Today we are discussing something that many tax sale investors overlook . . . asbestos. This can be a very costly mistake in many areas! Check out the video for more information!
Transcript:
Hi there! Casey Denman here with TaxSaleAcademy.com. In this video, we’re talking about Asbestos; a very serious issue for the tax sale investor.
First off, let’s talk about what asbestos is, if you’re not familiar with it. It’s a mineral type fiber that was previously used in home construction for about 1930 to 1950 or so. It’s found in roofing and siding shingles, insulation, floor tiles, wall patching compounds and many other areas. At the time, it was just an incredible, incredible substance to use for a variety of things because it had many properties that were desirable. Eventually, it was discovered that asbestos can lead to lung cancer.
Now, certain people might not be as affected by asbestos contact as other people. If asbestos is not disturbed, it’s supposedly not supposed to really affect a whole lot of people. But if it is disturbed where there’s fibers floating around and you’re inhaling these fibers, like I said, it could lead to lung cancer. It might be a year from now, it might be 100 years from now, or it might never happen. It just depends on you personally.
Now, as a tax sale investor, how does that affect you? Well, because of the negative press for asbestos, a lot of cities and a lot of counties are starting to mandate certain procedures for homes that contain asbestos.
Now, picture this. You’re buying a tax sale property. You buy an older house built in the 1940s, 1950s. It just so happens to have asbestos. You get a letter from the county that says you have to remove all that asbestos within a year.
Now, asbestos removal can be very, very, very expensive. So what you need to do is before you consider investing in a particular county or a particular city or a particular house that might happen to have asbestos, call that city’s building department or code enforcement department and say, “Listen, do you have any regulations regarding asbestos?” Like I said, some counties or some cities might make you take it out immediately. Others might depend on whether you’re planning on renting it. They might say, “If you want to live there, that’s your prerogative. But if you plan on renting it to somebody, you have to remove all the asbestos.”
And then in other situations, they might not care. They might say, “I don’t care if it has asbestos. It’s up to you what you want to do with it.” But the last thing you want to do is to go and buy a piece of property, and then have a bill – it just costs tens of thousands of dollars to remove all those asbestos from a house you might want to pay two grand for. So before you consider investing, just call the county. Check with the county. See what their asbestos issues and their asbestos requirements are if you’re considering purchasing a house that could potentially contain asbestos.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this video. If you’d like to see similar videos, head over to my website at TaxSaleAcademy.com, which you can do by clicking the blue link right here next to my head. Again, it takes you to TaxSaleAcademy.com. You can see a lot more videos about researching tax sale investing and how to turn yourself into a very successful tax sale investor.
Have a great day, folks! Take care! Bye-bye.