Is it impossible to overcome a minor mold issue?

[Cedric Jenkins]

Hi, BP family. Quick question..

We found a property being sold as is for 25k.

However there’s a mold issue (not severe). Work needed is 8k.

ARV is 63k.

I believe I can leverage the fact that there’s mold to lower the asking price significantly. Is this a legit tactic experienced investors use? If i can negotiate the price down to 15-20k it would be a win.

Does any have insight or success stories they can share about overcoming similar mold issues?

[Jim K.]

@Jeremy A.

All right, that's it. BP moderators, please check the facts.

I'm calling you out, Jeremy.

You know a whole lot of hype about mold and very little about the realities. I don't know if you make money off mold remediation and magic special cleaning solution and negative pressure devices and expensive pink-colored P100 respirator cartridges and how awful bleach is and the whole rest of the mold remediation con. I don't know if you were taken in by it and now spend your days as a holy apostle for residential indoor mold remediation, as many do.

But this is all scare tactics and charlatan hype. Mold in construction has been around since the beginning of construction. Every single structure ever built by a human being has mold in it. We eat mold in cheese, soy sauce, vinegar, beer, and have been doing it for thousands of years. Stop spreading the scare and selling the remediation.

The current mold remediation scare stems from a CDC statement in the 1990s that a number of Cleveland infants got sick from immense concentrations of a specific variety of rare black mold found in their home. This rare black mold produces and lets off compounds called mycotoxins. Later studies have found no medically significant evidence of the link between mycotoxins and various illnesses attributed by scaremongers to it.

Anyone who's interested can find evidence of this online. Don't believe the paranoia, don't spread the ignorance. Here's a study from 2010.

Elena H. Page & Douglas B. Trout (2001) The Role of Stachybotrys Mycotoxins in Building-Related Illness, AIHAJ - American Industrial Hygiene Association, 62:5, 644-648, DOI: 10.1080/15298660108984664

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298660108984664

On a more general note, here's what the CDC says about mold today:

CDC web page on mold

Here's what the EPA says about mold today:

A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home

War is not peace, freedom is not slavery, ignorance is not strength.