buying a "grow-house": risky, dangerous?

[olddog]

A property that I truly adored from d outside earlier this year around feb suddenly popped up on mls again this week at a price about 120,000 below the average price if houses of same value in the area.
I was wondering why it would come back up on mls and why it hadn't sold quick(cos the neighbourhood is desired and the house looked great)...at least from outside.
I sent my agent an email cos I was greatly interested and she called me back this morning with some info.
The house was apparently a "grow-house" and is being sold by the bank as a forclosure.
She said the basement was used as a "grow house".
In any event, I plan on getting inspected for mould, foundation and structural issues but can anyone with knowledge or experience enlighten me on some things:
Does this place a definite stigma on the house because of this?
What are the potential demerits the house has cos of this?
My agent said the greatest concern on these "grow houses" are structural damage cos the wood tend to absorb a lot of moisture and water and more importantly mould issues.
She said the bank already cleared the mould issue and any potential buyer can do an inspection, but am skeptical on why it is back on the market after several months.
Anyone have any experience with "grow houses"?
Is it worth it or should a person abstain from such houses?
In regards to reselling say 5 years from now, assuming everything is fixed and fine with the house, will there be a problem selling it cos of its history?
Any other info is also appreciated..


Thanks

Olddog

[CorradoGuy]

Stay away from it. You will always run into problems trying to sell the house. There could be multiple issues with the house including: HVAC, Electrical, Plubming, Structural, Foundation, Etc.

[speedyforme]

avoid at all costs...even if it's free

[ChiefRocker]

I came real close to buying one. Here is a few things I would check out.
1. Police department - See if you can fins out how long it was a op and how many plants.
2. Check if remediation has been completed and try to speak to the company that did the remediation. You may need to check with the neighbors for information because the bank will not be very interested in giving the information to you.
3. View the house, during the day and bring a flashlight. You need to check the basement closely, look for any mold damage, foundation damage, and electrical. You will also want to try and see how/of they vented.
Generally once a city shuts down a grow op up the building is listed no occupancy an needs to be issues a re-oppcuinacy notice once has successfully completed remediation. See if this has been issued, if so you can get more information from the city on what has been done as well.
4. Plan on replacing the furnace and then install a swordfish UV lamp to clean the air when it blows through.
5. If you have a family or plan on having one there consider the chance that mold may become a issue later on, hopefully not if remediation was done properly.
I am sure there is more....
Buying a foreclosure in Canada is a whole different issue. I just bought one feel free to let me know if you want any info on that process.

[coolspot]

Is it worth it or should a person abstain from such houses?
In regards to reselling say 5 years from now, assuming everything is fixed and fine with the house, will there be a problem selling it cos of its history?


Avoid - you'll have a hard time with mould and electrical. Mould is extremely toxic and unhealthy for you.

Even if you manage to get rid of the mould, the stigma of being a grow-op house will be an impedment to the house value.

(mould removal can be very expensive, especially if it has spread throughout the house).

[LondonTown]

You'll need 20% down because I don't think CMHC will touch it. You'll also have a hard time with home insurance, as most insurance companies won't insure houses that were grow ops.

Most houses that were grow ops need to be gutted to the foundation...

[Drthorne]

even if the bank "cleared" it, I would still rip out all the drywall and insulation, carpet, ductwork and let it air out for a month

[woof]

There are numerous articles on the Internet about renovating grow houses. eg:

http://homes.winnipegfreepress.com/index.php?action=news&step=article&id=195

Generally speaking if a house was used for a large scale grow for any length of time there will probably be mold on the inside of the walls. All the dry wall (incl ceilings) may have to be ripped down, all insulation thrown out, and all studs treated with special fungicides. And of course all this work will have to be done with protective clothing and masks since the environment will be kind of toxic with the spores stirred up and in the air. You may not be able to get house insurance in the meantime.

This is not the kind of thing anyone should get in to unless they know exactly what they are buying and are prepared for what may be required to make the place livable - and salable again. There is enormous risk here and such places are best left for professional renovators.

Walk away.

[M08006899]

Depends if they forgot some of the product...

[onlineharvest]

IMO, do not consider this house. Not worth the hassle or headaches...

[wiresncode]

A property that I truly adored from d outside earlier this year around feb suddenly popped up on mls again this week at a price about 120,000 below the average price if houses of same value in the area.


120,000 probably isn't enough of a discount for the risk. If you're paying land value or similar then you've probably got a deal - strip the place to the foundations and start again....

[olddog]

thanks for the advice guys.
my agent already booked us to view it tomorrow if for anything, i will go there to satisfy my curiosity =.
i will take pics also. even though i pretty much have made up my mind not to buy it.
I will focus on another foreclosure in the same neighbourhood. that one was just a regular foreclosure.

thanks
olddog

[Drthorne]

take a good whiff of the air when you walk in the door, if there's lots of air fresher sprayed in the house then someones hiding the mold odour

[stealth]

I was wondering why it would come back up on mls and why it hadn't sold quick(cos the neighbourhood is desired and the house looked great)...at least from outside.
If the neighborhood is that desirable, may still be worth buying for land value agt the right price.

I wouldnt rule out buyign it altogether, but Id want the purchase to be contingent on all sorts of mould tests done, air quality, elctrical, etc. which usually isnt the way banks like to do foreclosures.

And even then, I'd be well aware that if I resold down the road I'd have to disclose that it was a grow op, and therefore a much harder sell for less than market value.

[coolspot]

I wouldnt rule out buyign it altogether, but Id want the purchase to be contingent on all sorts of mould tests done, air quality, elctrical, etc. which usually isnt the way banks like to do foreclosures.

Foreclosures, grow-ops are pretty much take it or leave it transactions.

But good idea about purchasing it for the land ... if you do that OP, just factor in the demolition costs too - they can be significant.

[samm]

Would your insurance company insure a property that has previously been used as a grow-op?

[Easto]

I would be more concerned about the health and safety problems in the house.

It's great that you found a house in a neighborhood that you like. It sucks that said house was used as a grow up. There are lots of things they do to those houses. They are not lived in, it is basically a make shift green house inside a residential house.

Mold is a big problem and who knows what the mold has gotten into.

Sure you save $120,000 , but the cost to you COULD be alot more than $120,000 down the road.

Plus, you may be able to look past the whole grow up thing. But if you ever want to move your house will still be the grow op house. You could have problems selling it.

Getting house insurance will also be a problem. When I was looking for a house three years ago we found one that was real cheap. First thing our agent thought was grow op and warned us that if it was it is almost impossible to get insurance on it.

[ChiefRocker]

My experience is this:
if remediation was done and the city has cleared it again I was assured that it would be just mold free as a standard house of that age. This was from both the city and the air quality company. The remediation company is not the one to to the air quality approval on the house for reoccupancy, an independent company had to do it.
Dominion Insurance was happy to insure it as long as it had the reoccupancy cleared and would insure it just the same as if it had not been a grow op. This was in the city of Ottawa, all cities are different, contact your local branch.
I didn't but it because I was still worried about the air, and the folks coming around who had been previous customers or somthing.

[hagbard]

Would only buy a former growhouse if I was going to knock it down or use it as a growhouse. Not much good for anything else.

[Tiberius]

Unless you plan on using it as a grow house... walk away.

I considered a grow op house myself during my house hunt. Same reasons... house was well under value and hence appeared to be very affordable, etc.

The reality is... it will cost a LOT to fix the house up and you won't really come out ahead versus just buying the similar house down the street that wasn't trashed.

After fixing it up, you will be haunted by that grow op status forever. Insurance companies could always charge you a higher rate, re-sale could be severely impacted, if you didn't truly fix the house correctly mold issues could remain, etc.

It just isn't worth the hassle. The only people I think should consider grow op houses are contractors who can properly fix it and resell it... but even they stay away as best I can tell (they know the reality of the situation and how hard it would be to sell it afterwards, etc.)

Some cities actually mandate that grow op houses get TORN DOWN! (Burlington I have heard does this). It's probably a good policy...