Purchasing a house: Ex-Grow op

[Kaos]

My parents are purchasing a house and they got it for a great deal.
The only thing is, it used to be an ex-grow op house.
The house did get busted but I'm not sure how long the owner had it running for.
Even though the police have deemed it livable, Im still concerned that it will have mold or other hazrdous BS that will pop up in a years time.

Do any of you guys know some numbers I can reach to ask questions regarding it?
I called the police and they didnt help out :rolleyes:

Should I still be concerned about mold growing even though the police have checked it out?

[Xtrema]

Beside that, you'll probably get crackheads breaking into your house, knocking on your door for a year or so until words get out.

There's a reason why they are cheap.

[B17a]

I'm sure technically an engineer and or inspector from the city has to inspect the whole house and sign off on it before it can be resold. So technically it's probably fine. I'd never buy one but that's just me. Usually the electrical boxes on those houses are completely fucked so hopefully its been rewired.

[Kaos]

The house is located in a really good location.
You know, where every other grow-op is, the NW :D

[legendboy]

I think you contact Alberta Environment, its the same people that deal with ground contamination from gas stations and stuff. Thats what my dad said. (realtor)

[B17a]

That's gotta be either Arbour Lake or Hidden Valley! :)

One other thing, even though its been inspected. All that humidity will fuck with the drywall, so I would not be surprised if it started cracking in a year or so after it gets a full year of dry Calgary air on it.

[googe]

yeah, i checked out a few grow up houses and depending how long they were in there you can have damage that is more or less irrepairable. the bad thing about buying a grow up house, even if it checks out, is its like buying an accident car. even when its repaired, future buyers find out it was a grow up and they dont want to touch it with a 10 foot pole.

its REALLY hard to get rid of the smell completely, so if you dont notice it when you walk in, that might be a sign that it was repaired well or that they werent in there very long.

[tictactoe2004]

i lived in a house that had a mold problem once... i felt like shit, my eyelids went all dry and red and puffy... i had a brutal cough... i was always tired, my throat always hurt...

thank god i got out of there when i did, i don't care if the house was free, if there was even a chance of having to re-live that shit again i'd walk away from it...

[HRD2PLZ]

CRHA is supposed to be called in to inspect former grow houses. When an operation is busted, the house is supposed to be deemed Condemned until CHRA can have testing done. I would never purchase a grow house though, the damage done can be so extensive. Make sure your parents also have a Home Inspection done. You might even want to call in some mold and/or air quality experts.

[oddjob]

Originally posted by B17a
That's gotta be either Arbour Lake or Hidden Valley!

People must think Hidden Valley is actually hidden but its not.

[01RedDX]

.

[canadiandaytona]

Attic will need to be looked at to...

[yobi5888]

Mind share some info about the house eg. price, footage, area, numbers of room...etc...?

I just want an idea about how much cheaper than the market price.

thx

[bspot]

Originally posted by oddjob


People must think Hidden Valley is actually hidden but its not.

:rofl:

[Kaos]

Originally posted by yobi5888
Mind share some info about the house eg. price, footage, area, numbers of room...etc...?

I just want an idea about how much cheaper than the market price.

thx

2100 sq ft.
4 bedrooms
3.5 baths

The market price for it would be 360 k
Price we negoatiated is 330 k.
So you can see this guy really needed to get rid of it.

This house is in good shape, hardwood floors and all these other goodies but knowing that it was a grow op house, still kinda gets me paranoid.

[djfob]

If everything checks out i'm sure it'll be fine, I'd be more worried about people kicking in the door still thinking it's a grow op.

[GQBalla]

WHOAAAAAA there is a ex grow op house behind me!!!

is this house located in scenic acres???

[HRD2PLZ]

A fair amount of grow-houses end up being foreclosed on by the financial institution, so that is sometimes an option as well.

[3g4me]

Originally posted by djfob
If everything checks out i'm sure it'll be fine, I'd be more worried about people kicking in the door still thinking it's a grow op.

Ya cauz you know how violent potheads are.:rolleyes:

[HRD2PLZ]

Originally posted by Kaos


2100 sq ft.
4 bedrooms
3.5 baths

The market price for it would be 360 k
Price we negoatiated is 330 k.
So you can see this guy really needed to get rid of it.

This house is in good shape, hardwood floors and all these other goodies but knowing that it was a grow op house, still kinda gets me paranoid.

Is it a private sale? If so, who came up with the market value of $360k?
If $360K is in fact fair market value for the property, then I think you should be able to get the home for a little less than $330K. Especially if it is a private sale.

[Das_Amaretto]

30k off doesn't seem liek too much of a deal, especially if you have to spend around 5-15k to fix it up. You can get that kinda discount from people that have to move cities for work reasons. I would think at least 20% off should be the norm.

Also, googe, you said these grow houses get labelled similar to repaired vehicles?? Where does that show up on? liek how vehicle status shows 'repaired' once you register it... I thought once you fixed it, and got the smell out and all, noone would be able to tell afterwards, am I wrong?

Saw some house with mold problems on TV, they brought in a ppm meter that read mold levels thoughout the house. pretty sure this is the service you're lookin to hire, Kaos. remember, mold just grooows, so if there's even some, it'll jus keep gettin higher.

How do you find them? Is there a nice'n'easy ex-grow-op houses 4 sale site i can go to?

[djfob]

Originally posted by 3g4me


Ya cauz you know how violent potheads are.:rolleyes:

most people that grow pot aren't potheads......the average pothead would not have the money neccesary to fund such an operation

[camaro]

Originally posted by djfob


most people that grow pot aren't potheads......the average pothead would not have the money neccesary to fund such an operation:poosie:

haha true

[3g4me]

Originally posted by djfob


most people that grow pot aren't potheads......the average pothead would not have the money neccesary to fund such an operation

you'd be suprised

[b_t]

I would just roll up the wallpaper and smoke it. Hawaiian hotbox the bathrooms, and just blaze, and soon you will be so stoned on weed fumes and glue you won't care so much about the condition of the house anymore.

[Kaos]

Originally posted by b_t
I would just roll up the wallpaper and smoke it. Hawaiian hotbox the bathrooms, and just blaze, and soon you will be so stoned on weed fumes and glue you won't care so much about the condition of the house anymore.
if you got nothing to say that will help me out, dont post.


As for the market value. I was using other houses that were for sale in the same area, to get a general idea of the value of this one.

[yobi5888]

I would suggest you back off from the deal unless you got at least a 25% to 30% discount of the market value...also you may find it very hard to sell your house in the future ...or you plan on keeping it forever.

[rockym20]

Also, your parents may not be able to get insurance on the house. I got a notice a while back from my insurance company saying that any property that is or has been a grow op will not be covered. They should look into this before closing.

I also agree that 10% off list isn't that great of a deal.

Was the market assessment taking into account it is a grow-op and it has already been reduced as a result (unlikely)? That is, if all of the houses in the neighbourhood are $400,000+, then $330,000 might be reasonable.

Or is this assessment just based on the size of the house and location (more likely)? If $360,000 is the normal price in the neighbourhood, then I think paying $330,000 is way too much.

[lastprodigy]

not as good idae unless its a HUGE discount and you never plan to sell....or you wanna "curb" the house

[izzoblitzo]

So you purchased the house already? I work at City Hall in the development department.. and it's crazy talk when it comes down to Grow Ops.

The majority of the busts these days are suprisingly people that dont really do drugs at all.. Like, one of the major busts we had recently was an elderly vietnamese couple that had their children (who are grown ups) deal for them while they grew the stuff. Another time, it was a single mom with kids!

There are the grow ops in shady neighborhoods, but there are also the grow ops in neighborhoods that have homes that average 600,000 dollars a piece. I was shown a video at work of these homes.. and they're brand new homes! in some of the pictures, the growers have all this sophisticated equiptment in the basement, the electrical hookups look like they were done by a professional electrician, and there was a HUGE HOLE cut right through the middle of the living room floor to the basement or through the staircase! Black mould is inside the drywall.. and you can see moisture seeping out of the outside of the house... you can spot a grow op easily, as there's yellow stains that are on the outside of the house.

The people are sophisticated.. in the basement, they've used professional concrete boring drills to drill through the foundation wall, and dug through the soil to get into the enmax power lines to steal power.

Most of the cleanup for small grow ops that have mould evident is a process they call 'bleaching'.. basically washing the affected areas with bleach mixture. The houses that are really bad have to get demolished. After each bust, they do an environmental study to see if the place can get cleaned up... but you know.. once there's mould.. there will always be a possibility of mould. So if you've already purchased the house, you should definately get an environmental study done sometime down the road.

There was a grow op house I saw a few months ago that would have sold for $450k brand new, but it was selling at $398k after the bust just to give you a comparrison.

[CRXguy]

Originally posted by Kaos


This house is in good shape, hardwood floors and all these other goodies but knowing that it was a grow op house, still kinda gets me paranoid.

Be careful since the house has hardwood. The last pot house I did, the new owner paid to have the hardwood and sub-floor ripped out since the whole floor was wavey. Most of the drywall was done as well, since the mold went up halfway between the main floor and upper floor. :barf: Lots of other shit that needs to be re-done so if you're getting less than 100K off market value, don't bother with the house.

[lint]

Seeing documentaries on mold, even if you have it inspected, unless you tear the house down, you might not find all of it. I think my family's health is worth more than $30K.

[Khalil]

As a new home builder, we purchased 2 grow op homes in Airdrie.

Measures we had to take:

Strip the house down:

-Carpet + carpet lining
-Drywall
-Vapor Barier
-Insulation
-Siding
-Hardwood + Tile
Completely down the frame - some of the OSD sheeting on the side of the house also needed to be replaced.

Allow the house to dry for 1 week + sprayed with Mildew Inhibitor (+ a stronger substance)

Once a regional health expector gave the OK, we were able to start on the reconstruction of the home.

[Khalil]

As for pricing, we were able to obtain the property valued at 275,000 for the price of 98,000

[nambis]

my question is, do you get to keep the grow equipment?

haha

[rockym20]

Originally posted by Khalil
As for pricing, we were able to obtain the property valued at 275,000 for the price of 98,000

So you basically purchased it for the land value...

[Khalil]

Not quite..

lot prices at the time were going for roughly 72,000 from the developer.

[celica girl]

I know somebody that cleans grow-op houses. PM me for more info.

[FiveFreshFish]

Originally posted by Kaos
Even though the police have deemed it livable, Im still concerned that it will have mold or other hazrdous BS that will pop up in a years time.

Get other opinions. Cops only see the superficial damage done to the home. They don't know everything involved to bring a house back to a livable state.

[AcuraTl]

i honestly dont see a huge problem with this, as long as there arent any HUGE problems (mould) this is a great deal, as the house likely was not "lived" in the carpeting and drywall should all be in mint condition minus, ofcourse probably the room they were growing in, try 2 get a little bit more cash off though :thumbsup: hopes it helped!

[SWX]

I would say fix what needs to be if any thing and sell it in a few months and get out of it, if it's been bought.

[Ed the SOHC]

Is this the one in Royal Oak? I'd negotiate it even lower if I were you. They're despirate to sell it, imo.

[HRD2PLZ]

Here's an example of what we see in terms of former grow houses:

We had a home sell in Deer Run in 2002 for $201,000. It went on the market the end of July for an asking price of $111,000 which includes a Mould Assessment Report as well as an Affidavit of Value and Appraisal. Based on the area, the property in decent condition should have been in the $240K - $260K range.

[Weapon_R]

I'd buy a home for that cheap in an instant :eek:

Then i'd rent it out :bigpimp:

[BongSwank]

Wow, there is a lot of good information here.

I was actually planning on buying an ex-grow op house also and some of the information was a great help.

But what about if you wanted to sell it later?

Would you still have to disclose that it was a grow house after intense renovations?

Or would you have to demolish the house and rebuild it to retain any of the value in the property?

[sCream]

there was a Holmes on Homes episode on this!! You need a thorough inspection, Holmes found mould in all sorts of random places it was crazy

[urban.one]

Heres the 2007 list of homes condemned by the Calgary Health Region for drug operations.

http://www.calgaryhealthregion.ca/hecomm/envhealth/Executive_Officer_Orders/orders_2007.htm#drugs

You can find links for previous years lower down on the page.

I believe only condemned homes get a caveat filed at the land titles office. This stays on the official record until all work as set out in the caveat is completed and the home is inspected.

On the home your mentioning, that isnt even a 10% reduction for being ex-grow op. That wouldnt be enough for me to chance living in their especially when my families health is possibly at stake.

[tictactoe2004]

Originally posted by BongSwank
Would you still have to disclose that it was a grow house after intense renovations?

You'd want to verify this with a realtor, but from the information i've gathered so far once a grow op is properly repaired and sold you do not have to disclose the fact that it was a grow op the next time the house goes up for sale.

[conkpriem]

Kaos,
what did you end up doing with the house?
My wife and I recently purchased a former grow-house and I'm asking some of the same questions you were.

They only grew for about a year, so the mould issue isn't huge, but there's definitely a strong odor in the house - especially in the basement.

A contractor friend of mine told me to wash the drywall with bleach water, then prime them with Zissner BIN primer - its supposed to due an awesome job of covering odor.

We've replaced / repaired drywall where there was mould.

The drywall is a little funky in the house. I don't know how else to describe it other than its a little soft. It sounds hard if you knock on it, but if you cut it, the paper is funky, and it doesn't 'crack' when you're cutting it like new stuff does.

we did remove and will replace the hardwoods.

Any thoughts you have I'd love to hear.

[TACO.VIDAL]

Mould is always a huge issue. Any amount of mould in your house can have huge effects on you and your family.

If you havent already, call in some experts and get professional advice.


Originally posted by conkpriem
They only grew for about a year, so the mould issue isn't huge, but there's definitely a strong odor in the house - especially in the basement.

[curiouswpg]

We are thinking about buying a grow up house in Winnipeg. Very upscale neighborhood as well.....

If anyone on here is from this area, do you know of any resources we can reach to determine:

- How long the opp was going on for
- What tools should be used to properly assess mold level
- What are the propper methods for removing the mold
- Are these types of environmental consultants regulated by any form of local/provinvial federal body?

[jessicasimpsan]

Original Post Removed. (Please read the Forum Rules and Terms of Use (http://forums.beyond.ca/articles.php?action=data&item=1) before posting again, or risk getting banned).

[core_upt]

Originally posted by jessicasimpsan
I'm sure technically an engineer and or inspector from the city has to inspect the whole house and sign off on it before it can be resold. So technically it's probably fine. I'd never buy one but that's just me. Usually the electrical boxes on those houses are completely fucked so hopefully its been rewired.

Get 2% back on everything you buy (http://www.google.com)

haha, wtf? the bots are blending in - this post then most of the users on here!

[toyboy88]

Originally posted by curiouswpg
We are thinking about buying a grow up house in Winnipeg. Very upscale neighborhood as well.....

If anyone on here is from this area, do you know of any resources we can reach to determine:

- How long the opp was going on for
- What tools should be used to properly assess mold level
- What are the propper methods for removing the mold
- Are these types of environmental consultants regulated by any form of local/provinvial federal body?


Good informative CBC marketplace episode regarding grow ops/home inspections:

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2010/grow_op_cover_up/main.html

:)

[sexualbanana]

Originally posted by 3g4me


Ya cauz you know how violent potheads are.:rolleyes:

Not just potheads but police and stuff too. I know some people who live in a house that wasn't a grow op, but was the listed home of some known drug dealers about 4 years back. They still get police and other people knocking on their doors looking for them.

[Integra10]

Every grow house that is caught has documentation of it online from the Calgary Health Region. Type in the address in the yahoo search bar and you should have all the letters from the CHR to the former owner of the house. That will give you an idea of what needed to be done/has already been done. The after grow-op inspections are very thorough to put the house back on the market. I wouldn't be too worried about the condition of the house. You could always have a private inspector come in and check it out for your family. I hope this helps!

[bspot]

For environmental testing I highly recommend AirVironment Canada. Not sure if they have a Winnipeg location or not...

I lived with toxic mold for a year. It sucked. I didn't know why I was always sick and was convinced I had leukemia or something. Once I was out of there my healthy improved dramatically.

[autosm]

Originally posted by conkpriem
Kaos,
what did you end up doing with the house?
My wife and I recently purchased a former grow-house and I'm asking some of the same questions you were.

They only grew for about a year, so the mould issue isn't huge, but there's definitely a strong odor in the house - especially in the basement.

A contractor friend of mine told me to wash the drywall with bleach water, then prime them with Zissner BIN primer - its supposed to due an awesome job of covering odor.

We've replaced / repaired drywall where there was mould.

The drywall is a little funky in the house. I don't know how else to describe it other than its a little soft. It sounds hard if you knock on it, but if you cut it, the paper is funky, and it doesn't 'crack' when you're cutting it like new stuff does.

we did remove and will replace the hardwoods.

Any thoughts you have I'd love to hear.



Might want to think about replacing all of the drywall.