Mold house back on market

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Mold house back on market

Former owner abandoned home after toxic substance sickened her

Albany Times Union - Albany,NY

By TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writer

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?

storyID=494468 & category=RENSSELAER & BCCode=LOCAL & newsdate=6/24/2006

BRUNSWICK -- A home abandoned by its former owner because it was

full of toxic mold is being offered for sale " as is. "

e Choma said she was upset to discover the house at 6 Magill

Ave. is being offered for sale without being gutted, as a firm that

tested for mold recommended.

Choma bought the home for $105,500 in February 2004. She replaced

the carpets, bought new furniture and began to have a new roof

installed when the mold was discovered. Mold had so infected the

house, it caused her skin to break out, her memory to falter, her

hair to fall out and her breathing to be labored.

Last year, Dingeman, director of operations and engineering for

Air Quality and Environmental Services, a Ballston Spa-based firm

that specializes in mold detection and removal, called the

house " the worst one I've ever seen. "

The firm recommended she spend $85,057 to remove mold from the

second floor. More tests showed the first floor needed to be gutted,

too.

A year after buying the home, Choma abandoned it and stopped paying

the mortgage. She has filed a lawsuit against the former owners,

declared bankruptcy and is battling the IRS, which says she cannot

deduct a $10,000 loss for the home on her taxes because the

condition existed before she bought it -- even though she was

unaware of it.

Last February, Choma signed an agreement, returning the house to M & T

Bank.

" I lost the house, my life savings, everything I own, I'm bankrupt

and the IRS is still coming after me, " she said. " The only way this

house should be sold is if it's flattened first. "

M. Hill, spokeswoman for M & T Bank, said she was unable to find

out specific answers on the Magill Avenue house Thursday.

Eamon Moynihan, a spokesman for the state Department of State, which

oversees real estate companies, said the law requires contamination

be disclosed unless it has been removed.

The home is being offered by agent Trevett of the Trevett

Group, who did not return repeated calls for comment. The home is

being advertised for $64,900.

Whoever buys the home will need a certificate of occupancy after a

town inspection Thursday revealed mold in the basement, first and

second floor, said Ron Neissen, the head of the town building

department, who examined the home with Russ Reeves, a Troy engineer.

The town put a " no occupancy " notice on the door several months ago

and the real estate company wanted the town to re-examine the two-

story wood structure.

Tim O'Brien can be reached at 454-5096 or by e-mail at

tobrien@....