All builders are required by law to give a 10-year structural warranty on their new homes, which usually causes new-home buyers to let their guard down. While it is prudent to get quality representation when buying a new house – in these cases, it’s imperative:
Take A Chance?
by Jim the Realtor | Aug 22, 2011 | Bubbleinfo TV, Builders, Thinking of Buying? | 25 comments
He’s been all over the City of Encinitas lately – we need more watch dogs!
http://www.theleucadiablog.com/2011/07/easy-to-please-simpleton-writes.html
W.C Varones is too:
http://encinitasundercover.blogspot.com/
The Coast News:
http://thecoastnews.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Is+City+Council+spinning+the+truth-%20&id=14875381
Call this guy and he can start gathering evidence for future litigation.
http://www.constructiondefects.com/Firm-Profile/Thomas-E-Miller.aspx
They did the same thing (7 feet under) at the Tustin Marine base, where they built “columbus grove/Tustin fields”. They actually have a rider in the contracts saying that buyers agree never to plant trees with edible fruit.
Didn’t appear to slow down sales (the $1M prices did that)
When we lived in Rockville, MD at the King Farms development, a condo (I think) burned during the construction process. The developers kept the old foundation and rebuilt on it. I really wondered about the wisdom of that at the time.
I’ll answer your question, Jim. My answer is a resounding No! My late husband died of cancer; I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. If surrounding neighbors already have gotten sick with the pesticides buried just 7 feet under, that trumps any
real estate agent’s sales pitch and/or promises that it’s safe.
It will be interesting to see how the Grand Opening goes…
That is just CRAZY. No way would I do it. Wow. How could anyone do it? Unbelievable. Might as well build a house on an old gas station lot, too, while you’re at it. NUTS!
Intersting trivia…Agent Orange is/was a pesticide.
Pesticide agents were very non-selective (meaning they didn’t distinguish between plant and animals very well)up until the 50’s or 60’s.
Pesticide use was also not regulated very well until around the 70’s.
I personally would treat that area as nuclear soil.
I would also add that the EPA didn’t exist until 1970. “The solution to pollution is dilution” was one of their early philosophies.
Does anyone know if this site was tested for eligibility as a Superfund site?
Shades of Love Canal. Of course part of a solution, but I am sure that would not be allowed is to pave the entire lot with concrete no soil exposed. One short stop, again I suspect not allowed would be no grass just various sized rocks laid down. If nothing is growing then the stuff will stay. Note on a superfund site near where I used to live in Houston, it was 20 feet of clay over top of the pesticides (it was a plant to make them), and then fence the area in.
If buyers never have pesky insects around… and the lot is raised 7′ for more ocean view….I’d say it’s a trade off.
My answer is no, I would never live on a toxic dump. Just as I would not live in the “freeway estates” off of poinsettia. The prevailing wind off the ocean blowing all the toxins and brake dust from the cars into your home from the 1000’s of cars each day would be a deal breaker, never mind the noise!
Where are the “freeway estates?”
Kudos on Lyle for pointing out Love Canal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal
The worst part about Love Canal is that the city of Niagara Falls still bought the land even after Hooker Chemicals (the company that used the site as a toxic waste dump) HAD WARNED the city of what was in the canal! All 21,000 tons of it!
The city still bought the now filled canal, and built houses on top. Later, heavy rainfalls and pressure from construction forced the chemicals out of the ground, making everyone sick.
It’s incredible how easily and how frequently history repeats itself.
To your point, Francois #13, “If we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.”…
Thanks to DS for sending this in:
Fullerton Settles for $2.5 Million on McColl Dump
March 20, 1986 | JERRY HICKS, Times Staff Writer
The City of Fullerton has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the 141 families near the McColl hazardous waste dump who have claimed in numerous lawsuits that someone should have warned them that the landfill was not safe. The city is the first of the three major defendants in the McColl case to settle with the families. The other two are the developers that built the tracts: the J.F. Shea Co. and the William Lyon Co.
http://articles.latimes.com/1986-03-20/local/me-21620_1_fullerton-city-council
So how will they handle the sales? Two ideas:
#1 – Ignore the problem, and hope buyers don’t check the internet.
They have fixed the problem to city specs, and could say that it’s solved. If the buyers don’t question it much, and are in love with the values, then they’ll sell.
#2 – Pack the sales trailer with scientists, reports, other similar tracts, etc. Bring on the full look – thick glasses, calculators, pocket protectors, etc., and talk about it openly. If they sell a house to the president or other staffer it would help too; but of course we’ve seen those get foreclosed regularly after the fact.
And another example of toxic issues — going back nearly 30 years or so — the infamous Stringfellow Acit Pits in the lovely community of Glen Avon (near Riverside):
http://www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_News_Local_W_whal29.2cc9879.html
The thing is that it’s not just this development. All of the developments (Nantucket, the newer ones on La Costa Ave & the big lot on Ashbury/Vulcan)….ALL were greenhouses at one time.
And somehow the first two all sold (well not the second Nantucket, but that’s not done yet).
I worked on both the McColl and Stringfellow cases in the 90’s. The insurance company paying the bills was named Stonewall Insurance. Always got a laugh at hearings.
Isn’t the builder obligated to put this sort of stuff in the disclosures?
Yes, seller will disclose.
It’ll be on page 42, paragraph 88.B1, in 8-point type size.
The more pages and the smaller the type size, the more important it is to read it!
Note to rookie wanna-be buyers: Read ALL seller disclosures no matter how many pages or how small the type size. Even more important, hire JtR to represent you…
Ditto that, susie.
@Profhoff:
Not sure if the poster had a specific development in mind, but you can google-map “Poinsettia Lane, Carlsbad, CA” and scroll out till you can see the I-5 on the map. You will see there are many “freeway estates” to choose from….