303.818.4055 Neil@KearneyRealty.com

Inspection Issue – Aluminum Wiring

by | Apr 27, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 comment

When you have been around as many real estate transactions as I have, you begin to anticipate the possible challenge points in a transaction.  This is one of the reasons you hire an experienced professional, isn’t it?  Anyway, when I have a buyer interested in a house which was built in the early 1970’s my thoughts immediately turn to aluminum wiring. 

During the 1970’s aluminum wiring was extensively used instead of copper in many houses.  Since that time aluminum wiring has been blamed for many house fires.  But don’t panic if your house has aluminum wiring.  Aluminum wiring, when properly installed, can be just as safe as copper.  Aluminum wiring is, however, very unforgiving of improper installation.  It is at the connections where the latent danger can linger.

When purchasing a home that was built in the early 1970’s make sure your inspector checks for the presence of aluminum wiring.  If it is present, the inspector should check each receptacle to see if there is any loosening or signs of overheating.  What happens to the wire over time is a gradual loosening of the connection which causes oxidation and overheating.  If the connection becomes very loose the electrical current can arch and spark.  Most homes never reach this stage.

Once the presence of aluminum wiring is established it is important to know that in most cases it is not an immediate hazard. It has been functioning for over 30 years and caution going forward is advised but it is not a reason to run the other way.  The wiring can be fixed without tearing apart the walls.

Solutions:

  • The traditional fix for aluminum wiring was to pigtail (attach) a small portion of copper wire to the end of the aluminum wiring and then attach the copper to the receptacle.  This has worked well but some feel that the connection between the aluminum and the copper can come loose over time.
  • Another more recent (and more expensive) solution is a crimping method.  It is the same idea but it uses a special tool that fuses the copper to the aluminum wiring permanently.

My inspection philosophy is that it is a time where the buyer gathers as much information about the house as possible so that they know what to expect in the future.  It is not a time to use every minor ding to re-open price negotiations, it is a time to identify the major safety and maintenance issues and come to a win-win solution with the seller.  It is everyone’s goal for the sale to go through and the inspection can be handled in such a way that the buyer get’s a good house and the seller pays what is fair.

Here are a few links with detailed information on aluminum wiring.

http://www.alwirerepair.com/

http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum/aluminum.htm

 

Walk at Sawhill Ponds

by | Apr 26, 2009 | Colorado Lifestyle

This morning was a beautiful morning and to celebrate, I took a camera walk at Sawhill Ponds.  The ponds are an open space area owned by Boulder County which used to be a gravel quarry.  It’s a popular spot to walk, birdwatch or fish and I’m lucky to live just a few minutes away.  Here are a few shots from my walk, too bad I didn’t have a microphone as the birds voices were quite animated.

 

To view a shot of a goose egg after a run-in with a fox go to my Image-of-the-Week.

Sawhill Ponds and the adjacent Walden Ponds are located off of 75th Street, between Jay Rd. and Valmont Rd, about 5 miles east of Boulder.

Boulder Sales – The Breakdown

by | Apr 20, 2009 | Boulder County Housing Trends, Statistics

Recent headlines have stated that sales for the first quarter in Boulder fell 50%.  It is true, numbers don’t lie, but the headline was vague.  I’d like to clarify this information a bit, by breaking down the first quarter statistics in Boulder, Colorado into more manageable chunks.

The tables below show first quarter data for closed sales in the City of Boulder.  The yellow box shows all sales within the city, both condos and single family homes.  The green box shows single family home sales and the blue box shows condo sales.  Combined sales were down 35%, single family sales were down 50% and condo sales were down just 15%.

What this information brings to light is the strength in the lower price ranges.  Sales of condos below $500,000 (which includes 85% of all sales) was down just 13% and sales of single family homes in the same range were down 44%.  I thought this breakdown was interesting, I hope you agree.  Leave a comment if there is a segment of the market you would like shown in detail.

Combined
2008 2009 Change
<$550K 160 120 -25%
$500 – $750K 63 33 -48%
$750K – $1MM 21 10 -52%
$1MM – $1.25MM 5 3 -40%
$1.25MM – $1.5MM 9 6 -33%
>$1.5MM 12 4 -67%
Total 270 176 -35%
Single Family
2008 2009 Change
<$550K 62 35 -44%
$500 – $750K 51 24 -53%
$750K – $1MM 20 8 -60%
$1MM – $1.25MM 4 3 -25%
$1.25MM – $1.5MM 8 3 -63%
>$1.5MM 8 3 -63%
Total 153 76 -50%
Condos
2008 2009 Change
<$500K 98 85 -13%
$500 – $750K 12 9 -25%
$750K – $1MM 1 2 100%
$1MM – $1.25MM 1 0 -100%
$1.25MM – $1.5MM 1 3 200%
>$1.5MM 4 1 -75%
Total 117 100 -15%

Inspection Issue – Radon

by | Apr 15, 2009 | For Buyers, Real Estate 101

Boulder County is located in a zone of high potential for elevated radon levels in the air. In real estate transactions radon almost is always an issue. It is almost always tested for and when the reading comes in at a level above 4.0 pCi/L (picocuries per liter) then the Buyer and Seller negotiate what will be done and who will pay. But first some background that can be found EPA’s Radon Website

What is Radon?
Radon is a gaseous radioactive element having the symbol Rn, the atomic number 86, an atomic weight of 222, a melting point of -71ºC, a boiling point of -62ºC, and (depending on the source, there are between 20 and 25 isotopes of radon – 20 cited in the chemical summary, 25 listed in the table of isotopes); it is an extremely toxic, colorless gas; it can be condensed to a transparent liquid and to an opaque, glowing solid; it is derived from the radioactive decay of radium and is used in cancer treatment, as a tracer in leak detection, and in radiography. (From the word radium, the substance from which it is derived.) Sources: Condensed Chemical Dictionary, and Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 69th ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1988.

No immediate symptoms. Based on an updated Assessment of Risk for Radon in Homes, radon in indoor air is estimated to cause about 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the United States. Smokers are at higher risk of developing Radon-induced lung cancer. Lung cancer is the only health effect which has been definitively linked with radon exposure. Lung cancer would usually occur years (5-25) after exposure. There is no evidence that other respiratory diseases, such as asthma, are caused by radon exposure and there is no evidence that children are at any greater risk of radon induced lung cancer than adults.

Based on a national residential radon survey completed in 1991, the average indoor radon level is about 1.3 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) in the United States. The average outdoor level is about 0.4 pCi/L.

So, you can see why it comes up often in a real estate transaction. Of course some people are more worried than others and this becomes part of the art of negotiation. During the inspection period (which is usually between 10 days and 2 weeks long) a buyer has the option to have a radon test performed usually by a general home inspector. The cost is somewhere around $100 for the test and it takes 48 hours to perform. If the results of the test come in above 4.0 pCi/L then it is very common for the Buyer to ask for the Seller to mitigate so that the radon level inside the habitable part of the home (not crawlspaces etc.) is below 4.0 pCi/L. The cost for mitigation can vary but in our area the typical cost is between $800 and $900.

What is done to mitigate the radon level in a home?

Most often a 4″ PVC pipe is inserted into a drilled hole in the basement slab. This pipe is routed to the outside of the home and above the roof line. Somewhere along the pipe a fan is installed that will run continuously and will suck the sub-slab air to the outside creating a vacuum. The diverted air stream does not allow radon to seep up through the concrete into the house.

Radon is a fixable problem and it is a good idea to have the test done. I tell my clients that even if they are not concerned about the risk, most likely the people who buy the house from them will be.