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Beautiful Victorian...3 doors down from former meth lab

4K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  Leah Frances 
#1 ·
I'm looking around at houses right now and have my eye on a few, including this 1872 one, which I believe to be a Victorian Italianate (correct me if I'm wrong). This one I like because it has so much of its original woodwork, both outdoors and indoors (unlike the Craftsmans I'm looking at, which I love, but they've been sadly gutted and modernized inside). This is a larger house and it comes with a vacant city-size lot next to it. It's on a pretty quiet dead-end street. But in 2005 a house 3 doors down (past the vacant lot and one other house) was seized as a meth lab. I know it's reeeeeally unhealthy to live in or near former meth labs, and I've read the horror stories about chronically hospitalized kids, neurological damage, and dead pets... but how close is too close? And how long until it's safe to live near one? Does anyone have experience with these things, or know someone who does? Like, would I be able to have an organic food garden in the vacant lot without the food being contaminated with poisons? Are there DIY soil kits out there? Are they trustworthy?



 
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#2 ·
If you're concerned, take soil samples and have them checked out before you make any offers. Contact a testing company and find out what sample sizes they need. They might just supply you with sample taking kit.
Forget the DIY soil testing.
Ron
 
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#3 ·
That house has a lot of possibilities!

I think,after six years,you are getting worried for no good reason---However,a soil test shouldn't cost to much,

Your realestate attorney could put in a sale contingency based on a safe test result.---Mike---
 
#4 ·
Never mind, I just noticed the financing options were changed to "cash only" yesterday, so that puts this house out of my league, poisonous soil or not. :( But I'm sure this is all good advice for the next person who falls in love with a victorian near a meth lab! (And there are sadly so many)...

Anyways, someone's going to have a lot of fun with this house, assuming it doesn't get bulldozed and turned into condos or something. (fingers crossed for restoration)
 
#5 ·
Never mind, I just noticed the financing options were changed to "cash only" yesterday, so that puts this house out of my league, poisonous soil or not. :( But I'm sure this is all good advice for the next person who falls in love with a victorian near a meth lab! (And there are sadly so many)...

Anyways, someone's going to have a lot of fun with this house, assuming it doesn't get bulldozed and turned into condos or something. (fingers crossed for restoration)
Where is this house located and what were they asking?
A "cash only" method of payment is odd as it restricts the number of people able to buy it, especially in this housing market.
Ron
 
#6 ·
Ron, we bought our home last year (in Delaware) and while we were looking at others we saw several that changed listings to "Cash Only" because there were sufficient issues with the properties that there was no way they could qualify for a mortgage or pass an inspection. I think there may be something similar here.
 
#8 ·
Then this is a house for someone with serious DIY skills. The last time I bought a house(1992) a bank only did an appraisal based on condition, locations, size and materials. The inspection as to condition was up to the potential owners. Passing and failing was determined by how much the buyers were willing to accept for the price paid.
Do banks actually say the house is in such bad shape, we're not interested in writing the loan?
Still interested in the price and location, unless it's a secret.
Ron
 
#13 ·
Ron6519: The house is in Eureka, California, on the northern coast, and they're asking $299K for both houses plus the empty lot. Now I can't find where it says "cash only." Some of the realtor websites here don't list financing options, and some of them do, and it seems to vary from house to house, which ones list it, so I frequently find myself getting interested in a house, doing hours of research on the neighborhood and surrounding houses, only to find hidden away on some random realtor's website the fact that it is cash only, or a foreclosure being auctioned off (also cash only). Total waste of time (for me, at least, not having that kind of money just lying around).
 
#14 ·
If you get preapproved for a mortgage, you can go to closing in a week and they get paid in full. Still don't understand the issue. You write them a check, the bank writes them a check?
Nobodies handing them a suitcase of cash.
Ron
 
#18 ·
The problem is that meth labs aren't labs. That is to say there are no scientists in white coats following careful procedures. :laughing: They become toxic waste dumps with all sorts of hazardous materials disposed of in careless or unpredictable ways.

Meth is primarily found in the MidWest and the West Coast of the USA. Many cities and counties in those areas have laws requiring disclosure before selling homes that were used as meth-labs.
 
#17 ·
Red Tape

Similarly, an Italianate /Queen Anne 1871 vandalized house is in a neighborhood described by the appraiser in his site comments as "Boarded up, vacant, lender-owned dwellings are interspersed heavily throughout the neighborhood." which was deemed eligibile for the 203k funds by the Home Ownership Center in the city but another employee of the Development Corp. tells me that the neighborhood is not "blighted". Now I 'm not certain where all of the money will come from if the house becomes a money pit, upon further inspection.
The bankruptcy Trustee did his best to convince the lien holder to accept my offer which was higher than the appraised value. Right now, I do not know what will happen. I expect to pay cash, I always did. If everything is contingent on the roof being perfect what will the Bank also the lien holder do? I know they have a right to enter the property and make repairs. Seriously, I would doubt any profit could be had if they did.
There was an explosion in the basement of a nearby rooming house which burned it through the roof. Is that the sign of a meth lab? Six young men roomed there. Some had good incomes but the place was unsightly, not well maintained, although the Victorian woodwork was memorable. The County Extension service can do a soil test, of course. Any voices of experience out there? Yes, I have a lawyer.
 
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