Pelican Bay Sellers
We Have to Talk!

About what you wonder? Your air conditioning system and mold tests! Are our preparing to put your Pelican Bay home on the market this season? Take a moment and read about how mold tests can jeopardize the sale of your home.

As Sofia Petrillo used to say, "Picture this" after being on the market you finally have a Buyer make an offer on your home. Hurray! You think you are on your way to spending the money from the sale of your home but wait; there is a contingency in the contract for a home inspection. Your buyer decides to do a home inspection with a radon and mold test. No problem you think.......until the mold test results come back from the lab.

Unlike radon levels, mold levels have no federal guidelines. If you have over 4 pico curies per liter of radon, you are over the federal guidelines and you will need to re mediate your home for radon. A typical mold test will have a home inspector take an outside sample of air and an indoor sample of air. The samples are then sent to a lab for processing. If the results come back showing a higher amount of mold spores in the indoor air in comparison to the outside air, you will have a problem. One problem could be determining the source of the mold. Do you have a water leak or moisture coming in some where in your home? Another problem could be that the Buyers may be frightened by the high mold spore count and back out of the contract.  A third problem will be now that your home has been determined to have a "higher" mold spore count, you will be forced to disclose this problem to any other buyers.  

Mold remediation is expensive. A search will have to be done to determine where any moisture is coming into the unit and then everything in the unit has to be cleaned and HEPA scrubbed. You can only imagine how time consuming this type of cleaning can be.

If you are preparing to place your Pelican Bay home up for sale, I would suggest that you do the following BEFORE you place your home on the market. I would hope that if you are not in your Pelican Bay home that often, you will pay particular attention to my suggestions.

Here are some things to look for before you put your home on the market. Are there any active water leaks in your unit? The water valve under your bathroom sink which has that slow leak you keep meaning to fix; has the cabinet board under the leak started to bubble up and turn black? Do you have so much "stuff" under your utility sink you can't see if you have a leak? What about the valves for your washer do they leak a "bit"? Has your ice maker or dishwasher ever leaked into surrounding cabinetry? Is your kitchen faucet lose and water dripping down onto your cabinetry. Are sprinkler heads directed  

on your walls or windows?  Note the mold on around the bottom of the window sill in the  photo to the right.  All these things and more can cause mold to form.

I remember when Don and I lived up in Downers Grove, IL and would come down rather infrequently to enjoy the condo we had purchased in Glencove. When we visited we were on vacation and did not want to involve ourselves with condo cleaning. If you are a Pelican Bay owner who rents out their unit and does not come down to stay in your unit that often you may want to do an inventory of cleaning chores. Ask yourself, when was the last time the:

• Fan blades were dusted
  
• Baseboards were dusted around and behind the furniture
  
• Doors were dusted
  
• Air handler door cleaned
  
• Pictures in the unit dusted
  
• Wire shelving racks in the closet been washed so they don't look yellow
  
• Furniture and drapes been vacuumed for dust
  
• Furniture pulled away from the wall and the backs of all the furniture cleaned
  
• Tops of all your cabinetry dusted

Dust left sitting will turn into mold, especially if your air conditioning system is not working properly.

Let's talk about your air conditioning system. Do you leave your fans on in your unit when you are not in residence to circulate the air? If you are not here that often, who changes your air handler filter? Most air conditioning companies will recommended that your filter be changed monthly. When was the last time you had your air handler cleaned? How do the venting slates on the door to your air handler look? Does the door look like the photo below? Is it covered with a dust? Has the dust started turning black? If so, you will have issues with mold. Before you put your home on the market, it might be wise to have your air handler cleaned.

Today's real estate market is a Buyer's market. Sellers should understand that issues such as mold can scare a potential Buyer away from completing a sale. The old adage "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is certainly true in today's real estate market.

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Should you be thinking of selling your home in Pelican Bay and would like a candid assessment of what it would take to sell your home in today's market, I would be happy to provide you with a free market evaluation.  Feel free to give me a call at 239-594-2780 or e-mail me at Lynn@NaplesBuys.com.

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About the author:

Lynn Wilber is a Real Estate Professional who lives in Pelican Bay.  Her 31 years of real estate experience and her area expertise have been valuable resources for Pelican Bay Sellers and Buyers.  For more information, please contact Lynn Wilber or call 239-594-2780.

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