Popcorn Ceiling concerns

[Bradley Snyder]

Hello,

I am looking at a house in Forked River NJ, that was built in 1972 and has popcorn ceilings throughout. I did some research and found that asbestos was commonly used in popcorn ceiling in the 70's. To test for asbestos in a pretty simple process and cost only $50. However, I do not own the house yet and the seller does not want to damage the ceiling, even though it would be a small patch and i am willing to pay for the test. Does anyone know if:

1. Was asbestos commonly used in popcorn ceiling in New Jersey?

2. Dangers if I bought the house and just removed the popcorn ceiling myself?

3. Dangers of just leaving it as is?

Thank you for any info you can provide.

Brad