• Lead. Lead, a highly toxic element, was used extensively for many years in residential paint. Because it was not banned until 1978, an estimated 75 percent of American housing contains lead-based paint. Exposure to lead can cause permanent damage to the nervous system, especially in children and pets. Most often, exposure results from breathing lead dust, which can be generated by sanding or scraping of walls where lead is present. If a building has a lead problem, repainting and cleaning with a special HEPA vacuum can generally correct the situation. Many home inspectors will do lead dust testing for you, or you can do it yourself. An Internet search for the term “lead test” will take you to the Web pages of companies that make lead-testing products. One reputable company that manufactures them can be found at leadtestkits.com.

 

Establishing Escrow to Pay for Repairs

When you are buying a property, chances are that your contract of sale requires the seller to deliver the property with all of its major operat­ing systems (heating, electrical) in operating order. There is also the possibility that your inspection will reveal the need for costly repairs, such as insect damage that the seller will agree to correct as a condi­tion of the sale.

It is often desirable to correct these problems after the sale. Under those circumstances, the buyer and seller will agree that the most efficient way to handle these after-the-fact repairs is for the seller to place a mutually agreed-upon sum of money in a specialized account called an escrow account. The buyer will have a specified amount of time to utilize that money to make the specified repairs using his or her own methods and preferred contractors. It is important to know that an escrow is estab­lished for a specific purchase like repairing a furnace or a roof. It is illegal for a buyer to use the money for some purpose other than the one for which the escrow was established.

The greatest difficulty can be negotiating how much money the escrow should contain. The buyer may want to set up an escrow account to pay for a new furnace in a houseHe or she asks for $4,000; the seller offers $3,000. Conflicts can also arise over the amount of time that the buyer will need to complete the repairs since the escrow can only be termi­nated when the repairs are completed. Example: The buyer completes the repairs in only a week, but is in no hurry to close the escrow account. The seller, however, wants to close the account at once so the sale is truly completed and final papers can be filed.

Despite the potential frictions and conflicts between buyer and seller, a well-intentioned and well-administered escrow can lend needed flex­ibility to the rigid timelines that apply to most real estate transactions.

Knowing these basics about establishing an escrow account for repairs adds to your ability to move ahead decisively to acquire or sell proper­ties without undue delays.

 

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