I just backed out of buying my first house. We were disclosed that it was a meth lab and didn’t think twice when we were told that the place was cleaned up. We figured that the owner cleaning, venting, re-flooring, re-carpeting, re-painting and re-sealing everything that the place was good to go. There was even a nice little official letter from the metro government telling us that it was inspected by Louisville Metro Health Department and deemed suitable to live in.
I called the inspector that took care of the case and he basically told me that there is simply no way to know whether or not the place was safe. Even if it is inspected by an independent environmental agency, there is still no concrete evidence that the new residence (POTENTIALLY ME!) would develop any illness from the exposure. Well, to say the least, the day before signing the official mortgage I had an epiphany! I COULD DEVELOP CANCER BECAUSE NOBODY HAS ANY CONCRETE INFORMATION ON LONG TERM EXPOSURE TO PREVIOUS METH LABS.
The idea that nobody on this planet really knows what happens to you after being exposed to even the most minute traces of the chemicals that meth labs release was enough for me to not want to put myself and my fiance/dogs in danger. This is such a scary thing for our generation and it is really unfortunate that this is something that society has to deal with. There is so many places for those cancer causing chemicals to hide.
Don’t forget about the houses HVAC system! All the sites I look at mention little about cleaning the HVAC. That is the ventilation for the house at the time of production and is the same system that will do the same for the new tenants; except with a nasty little surprise! I would recommend for anyone that is looking to buy a pre-existing meth lab to just not do it. You don’t really know what is going to happen. Remember, we are all human. That includes the inspectors also, who might let something potentially life threatening slip past their professional eye.
Is that huge house that has the mysteriously low price really worth the risk? I hope that something happens in the future to further protect home buyers/families that are at this time left with almost no option when they are left with the worst of all problems: an un-inhabitable house with a 30 year mortgage!
- J.Stark
Praise the Lord you backed out I wish I had known back in 2006 what this could do to your health.
I happen to know of a similar case like this happening in all places imagine an 8 unit condo. That is why I am in the process of moving right now. The problem is the remaining tenants and mortgage holders of those units. I feel bad for them. Some are probably not aware of what dangers they could be facing now and in the future. If this happens to depreciate the value of the entire building (I’m assuming it would) then 7 other tenants could potentially be in a situation similar to what you just described. Drugs wreck lives in more ways that one. Follow your intuition on these things it doesn’t lie and never leads to wrong. There are plenty of homes out there I tell myself there’s one there thats right for me as long as it doesn’t have problems like these.