, but maybe get a mold inspector out. So we did - and found that there was black mold inside some of the walls. We got a mold remediation company to give us an estimate and it was $25,000 to pull out the walls, remove the mold, treat the walls, and repair all the damage. And that was only if they didn't find any more mold or problems. You can not live in a house that is undergoing mold remediation - the spores could get in your lungs and make you seriously sick.

I am so very sorry you're dealing with this - but in this instance, I think you need to start looking for an apartment to rent and talk to your insurance company and mortgage lender about next steps. Perhaps the insurance company can cover some of the cleanup costs. Or maybe the lender has a way to help you get out of the mortgage. Maybe it can be short sold to someone who wants to knock the house down to use the lot. Or perhaps there is a legal challenge to the former owner who knew about the mold but didn't disclose it (ie - did you know there was mold in the house when you bought it?) Whatever you decide to do with the house, if this does turn out to be black mold, you should move as soon as you can - even if that's before you learn what's going to happen to the house.

I am thinking that if the bank gave you the loan on a house that had black mold then in some way they must have to take some responsibility (?).
Wait for the answers to come back about the extent of the problem, get another person to come in (don't say anything about the prior exam) & see if they have the same findings, if they do then I would contact an attorney about the possibility of suing the bank for selling you the house in the 1st place & endangering the lives of you & your children. I would let the news media aware of what is going on, I would tape the problems & put it on U-tube, etc..You don't have the funds it sounds like to do hardly anything about the problem without some kind of help from somewhere...I hope you find that it isn't as bad as it seems but if it is...get going & get some help!