Foreclosures Intrigue Home Buyers Looking for Deals

RISMEDIA, December 20, 2010—(MCT)—Last spring, in the waning days of the first-time home buyer tax credit, Stephen Ploski made an offer on a foreclosed home in Farmington Hills, Mich.  He said the 1,400-square-foot home was livable, but needed serious updates. He was willing to do the work, and take the risk.  In exchange, he got a deal. The three-bedroom, one-bathroom home was his for $49,000. He lives in the home with his wife, Ashley and their daughter Lana.

“I wanted to buy a home because the market conditions were right,” said Ploski. “This is my first home for my family. But if you do it with an investor’s mind instead of getting emotionally attached, you can get money out of it.”

Despite strong interest in buying foreclosures, supply is expected to continue to outstrip demand in the coming year.

In a survey released last week, conducted by Harris Interactive, on behalf of Trulia and RealtyTrac, nearly half, or 49% of U.S. adults admitted they were at least somewhat likely to consider buying a foreclosed property. That’s up from 45% in May.

Ploski, a builder and remodeler, said the house had a bit of mildew, but mostly needed updates. He put in a new furnace and hot water heater, ran new wiring and installed some new drywall and insulation. He also removed two walls in the dining room to create an open floor plan with the kitchen and living room.

The improvements cost $4,000 because he did the work himself. But he figures he added roughly $11,000 to the value of the home. And when the $8,000 tax credit comes through, he’ll use that to update the kitchen. “We will sit on this one for three to five years because that’s how long you have to stay with the home buyer tax credit,” he said. “We’ll find another diamond in the rough and do the same thing.”

Carol Wagner, a REALTOR® with Real Estate One in Commerce Township, Mich., said that one of the biggest drawbacks in a buying a foreclosure is that it comes without seller’s disclosures. “So some people don’t want to buy them because they don’t know what’s involved,” she said. “Most people looking at foreclosures now are investors.”

Kevin Suksi, a financial services industry recruiter by day and real estate investor by night who lives in Dearborn, Mich., said that investors rarely buy the move-in ready foreclosures. Those largely go to owner-occupants who are willing to offer more money.

Instead, investors look for houses with bruises they can fix and sell or rent for income. “Everyone wants a deal right now, but what will they deal with?” Suksi said. “I think people will deal with paint and carpet and things like that, but when it comes to major structural problems they steer clear.”

Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION

Weekly Economic Summary

Last week in review (January 3 - 7 2011)

The Labor Department reported that 103,000 jobs were created in December, and private job growth was 113,000. While these numbers were below the recently ramped up expectations, they do show that the trend in the labor market is improving. Also noteworthy are the upward revisions to the prior two months readings, showing 70,000 more jobs created than had been previously reported.

While unemployment figures could expect to be lower when job-growth increases, the real shocker in the report was the size of the decline in the unemployment rate to 9.4%, which is the lowest unemployment rate since May of 2009.

So what did we learn from this Jobs Report?

1. While positive news, this jobs number was still soft enough to support the Fed continuing their plans for a full dosage of QE2 for the economy and this won’t be good for bonds and home loan rates, as it carries some inflation threat down the road.
2. The recent tax package and lower tax rate extensions have not yet had enough time to be seen or felt in the economy, so those factors should help provide further improvement in the labor market in future months but also will create inflation – bad news for bonds and home loan rates.

The Fed seems intent on creating inflation, lowering the unemployment rate and raising stock prices. QE2 will likely keep coming until the employment picture improves significantly, and this is all going to be unfriendly for bonds and home loan rates ahead.

Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION

Get A Read On Radon

Radon escapes naturally from soil as a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that can seep through the foundation of your home and reach toxic levels. How toxic? Radon contributes to 21,000 lung-cancer deaths annually, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). By comparison, carbon monoxide kills an average of 439 persons each year. The EPA sets the maximum acceptable radon exposure at 4 picocuries per liter of air (pCi/L). However, because there's no "safe" level, the EPA recommends you take action when the level in your home reaches 2 pCi/L. Outdoor radon levels average about .4 pCi/L. Choose the best test You can test for radon two ways: DIY tests. Buy radon test kits at home centers or through National Radon Program Services. Testing takes two days to a year in a closed-up house before you return the test to a laboratory for the results. Radon levels vary daily, so longer tests mean greater accuracy. Retest after making repairs. Professional tests. A trained radon professional's electric monitor shows how radon levels fluctuate during the test period. Home buyers may trust professional tests more because they are performed independently of home sellers. Fix the problem In general, treat radon reduction like any home improvement and obtain multiple bids before hiring a contractor. Fixing most radon problems costs $800 to $2,500, according to the National Radon Safety Board, one of two organizations maintaining lists of radon contractors. The National Environmental Health Association offers a list of questions to ask your radon contractor. The EPA has links to your state's radon control agency.

Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION

Get A Read On Radon

Radon escapes naturally from soil as a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that can seep through the foundation of your home and reach toxic levels. How toxic? Radon contributes to 21,000 lung-cancer deaths annually, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). By comparison, carbon monoxide kills an average of 439 persons each year. The EPA sets the maximum acceptable radon exposure at 4 picocuries per liter of air (pCi/L). However, because there's no "safe" level, the EPA recommends you take action when the level in your home reaches 2 pCi/L. Outdoor radon levels average about .4 pCi/L. Choose the best test You can test for radon two ways: DIY tests. Buy radon test kits at home centers or through National Radon Program Services. Testing takes two days to a year in a closed-up house before you return the test to a laboratory for the results. Radon levels vary daily, so longer tests mean greater accuracy. Retest after making repairs. Professional tests. A trained radon professional's electric monitor shows how radon levels fluctuate during the test period. Home buyers may trust professional tests more because they are performed independently of home sellers. Fix the problem In general, treat radon reduction like any home improvement and obtain multiple bids before hiring a contractor. Fixing most radon problems costs $800 to $2,500, according to the National Radon Safety Board, one of two organizations maintaining lists of radon contractors. The National Environmental Health Association offers a list of questions to ask your radon contractor. The EPA has links to your state's radon control agency.

Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION

Real Estate Investing

Real Estate Investing is by now the last investment people is considering to do due to the mortgage and housing crisis. But the truth is that no one wants to rent if they can buy, and having their own home is part of the American Dream. Real estate investment can get tricky and contains many traps. One of these is for example, the house that is not worth fixing and should be demolished down instead. Small houses built in between the 30s and the 40s with not standard building materials and practices. A house poorly built can be a nightmare later on. There are many of investors that are new into the game of the slum business. Slum owners get old and think of retirement, so they decide to sell their houses. But the issue is that many of these houses are sub standard and many are condemnable. There have been many people that fall into this pitfall.  When talking about real estate investment, investors have to make sure that money invested remains invested for an indefinite amount of time.  If a house is worth investing in, someone will eventually want it and buy it. But a mistake that many investors do is buying two houses when they can only pay for one. And at the end the one of the houses ends up selling at a loss to get out under the mortgages.

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4 Tricks and Traps Foreclosure Buyers Need to Know

Interest in buying a foreclosed home is on the rise, but so are concerns about the risk involved in the process. In a December survey, Trulia found that 49 percent of Americans were at least somewhat likely to consider buying a foreclosure, up from 45 percent in May 2010.  But the number of US adults who believed there are disadvantages to buying foreclosures had also increased, from 78 percent to 81 percent over the same time frame.  Among those folks who had qualms about purchasing a foreclosure, the top concerns were:

• that buying a foreclosure might involve hidden costs,
• that the buying process itself is risky, and
• that the home might continue to lose value, after escrow closes.

While there certainly are risks that run with buying a foreclosed home, the most risky way to do it is also the least common method: at the foreclosure auction itself. Auction buyers often don't have the opportunity to fully vet the foreclosure to ensure that they are receiving clear title and/or to make sure they're not getting a lemon. With that said, most foreclosures are resold not at the foreclosure auction, but as an REO (short for Real Estate Owned - by the bank), listed by a real estate broker on the Multiple Listing Service and on Trulia!

When you buy an REO in this way, you have lots of opportunities to use some tricks of the trade, so to speak, to avoid some of the traps you may fear. Here are my Top 4 Tricks and Traps for Foreclosure Buyers:

1.  As-is means as-is, period.  (Most of the time.) Banks have very little interest, inclination or even the logistically necessary resources to execute repairs on your home. Many of these homes are managed by an asset management company in another state, and may not even have a local person besides the agent who can handle large repairs. Generally speaking, bank-owned homes are sold on a very strict "as-is, where-is" basis, which just means that you should expect to take possession of it, if you buy it, in exactly the position and location it is, no matter how defective.  Do not walk into a viewing of a foreclosed home, notice how the plumbing is all ripped out of the wall, and make an offer for it, assuming you'll be able to get the bank to "fix" the issue later.  Usually, if the bank is willing to do any repairs to a foreclosed home, they do so, on the advice of the listing agent, prior to the home being listed.

Out of hundreds of foreclosure transactions I have personally been involved in, I have seen exactly four where the bank did agree to do some level of repairs at a buyer's request.  Every one of those times, the repair was to fix a health-and-safety endangering property defect, like a gas-leak or an electrical fritz. And every one of those times, the property defect was highly non-obvious - not something even a diligent buyer could have detected visually prior to making an offer.  Maybe another few times I've seen a bank agree to a small price reduction due to surprising condition problems.  And dozens of times, I've seen transactions fall apart or buyers take on the property’s repair costs, when they request repair credits, price reductions or actual repairs from the ban seller.

If a foreclosure you're considering has obvious property damage, have your contractor stop by with you or gather whatever information you need to get as comfortable as possible with your offer price, assuming that the bank will not be chipping anything in for repairs, before you make the offer.

2.  The bank speaks no evil.  When it comes to real estate disclosures, the fact is, the bank speaks not much of anything!  Many states exempt banks and other types of corporate homeowners from making substantive disclosures about the condition of the property.  Even in jurisdictions where the bank is not legally exempt, most banks will simply write across the required disclosures something to the effect that the bank has no knowledge of the property's condition.  (Before you protest with a "that's not fair!!" keep in mind that the bank never lived in the property, so most often truly does have no idea of any important facts or details about its condition or location, the things an average home seller would be required to disclose.)

Even in a normal transaction, it behooves a buyer to be thorough in having the property inspected and meticulous about reviewing the resulting inspection reports.  But buying a foreclosure ups even that ante, as you have no seller disclosures to highlight particular problems you should have looked at, and none of the usual legal recourse you would have if a “regular” seller made incomplete disclosures.  Get a property inspection.  A pest inspection.  A roof inspection.  A sewer line inspection. A pool inspection, if you have a pool and care about its condition.

Yes - all these inspections cost money, but the drama and thousands each of them can save you is well worth it. And read your state’s buyer inspection advisory or similar document (ask your agent), just to make sure you’re aware of all the inspections that are available to you, and work with your agent to determine which ones make sense, and which are not appropriate.

Some insider tips:

• Vacant foreclosures often have their utilities disconnected.  Work with your agent to make sure the utilities get turned on - even for a single day - so that your property inspector can run the water taps, test the stove and dishwasher, see if the water heater and electrical outlets work, and so forth.
• If appliances are there, the bank will probably leave them there, even though they may not have technical “legal” ownership of them, so they may not be included in the contract, like in a "normal" home sale.
• However, the bank will not give you any sort of warranty on appliances, so try to obtain any warranty coverage you want or need elsewhere - from a home warranty company or, potentially, the original manufacturer/retailer.

3.  The contract terms, they are a changin'. One thing squarely in the wheelhouses of local real estate pros are local market standard practices.  From negotiating practices to which party pays which closing costs, every market is different, and experienced local agents are experts on this information.  If you’re buying a foreclosure, though, the bank will often require you to use it’s own purchase contract, rather than the more commonly used state forms.  Many times, this is done to advise the buyer of the bank’s refusal to make substantive disclosures (see above) and to change some of the normal practices for your area to the bank’s standard practices. 

For instance, if you are buying a home in a contingency state, where you would usually have to sign a document proactively releasing contingencies, the bank’s contract will probably change that, so that your transaction operates on an objection period. In "objection" based transactions, you  have a certain period of time in which you must either speak up about your concerns with the property and/or cancel the deal, or you will automatically be presumed to be moving forward with the deal and your deposit money will be forfeited if you change your mind after that date. 

If you’ve been making offers on non-foreclosures on the standard contract form, or you’ve bought homes before and think you know the drill, please - I implore you - READ every word of the contract you sign when you buy a home from the bank, and ask your broker, agent or attorney to explain anything that doesn’t make sense.

4.  Expect the unexpected.  When you buy a foreclosure, you might end up working with the bank’s escrow company, instead of a company you or your agent selects.  And the bank's escrow provider might be slow or disorganized.  C’est la vie. The bank might rush you for your deposit money, but take their own sweet time coming up with the necessary signatures on their end to close the deal.  Par for the course.  You might expect that the bank would be desperate for buyers, and instead find out that there are 20 offers on the same REO.  Or, you might be the only offer and still get your aggressively low (but still reasonable) offer rejected, only to have the bank reduce the list price of the home to the same price of your offer!  (They often want to see if exposing it to other buyers at the new, lower list price might generate more interest and higher offers.)  

When you’re buying a foreclosure, expect glitches, expect your calendar to be derailed, expect the bank to be inflexible and possibly even unreasonable.  It’s not overkill to ask your broker or agent to brief you on the common complications they see in REO transactions.  Having realistic expectations may keep you from pulling your hair out.  And if the transaction turns out to run smooth as silk?  You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION

Westchester Economic Summary

The Labor Department reported that 103,000 jobs were created in December, and private job growth was 113,000. While these numbers were below the recently ramped up expectations, they do show that the trend in the labor market is improving. Also noteworthy are the upward revisions to the prior two months readings, showing 70,000 more jobs created than had been previously reported.

While unemployment figures could expect to be lower when job-growth increases, the real shocker in the report was the size of the decline in the unemployment rate to 9.4%, which is the lowest unemployment rate since May of 2009.

So what did we learn from this Jobs Report?

1. While positive news, this jobs number was still soft enough to support the Fed continuing their plans for a full dosage of QE2 for the economy and this won’t be good for bonds and home loan rates, as it carries some inflation threat down the road.
2. The recent tax package and lower tax rate extensions have not yet had enough time to be seen or felt in the economy, so those factors should help provide further improvement in the labor market in future months but also will create inflation – bad news for bonds and home loan rates.

The Fed seems intent on creating inflation, lowering the unemployment rate and raising stock prices. QE2 will likely keep coming until the employment picture improves significantly, and this is all going to be unfriendly for bonds and home loan rates ahead.

Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION

RealtyTrac: More Than One Million Homes Seized by Lenders in 2010

Lenders repossessed 1,050,500 homes last year, according to the 2010 end-of-year foreclosure report from RealtyTrac.

The annual figure marks a record-high number of new bank-owned properties tracked by the company. The 2010 tally is up 14 percent from the previous year, when banks seized 918,376 homes, according to RealtyTrac’s historical data.

Just to put things into perspective, in 2008 RealtyTrac reports there were 861,664 new REOs. That year the figure more than doubled from 2007, when there were 404,849 newly repossessed homes. In 2006, RealtyTrac tracked 268,532 new REOs.

While the number of homes taken back by lenders jumped by more than 130,000 from 2009 to 2010, RealtyTrac’s data show the number of default filings declined by 20 percent over the same period. The industry is still wading through a severe backlog of unpaid mortgages, but with new defaults apparently tapering off, it’s plausible that the size of that backlog may begin contracting.

According to RealtyTrac’s 2010 report, a total of 3,825,637 foreclosure filings – including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – were reported on a record 2,871,891 U.S. properties during the year. The company says 2.23 percent of all U.S. housing units, or one in 45, received at least one foreclosure filing last year.

Total filings are up nearly 2 percent from 2009 and 23 percent from 2008, despite a sharp drop-off in activity during the latter part of 2010.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 257,747 properties during the month of December, a decrease of nearly 2 percent from the previous month and down 26 percent from December 2009.

It’s the biggest annual drop in foreclosure activity for any one month since RealtyTrac began publishing its foreclosure report in January 2005. December’s total

filings are the lowest monthly total recorded by the company since June 2008.

Fourth-quarter activity overall dropped considerably, with filings during the October to December timeframe down 14 percent from the previous quarter and 8 percent lower than the same period last year. The fourth quarter total was the lowest quarterly total since Q4 2008.

“Total properties receiving foreclosure filings would have easily exceeded 3 million in 2010 had it not been for the fourth quarter drop in foreclosure activity, triggered primarily by the continuing controversy surrounding foreclosure documentation,” said James Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s CEO.

“Even so, 2010 foreclosure activity still hit a record high for our report, and many of the foreclosure proceedings that were stopped in late 2010 — which we estimate may be as high as a quarter million — will likely be re-started and add to the numbers in early 2011,” Saccacio added.

All the usual suspects held their spots at the top of RealtyTrac’s list of states with the highest foreclosure rates for the 2010 calendar year. The company pointed out, however, that foreclosure activity dropped 22 percent in December in the judicial state of Florida, although bank repossessions spiked more than 45 percent that month in Nevada, Arizona, and California.

More than 9 percent of Nevada housing units (one in 11) received at least one foreclosure filing in 2010, giving it the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate for the fourth consecutive year, despite a 5 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from 2009.

Arizona registered the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate for the second year in a row, with 5.73 percent of its homes (one in 17) receiving at least one foreclosure filing in 2010.

Florida claimed the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate, with 5.51 percent of its housing units (one in 18) receiving at least one foreclosure filing during the year.

Other states with 2010 foreclosure rates ranking among the nation’s 10 highest were: California (4.08 percent), Utah (3.44 percent), Georgia (3.25 percent), Michigan (3.00 percent), Idaho (2.98 percent), Illinois (2.87 percent), and Colorado (2.51 percent).

RealtyTrac says five states accounted for 51 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in 2010: California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois, and Michigan. Together these five states documented nearly 1.5 million properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the year despite annual decreases in the three states with the most foreclosure activity.

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Should You Have the Air Ducts in Your Home Cleaned?

Most people are now aware that indoor air pollution is an issue of growing concern and increased visibility. Many companies are marketing products and services intended to improve the quality of your indoor air. You have probably seen an advertisement, received a coupon in the mail, or been approached directly by a company offering to clean your air ducts as a means of improving your home's indoor air quality. These services typically -- but not always -- range in cost from $450 to $1,000 per heating and cooling system, depending on the services offered, the size of the system to be cleaned, system accessibility, climatic region, and level of contamination.

Duct cleaning generally refers to the cleaning of various heating and cooling system components of forced air systems, including the supply and return air ducts and registers, grilles and diffusers, heat exchangers heating and cooling coils, condensate drain pans (drip pans), fan motor and fan housing, and the air handling unit housing.

If not properly installed, maintained, and operated, these components may become contaminated with particles of dust, pollen or other debris. If moisture is present, the potential for microbiological growth (e.g., mold) is increased and spores from such growth may be released into the home's living space. Some of these contaminants may cause allergic reactions or other symptoms in people if they are exposed to them. If you decide to have your heating and cooling system cleaned, it is important to make sure the service provider agrees to clean all components of the system and is qualified to do so. Failure to clean a component of a contaminated system can result in re-contamination of the entire system, thus negating any potential benefits. Methods of duct cleaning vary, although standards have been established by industry associations concerned with air duct cleaning. Typically, a service provider will use specialized tools to dislodge dirt and other debris in ducts, then vacuum them out with a high powered vacuum cleaner.

In addition, the service provider may propose applying chemical biocides, designed to kill microbiological contaminants, to the inside of the duct work and to other system components. Some service providers may also suggest applying chemical treatments (sealants or other encapsulants) to seal or cover the inside surfaces of the air ducts and equipment housings because they believe the sealant will control mold growth or prevent the release of dirt particles or fibers from ducts. These practices have yet to be fully researched and you should be fully informed before deciding to permit the use of biocides or sealants in your air ducts. They should only be applied, if at all, after the system has been properly cleaned of all visible dust or debris.

Deciding Whether or Not to Have Your Air Ducts Cleaned

Knowledge about the potential benefits and possible problems of air duct cleaning is limited. Since conditions in every home are different, it is impossible to generalize about whether or not air duct cleaning in your home would be beneficial.

You may consider having your air ducts cleaned simply because it seems logical that air ducts will get dirty over time and should occasionally be cleaned. While the debate about the value of periodic duct cleaning continues, no evidence suggests that such cleaning would be detrimental, provided that it is done properly.

On the other hand, if a service provider fails to follow proper duct cleaning procedures, duct cleaning can cause indoor air problems. For example, an inadequate vacuum collection system can release more dust, dirt, and other contaminants than if you had left the ducts alone. A careless or inadequately trained service provider can damage your ducts or heating and cooling system, possibly increasing your heating and air conditioning costs or forcing you to undertake difficult and costly repairs or replacements.

You should consider having the air ducts in your home cleaned if:

1. There is substantial visible mold growth inside hard surface (e.g., sheet metal) ducts or on other components of your heating and cooling system. There are several important points to understand concerning mold detection in heating and cooling systems:

• Many sections of your heating and cooling system may not be accessible for a visible inspection, so ask the service provider to show you any mold they say exists.
• You should be aware that although a substance may look like mold, a positive determination of whether it is mold or not can be made only by an expert and may require laboratory analysis for final confirmation. For about $50, some microbiology laboratories can tell you whether a sample sent to them on a clear strip of sticky household tape is mold or simply a substance that resembles it.
• If you have insulated air ducts and the insulation gets wet or moldy, it cannot be effectively cleaned and should be removed and replaced.
• If the conditions causing the mold growth in the first place are not corrected, mold growth will recur.

Ducts are infested with vermin, e.g. (rodents or insects); or

Ducts are clogged with excessive amounts of dust and debris and/or particles are actually released into the home from your supply registers.

Other Important Considerations...

Duct cleaning has never been shown to actually prevent health problems. Neither do studies conclusively demonstrate that particle (e.g., dust) levels in homes increase because of dirty air ducts or go down after cleaning. This is because much of the dirt that may accumulate inside air ducts adheres to duct surfaces and does not necessarily enter the living space. It is important to keep in mind that dirty air ducts are only one of many possible sources of particles that are present in homes. Pollutants that enter the home both from outdoors and indoor activities such as cooking, cleaning, smoking, or just moving around can cause greater exposure to contaminants than dirty air ducts. Moreover, there is no evidence that a light amount of household dust or other particulate matter in air ducts poses any risk to health.

If you think duct cleaning might be a good idea for your home, but you are not sure, talk to a professional. The company that services your heating and cooling system may be a good source of advice. You may also want to contact professional duct cleaning service providers and ask them about the services they provide. Remember, they are trying to sell you a service, so ask questions and insist on complete and knowledgeable answers.

Suggestions for Choosing a Duct Cleaning Service Provider

• To find companies that provide duct cleaning services, check your Yellow Pages under "duct cleaning". Talk to at least three different service providers and get written estimates before deciding whether to have your ducts cleaned. When the service providers come to your home, ask them to show you the contamination that would justify having your ducts cleaned.
• Do not hire duct cleaners who make sweeping claims about the health benefits of duct cleaning -- such claims are unsubstantiated.
• Do not hire duct cleaners who recommend duct cleaning as a routine part of your heating and cooling system maintenance.
• Do not allow the use of chemical biocides or sealants unless you fully understand the pros and the cons.
• Check references to be sure other customers were satisfied and did not experience any problems with their heating and cooling system after cleaning.
• Contact your local consumer affairs or local Better Business Bureau to determine if complaints have been lodged against any of the companies you are considering.
• Interview potential service providers to ensure:

• they are experienced in duct cleaning and have worked on systems like yours;
• they will use procedures to protect you, your pets, and your home from contamination; and
• they comply with air duct cleaning standards and, if your ducts are constructed of fiber glass duct board or insulated internally with fiber glass duct liner, with the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association's (NAIMA) recommendations.

If the service provider charges by the hour, request an estimate of the number of hours or days the job will take, and find out whether there will be interruptions in the work. Make sure the duct cleaner you choose will provide a written agreement outlining the total cost and scope of the job before work begins.

What to Expect From an Air Duct Cleaning Service Provider

If you choose to have your ducts cleaned, the service provider should:

• Open access ports or doors to allow the entire system to be cleaned and inspected.
• Inspect the system before cleaning to be sure that there are no asbestos-containing materials (e.g., insulation, register boots, etc.) in the heating and cooling system. Asbestos containing materials require specialized procedures and should not be disturbed or removed except by specially trained and equipped contractors.
• Use vacuum equipment that exhausts particles outside of the home or use only high efficiency particle air (HEPA) vacuuming equipment if the vacuum exhausts inside the home.
• Protect carpet and household furnishings during cleaning.
• Use well controlled brushing of duct surfaces in conjunction with contact vacuum cleaning to dislodge dust and other particles.
• Use only soft bristled brushes for fiberglass duct board and sheet metal ducts internally lined with fiberglass. (Although flex duct can also be cleaned using soft bristled brushes, it can be more economical to simply replace accessible flex duct.)
• Take care to protect the duct work, including sealing and re-insulating any access holes the service provider may have made or used so they are airtight.
• Follow standards for air duct cleaning and NAIMA's recommended practice for ducts containing fiber glass lining or constructed of fiber glass duct board.

How to Determine if the Duct Cleaner Did A Thorough Job

A thorough visual inspection is the best way to verify the cleanliness of your heating and cooling system. Some service providers use remote photography to document conditions inside ducts. All portions of the system should be visibly clean; you should not be able to detect any debris with the naked eye. After completing the job, ask the service provider to show you each component of your system to verify that the job was performed satisfactorily.

How to Prevent Duct Contamination

Whether or not you decide to have the air ducts in your home cleaned, committing to a good preventive maintenance program is essential to minimize duct contamination.

To prevent dirt from entering the system:

• Use the highest efficiency air filter recommended by the manufacturer of your heating and cooling system.
• Change filters regularly.
• If your filters become clogged, change them more frequently.
• Be sure you do not have any missing filters and that air cannot bypass filters through gaps around the filter holder.
• When having your heating and cooling system maintained or checked for other reasons, be sure to ask the service provider to clean cooling coils and drain pans.
• During construction or renovation work that produces dust in your home, seal off supply and return registers and do not operate the heating and cooling system until after cleaning up the dust.
• Remove dust and vacuum your home regularly. (Use a high efficiency vacuum (HEPA) cleaner or the highest efficiency filter bags your vacuum cleaner can take. Vacuuming can increase the amount of dust in the air during and after vacuuming as well as in your ducts).
• If your heating system includes in-duct humidification equipment, be sure to operate and maintain the humidifier strictly as recommended by the manufacturer.

To prevent ducts from becoming wet:

Moisture should not be present in ducts. Controlling moisture is the most effective way to prevent biological growth in air ducts.

Moisture can enter the duct system through leaks or if the system has been improperly installed or serviced. Research suggests that condensation (which occurs when a surface temperature is lower than the dew point temperature of the surrounding air) on or near cooling coils of air conditioning units is a major factor in moisture contamination of the system. The presence of condensation or high relative humidity is an important indicator of the potential for mold growth on any type of duct. Controlling moisture can often be difficult, but here are some steps you can take:

• Promptly and properly repair any leaks or water damage.
• Pay particular attention to cooling coils, which are designed to remove water from the air and can be a major source of moisture contamination of the system that can lead to mold growth. Make sure the condensate pan drains properly. The presence of substantial standing water and/or debris indicates a problem requiring immediate attention. Check any insulation near cooling coils for wet spots.
• Make sure ducts are properly sealed and insulated in all non-airconditioned spaces (e.g., attics and crawl spaces). This will help to prevent moisture due to condensation from entering the system and is important to make the system work as intended. To prevent water condensation, the heating and cooling system must be properly insulated.

Should chemical biocides be applied to the inside of air ducts?

Air duct cleaning service providers may tell you that they need to apply a chemical biocide to the inside of your ducts to kill bacteria (germs), and fungi (mold) and prevent future biological growth. Some duct cleaning service providers may propose to introduce ozone to kill biological contaminants. Ozone is a highly reactive gas that is regulated in the outside air as a lung irritant. However, there remains considerable controversy over the necessity and wisdom of introducing chemical biocides or ozone into the duct work.

Little research has been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of most biocides and ozone when used inside ducts. Simply spraying or otherwise introducing these materials into the operating duct system may cause much of the material to be transported through the system and released into other areas of your home.

In the meantime...

Before allowing a service provider to use a chemical biocide in your duct work, the service provider should:

1. Demonstrate visible evidence of microbial growth in your duct work. Some service providers may attempt to convince you that your air ducts are contaminated by demonstrating that the microorganisms found in your home grow on a settling plate (i.e., petri dish). This is inappropriate. Some microorganisms are always present in the air, and some growth on a settling plate is normal. As noted earlier, only an expert can positively identify a substance as biological growth and lab analysis may be required for final confirmation. Other testing methods are not reliable.

2. Explain why biological growth cannot be removed by physical means, such as brushing, and further growth prevented by controlling moisture.

If you decide to permit the use of a biocide, the service provider should:

1. Show you the biocide label, which will describe its range of approved uses.

2. Apply the biocide only to uninsulated areas of the duct system after proper cleaning, if necessary to reduce the chances for regrowth of mold.

3. Always use the product strictly according to its label instructions.

While some low toxicity products may be legally applied while occupants of the home are present, you may wish to consider leaving the premises while the biocide is being applied as an added precaution.

Do sealants prevent the release of dust and dirt particles into the air?

Manufacturers of products marketed to coat and seal duct surfaces claim that these sealants prevent dust and dirt particles inside air ducts from being released into the air. As with biocides, a sealant is often applied by spraying it into the operating duct system. Laboratory tests indicate that materials introduced in this manner tend not to completely coat the duct surface. Application of sealants may also affect the acoustical (noise) and fire retarding characteristics of fiber glass lined or constructed ducts and may invalidate the manufacturer's warranty.

Questions about the safety, effectiveness and overall desirability of sealants remain. For example, little is known about the potential toxicity of these products under typical use conditions or in the event they catch fire.

In addition, sealants have yet to be evaluated for their resistance to deterioration over time which could add particles to the duct air.

Most organizations concerned with duct cleaning, do not currently recommend the routine use of sealants in any type of duct. Instances when the use of sealants may be appropriate include the repair of damaged fiber glass insulation or when combating fire damage within ducts. Sealants should never be used on wet duct liner, to cover actively growing mold, or to cover debris in the ducts, and should only be applied after cleaning according to appropriate guidelines or standards.

Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION