Stachybotrys is blamed for almost everything in my town!  Even our local Narcotics Task Force has knocked down a few front doors in their war to rid our neighborhood of bad guys.  Still, in their write-up (formal report) they also noted the house has a serious mold infestation!  Imagine the dilemma a poor landlord faces if somehow during an illegal metamphetamine cooking operation, a couple small patties of stachybotrys accidentally falls in the pot of meth!  There goes the purity, I would guess.  These things may sound a bit humorous – but I can tell you, down at my monthly apartment association meetings, hardly anyone is laughing!

STACHYBOTRYS

Just a short time back – not only couldn’t I spell it, but I didn’t have even the foggiest notion of what the word meant.  Had I attempted to guess two years ago, I would have said; It’s probably a Swedish rye bread.  Obviously, that’s the wrong answer!  The layman’s term for Stachybotrys is toxic mold and it’s created panic and screaming fear in the hearts and souls of landlords everywhere!  Especially my group, I think.   They’re all talkin’ like the only solution is to sell their duplexes and apartment and maybe buy oil stocks.

Even though bad things happen everywhere, it seems like my liberal state, California, is always on the cutting edge of disaster.  Remember Santa Monica and the Berkeley rent control spearheaded by our drunk assemblyman Tom Fonda (correction), Tom Hayden – toughest laws
in the nation.  Over the years; however, the Federal Supreme Court, as well as the California top court has dealt rent control several setbacks.  I might just add; however, that during the toughest times several apartment owners and builders who took the time to figure out the system, become multi-millionaires when everyone else skedaddled out of town.

Many of my trade secret subscribers, especially those of you who’ve attended my seminars are very much aware that-I believe the world, and especially the world of landlording, would be a pretty dull place without a bit of humor as we plod along.  I appreciate humor and I sincerely believe my sense of humor has aided me a great deal in my 40 some odd years of doing this stuff.  It helps one to lighten up and see the full screen – a bigger picture if you will!  However, on a less somber note, I also realize humor don’t fix real problems and mold has become a top priority landlord problem in the past couple years.  In my local area, it’s already put the jinx on sales and has caused several small property owners to give up the business altogether.

WHAT’S A POOR LANDLORD TO DO?

The answer, my friend, is the same one I’ve used to solve most landlording problems!  YOU MOST EDUCATE yourself!  You must understand what’s going on and then you must design your defense to counter the problem. Let me explain what I mean! Only a few short years ago, lead base paint was housing enemy no one.  It has tough federal laws with even more added on at the state and local levels.  As a landlord, you’re required to give every renter living on your  property a small 51/2 x 81/2  booklet with pictures of ABC building blocks and a naked man with arrows pointing to strategic location on his body where lead might become a problem.  In my view, they need to reverse the frontal view of the naked man to reflect more accurately where the lead’s really concentrated.  It’s a federal law so I do it religiously – and I have no problem.  Just make sure tenants sign the form that goes with the booklet proving what you did.

SOLVING PROBLEMS PAYS BIG BUCKS

I learned everything I could about how to abate (solve the problem) lead based paint.  Many of you already know, scrapping off paint chips and re-painting is the quickest and cheapest method.  Some states require you to jump through a few more hoops with sniffers and high-tech gadgets.  But, in the end – if you know your local rules and what you must do to get by – I’m certain you’ll learn to cope, as I did.  Sometimes you can get help using creative strategies.  For example: In my town I rent to quite a number of low income HUD tenants (Section 8). On one occasion, a local building department inspector told me I would need to have 9 houses tested and treated by a lead paint specialist to determine habitability.  I said – Look, the only way I can accomplish that (testing and sanding) would be to terminate housing for all nine low income families. He gave me a strange, steer in the headlights, look.  Yes, I said, because of sanding and disturbing the lead paint.  I then asked him would you like for me to have the Section 8 supervisor contact your boss on this matter?  Moving out thirty low income people, including 19 children, from their homes may not set too well with HUD — And besides, there’s hardly any vacancies at this price level.  They’ll all be homeless, I told him.

That conversation changed the entire complexion of our lead paint discussion.  He said can you hand-scrape without using electric sanders where the paint is chipping, then repaint all the woodwork without disturbing any occupants?  I said, that’s no problem – so that became our plan and it worked extremely well.  I might just conclude, I still own the houses and every year I scrape and re-paint where I spot chipping paint.

CONTRARION STRATEGY

Stachybotrys is the latest in a long line of roadblocks to make a landlord’s life more miserable.  Going around roadblocks can create some exciting and profitable opportunities if you can replace negativism with positive thinking!  Let me explain — Just a few years back lead base paint was looked upon by many investors as the landlord’s “Armageddon”.  Quite a number of credible and sincere newsletter writers were advising – “Sellout while you can for the end is near”. I figured lots of folks would heed that advice, so I set myself up as buyer of last resort.  Naturally, the prices I paid to several panicked sellers reflected “Last Resort” buying.  I take great pride today showing my Fixer Camp students two properties I acquired at “Fire Sale” prices (approximately 55% of value) because sellers were frightened to death when the bank turned down their loan (refinance) lacking an asbestos and lead paint clearance.  Both these properties (13 units total) have generated a very healthy cash flow since day one of my ownership. The cost to me was residing several units and sanding and re-painting the others.

The local guest speaker at my property owner meeting told the group that any black mold area (stachybotrys) on the wall – 4″ or larger – needs to immediately be encapsulated with plastic membrane, taped and sealed, then he advised we should callout a licensed contractor with a sniffer device to measure air quality. We also need to remove the mold carefully and send samples back east to a special testing laboratory for mold to determine the negative particle content.  He said these special tests would determine if we had NEGATIVE AIR inside the apartment. Negative air, he told us, was bad for our tenants and might cause illness.  He closed his presentation with his recommended remedy.  He said, he’s licensed to test negative air and his computer is hooked up with some eastern lab that tests mold particles.  His standard fee to perform these tests is $695. When testing is completed, we now know if we have negative air quality or not – the next step can be very expensive, he said!

HOW MY MOM DEALT WITH MOLD

I didn’t tell the speaker but I have no intentions of encapsulating 4″ of mold on my wall!  What I plan to do is scrape it off, clean the wall with regular old bleach and re-paint.  That’s what my Mom did 50 years ago, when we had mold in the bathroom.  My Mom got down on her hands and knees and eliminated the problem.  Also, I recall, she never once mentioned she should sue somebody over 4″ worth of mold.

I realize it’s like Bob Dylan’s song, “The Times They Are A Changin”’.  We are not using my Mom’s old-fashion technique.  We’ve progressed beyond Mom’s remedy. Now we must blame mold on something or somebody. And so, landlords need to pay close attention to this latest fiasco so they stay out of hot water – and above all, avoid being charged with harboring negative air.

TOP-RATE SERVICE AND REPAIRS CAN SAVE YOUR BACON

When a tenant calls in with a mold problem – don’t dilly-dally around debating the issue!  Instead, go out quickly and determine what the problem is!  If you see mold, haul out the bleach and take care of the problem quickly.  Also, you need to work on your vocabulary relating to mold. Don’t ever use the word mold in front of your renters. When your renter says- let me show you .the mold over here —You say: Let’s take a good look at your moisture problem!  Substitute the words moisture or dampness to describe or communicate about mold with your tenants. This makes perfect sense because mold is caused by moisture and the lack of proper ventilation! The guest speaker said this combination created negative air. Naturally, I didn’t want to interrupt during the meeting, but many of my renters have created negative air long before mold was in the spotlight.

One method I’ve been using with good success on lower walls where moisture seems to gather the most is to clean the wall first. Always remove any damp sheetrock. Then I install 32″ high sections of wood paneling (T-l-ll siding okay) right over the top of the existing lower wall (from the floor up to 32″ high). Wainscoting, it’s called. I use 30# roofing felt behind the panel and finish it off with an attractive molding (cap) on top. You’ll note that 3-32″ sections can be cut from a standard 4′ x 8′ panel (96″ .;. 32 = 3).

Better ventilation will cure mold problems.  Mold can’t grow in a wind storm.  You need vents under the house and also top side (attic vents) above the ceiling to allow air to circulate freely.  Regular ceiling fans help, but those giant whole house fans will really move the air and obviously are the best.  Mold will grow if water sits under a house. You must somehow find a method to drain standing pools of water if you have this situation. Moisture from standing water can actually penetrate wood flooring and turn linoleum black.  Obviously, roof leaks that allow water to run down the inside of walls will need to be fixed, as well as window leaks. 

 The reason for the high alert status associated with mold today is partly because society chooses to blame every illness on something.  With a name like stachybotrys, it’s no wonder we landlords are catching so much flak.

TURNING YOUR TENANTS INTO AN ALLY

Human nature being what it is, often allows you to solve serious problems with a few wellplaced dollars.  For example, I’ve found several of my tenants who squawked the loudest over a little dab of mold suddenly become quiet as a church mouse when I inject a few bucks into the mold issue.  This strategy works very well, believe me.  I advise my tenant that we will correct her moisture problem – but in the meantime, we needed her help’.

I explained it’s not your fault Helen, therefore, we’d like to pay you to help us eliminate the problem. We’ve cleaned up every spot we can see, but just in case a few dark spots should re-appear on the wall, we’re willing to pay you $30 every month to bleach them off. That means even one small spot! Meanwhile, we’ll be looking around the house to see if we can find where moisture may be coming from!

Now the shoe is on the other foot.  The tenant is working on our side.  $30 a month is very cheap insurance to turn your tenant into an ally.  Quite often you’ll need several months to fix a problem.  This strategy buys you the time!  Mold is not the only problem landlords must wade thru – it’s only the latest.  The best way for investors to protect themselves is to stay “up to speed” on current issues.  Many problems can be turned into golden opportunities for entrepreneurs who take a positive approach.  That’s certainly what I was able to accomplish when lead base paint scared the dickens out of two property owners who thought there was no way out except to sell their properties to me.  I have witnessed many negative landlord issues over the years, but there’s always been a rainbow at the end of the storm. The guest speaker was right the other evening when he told his audience about negative air. What he didn’t say; however, it was coming from him!

Tags: Fixing For Money // Add Comment »