Night Hawks Tapes

Archive for the ‘House’ Category

Odorless, colorless, and radioactive, radon is a gas that is released naturally wherever uranium is present in the soil. The existence of radon itself is not a problem. Normally it is released into the air, where it dissipates without causing harm.
But when radon gets trapped inside dwellings, it becomes a potentially grave threat to health. In extreme cases of radon buildup, exposure can be as dangerous as smoking four packs of cigarettes a day.
High levels of radon were detected about five years ago in houses in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. More recent testing has revealed high radon concentrations in about twenty other states, indicating that the problem is more serious and more widespread than officials had initially thought. The results of the most recent testing prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to recommend that every house in the country be tested.
The tricky thing about radon is that there is no way to predict from one neighborhood to another, or even from one house to another, where it iviJi be present in unacceptably high concentrations. Publicity about the problem has attracted the attention of homeowners, many of whom are having their homes tested. An increasing number of buyers, meanwhile, are demanding radon tests before they will commit to a purchase. Some real- estate experts predict that the radon test will become as common as the home inspection. My advice is, by all means have the house tested for radon, but don’t panic if you find it. Of all the problems you might uncover in a house, the presence of radon is certainly one of the easiest and least expensive to fix.
Initial screening for radon can be accomplished quickly and inexpensively for less than $50 through use of an activated- charcoal radon detector, now commonly available at hardware stores. The canister is hung in the basement, close to the floor, where radon is most likely to enter the house. After an exposure of from three to seven days, the canister is closed up and sent off to a lab for analysis. You should get the results within a couple of weeks, depending on the lab and how busy it is.
If the test shows a radon concentration greater than 20 picocuries per liter, the Environmental Protection Agency recommends that you run a follow-up test to confirm the results and take immediate steps to reduce the concentration.
You need to treat a high radon reading very seriously, but you don’t need to run from it. Usually all you need to do to solve the problem completely is improve your ventilation. Sometimes opening a window or two is enough; sometimes a vent and fan must be installed. Your inspector may recommend that you seal any cracks in the basement floor and walls, which can be accomplished for less than $500. A radon expert in Connecticut tells me that it cost less than $2,500 to correct the highest radon level recorded in any house to date.

This is another once-popular insulation material now out of favor because of its toxicity. It was used not for wall insulation but to insulate pipes. It is most likely to be found today in houses that are more than forty years old. Intact asbestos is not a hazard, but if it deteriorates, asbestos particles become airborne. In haled, they pose a serious threat of lung cancer.
Removing the asbestos is not always the best solution. Sometimes it is less risky and less expensive simply to encase it.
A competent home inspector will usually be able to tell you if asbestos is present, though sometimes it’s hidden, and sometimes inspectors are sleepy. An asbestos-removal contractor can tell you whether removal or encasement is your best approach.
If you have an asbestos problem, be sure to contact a reputable and experienced removal company. A bad removal job can create a more serious health risk to occupants than just leaving the stuff alone.

In the course of dealing with various brokers and sellers, you may encounter several different kinds of listing agreements, so let me describe them for you now so you’ll understand how they work. The most common type of agreement between a seller and broker is known as the exclusive right to sell. The seller agrees to list the property with the broker for a specified period and to pay that broker, the “listing broker,” a commission if the house is sold during that period (or within a certain length of time after it expires), no matter who actually makes the sale. That is, the listing broker gets a commission even if the owner ends up selling the home with no broker involvement at all. Most of the homes listed on the Realtors’ Multiple Listing Service are under an exclusive right to sell.
In an exclusive agency — a listing agreement that is not terribly popular with most brokers — the seller again agrees that only the listing broker is entitled to a commission (which will still be split, of course, with any selling broker). But if the owner sells the home on his or her own while the agreement is in effect, he or she does not have to pay the commission.
Even less popular with brokers is the open listing, in which the owner lists the house with an unlimited number of brokers, agreeing to pay a commission only to the broker who actually makes the sale.