Health Impacts of Wood Smoke Devalues Real Estate

Lourdes Salvador's Column ...Co-founder of MCS America discusses the latest Multiple Chemical Sensitivity issues.

Lourdes Salvador is the founder of MCS America, a science writer, and a social advocate for the greater awareness of environmental contamination, human toxicology, and propagation of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) as a disorder of organic biological origin induced by toxic environmental insults.

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Health Impacts of Wood Smoke Devalues Real Estate

Health Impacts of Wood Smoke Devalues Real EstateHealth Impacts of Wood Smoke Devalues Real EstateHealth Impacts of Wood Smoke Devalues Real Estate

by Julie Mellum

 

 

Most Realtors know that homes impacted by “negative material facts” (such as smoke and other noxious odors and chemicals, loud noise or heavy traffic) normally sell for considerably less than similar homes that are not impacted by these environmental influences. A “material fact” is anything that could affect someone else’s use and enjoyment of the property. Thus it is important that Sellers and their agents disclose such facts to potential Buyers when listing a home for sale, or they can potentially be sued later for non-disclosure.

 

Homes for sale near wood burning restaurants, coffee shops or frequent recreational wood burning are often contaminated by plumes of odor that trespass onto their property. This makes them particularly vulnerable to disappointed buyers who could claim that their property rights to use and enjoy their property smoke-free have been violated and perhaps they wouldn’t have bought the property if the Sellers had disclosed this information.

 

Online tax records and real estate data demonstrate that homes along busy streets with frequent exhaust fumes and noise, for example, normally sell for considerably less than comparable homes that are not similarly impacted.

 

Lawsuits are beginning to be won against homeowners with outdoor wood boilers (OWBs or OWFs), and many cities and small towns are banning these units, due to the health hazards of wood smoke, on top of their violating the property rights of neighbors who cannot use their property outdoors and who also suffer indoors from the frequent, excessive smoke.

 

Many real estate forms now require the Seller to list any “environmental defects” in the property or other “adverse material defects.” Even if there is no such form in a listing agreement, disclosure is still the responsibility of the Seller and their agent. Yet when persistent wood smoke is disclosed, it limits the buying pool to begin with, because few Buyers would want to buy the same problem that the Seller has.

 

Today’s market is depressed, and selling can be difficult, even for properties without negative adverse conditions. Some may argue that wood smoke does not affect property values, but this is contrary to factual information that multiple listing services demonstrate.

 

In summary, it is also common sense, borne out by factual data, that homes with negative material defects usually sell for less because of those conditions and because there are fewer buyers to begin with.

 

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For more articles on this topic, see: MCSA News.

 

Copyrighted 2012 Lourdes Salvador & MCS America

 

 

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