"Is the house I'm buying safe?"

Subsurface contamination from old fuel tanks and industrial facilities is much more common than most people realize.  Earlier this year I performed a home inspection for a home buyer at a vacant residential property that sat on an EPA “Superfund” site.  I knew about the history of toxins at the property because it was near my childhood home and the presence of hazardous materials at the location had been publicized when discovered some 30 years ago.  I was surprised to learn the seller’s disclosure made no mention of the hazardous waste, nor did the agents involved with the transaction have any knowledge of the past problems with toxins on the site.  Subsequent to my inspection I returned to my office and conducted my own investigation, discovering the property’s status was “active” on the EPA’s list of Superfund sites.  The active status indicated the property had not been give a clean bill of health.

I informed the buyer and buyer’s agent of my discovery, and later called the listing agent to notify him of my findings.  I consider it my ethical obligation to inform homeowners, real estate agents and tenants of any potentially hazardous conditions at a property, regardless of whether they’re my clients.  After I explained my discovery the listing agent said, “I find that hard to believe.  I’ve had this house listed for over 6 months and hundreds of people from the community have walked through the house - not one of them mentioned any problems with hazards.  I think my clients would’ve said something to me if they knew.  They’ve owned the place for over 10 years and they aren’t the type of people that would try to hide something like that.”

Despite his disbelief the agent was polite and we laughed about the fact we’d never dealt with something like an EPA “Superfund” site before.  Before I got off the phone I asked the agent to keep me up-to-date.  I told him I wanted to know if I followed the proper protocol and how could we prevent a situation like this from recurring.

I did receive a very thoughtful email from my clients who were thankful for my diligence and opted not to buy the property because of the uncertainty related to the EPA status.

In the days after my inspection the listing agent contacted the EPA and took the property off the market until the situation was resolved.  At this point no one, including the EPA, is sure why the property’s status is “active.”  The agent is coordinating testing to ensure there are no hazardous materials on the site, and if there are any problems it will be taken care of by either the USDA or EPA.

Typically, as a home inspector I don’t do a “background check” on properties I inspect, but that’s going to change.  Through the course of this experience I discovered an interesting website that provides information about properties at no charge:  www.homefacts.com   

The homefacts.com website gives information about a property’s history, schools, crime, nearby registered sex offenders, hazardous spills and other information including any local Superfund sites.  I recommend all real estate agents and home buyers check prospective properties on homefacts.com – it could prove invaluable.