Investing in homes with chinese dry wall? Any experience with this?

[Jaime Penix]

I use to see homes listed with CDW but the walls were still up. Now I see a lot of the homes with CDW have been gutted, usually sparing the wiring and tubs. The prices are discounted but not as much as I think they should be. My cousin own a home tainted with CDW and he got an estimate for 90k for a 2200 sq/ft home. Surely this cannot be the best deal out there.  Silly me, I have been tempted to dabble with this, however all of the contractors I ask about it say the say thing. "I can't tell you until I see the house". Some even admit to not doing a CDW home before. And of course when you are available to see the home they are not. Nonetheless, the question is has anyone had any experience rehabbing these homes? The pitfalls of such an endeavor? What was the cost of the finished job? Is there some type of chinese dry wall remediation certification needed at the end of completion? 

[Walt Payne]

@Jaime Penix  The drywall is often removed in REOs now, probably to show the actual extent of damage. The guidelines for repair now say that wiring does not necessarily need to be replaced, but that electrical components such as outlets, breakers and all parts of fire detection and sprinkler systems including wiring need to be replaced, and all gas pipes and components need to be replaced. Copper plumbing should be replaced. Obviously all suspected chinese drywall needs to be removed. 

The cost? I have done my own work, but I see numbers like $25/sq ft. for chinese drywall rehabs. 

There are no licensing requirements that I am aware of, I think because the drywall itself is not considered to be a hazardous material. It just has enough accumulation of sulfuric acid to cause issues in an enclosed space. 

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission pamphlet provides a brief explanation of their findings.

Please note that local requirements can vary, due to code variations.