Buyers routinely check neighborhood crime statistics and school data before purchasing a home.
But an environmental assessment has generally not been part of the process. A Milford, Conn.-based company is hoping to change that.
“It’s becoming one more feature that’s essential for the smart homebuyer to do,” said Ben Cesare, managing director of residential real estate services at Environmental Data Resources Inc., a provider of environmental risk information. “Home inspections happen 90 percent of the time now. Environmental due diligence is the new piece.”
In a recent survey of eight ZIP codes in Denver, Environmental Data Resources found:
• 476 leaking underground storage tanks.
• 113 areas affected by spills of hazardous substances.
• 374 sites where contamination occurred but the EPA has deemed no further action.
• 16 landfills.
• Four Superfund sites.
“Barring water issues, the biggest deal is vapor intrusion,” Cesare said. “Volatile organic compounds, petroleum or solvents turn into gas and can penetrate through soil or another conduit into indoor air space. Then you’ve got a problem.”
Buyers also need to know whether the home they are about to purchase is on a former landfill.
“It’s not that you don’t want to buy a property that’s on a landfill,” Cesare said. “You just want to know the history of itp. You want to make sure it’s properly capped. If it was closed before 1980, you probably want to think twice about buying on a landfill. There are risks with vapor contamination and groundwater.”
While an environmental assessment may be valuable, home inspectors don’t have to do them, said Tom Bopp, owner of Homespeck Inspections.
“A home inspector checks electrical, plumbing, HVAC and the structure of the house,” he said. “There’s enough for home inspectors to learn rather than getting into all this fluff.”
Ed Tomlinson, a broker with Re/Max Alliance in Arvada, said environmental assessments have been performed on commercial properties for years, and he thinks it’s a valuable service for the residential sector as well.
“Landfills are more prevalent than the public knows,” Tomlinson said. “We don’t think much of gas stations anymore, but in the old days, they used to be on every corner, and they would leach onto neighboring properties.”
The company’s free Green Screener feature online can provide a snapshot of the home or neighborhood, but a detailed report costs $125. At that price, it’s more realistic for brokers to have the assessments performed on the neighborhoods where they specialize, Tomlinson said.
“Then we have an insight into what’s there.”
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
