Asbestos? Will it kill the deal?

Real Estate Investing Single-Family Homes
1

Hi,

I just had an inspection done on a house I’m interested in purchasing for a rehab and flip. The house is in Los Angeles county. It’s a 1953 SFR and has accoustic ceiling. The inspector told me the attic, the heating duct that connects to the vent and the accoustic ceiling all potentially have asbestos. He said all houses built prior to the late 70’s all have asbestos. If that’s the case, most of the houses I’ve seen in that area all have asbestos because they’re all built prior to the 70’s. Then how are they able to get sold? So I’m wondering if he’s just trying to scare me or what? He went on to say that if I wanted an abatement crew to remove it, it would cost tens of thousands. That would be extremely bad news because it will most certainly kill the deal. He then hand me a business card of one of his friends that test for molds and asbestos. Is there something fishy here?

Anyways, here is what I was already planning to do prior to the inspection:

  1. Scraped off the acoustic “popcorn” ceiling and replace it with a new, smoother ceiling.

  2. Install a brand new heating and air conditioning unit which would have new ducts and installation material. The house is currently missing a heating and a/c unit. The current owner removed it many years ago.

If I do both items, do I still need to worry about asbestos?

The inspector said that contractors would not touch a house with asbestos for fear of lawsuits. Is what he said true? Do I need to hire an abatement crew to remedy the asbestos problem or can my contractor remove it during the rehab?

Would the new buyer’s inspector be able to find traces of asbestos and kill my marketability of the house?

How would you handle this deal or situation?

Thanks in advance!

2

Tens of thousands for proper abatement is an urban legend.
In 2010, I had about 2550 sq ft (huge area) of asbestos popcorn celing removed by a professional abatement company. It only cost 6 grand, and they were done in 1 day.

3

I just spoke with an asbestos removing company. They charge $3.30/sqft to remove the acoustic ceiling. The inspector didn’t know what he was talking about. In fact, I heard that he was sued by a previous home owner for not mentioning the asbestos in their report. So now, he’s looking for it in every job he does.