In 1977, the government prohibited the use of asbestos in ceiling finishes like popcorn. I recently signed a listing for a house that was built in 1977 and still has the original popcorn ceiling. Prior to 1977, the popcorn mixes commonly contained asbestos. Amounts varied by developer and some didn’t use it at all. However, if a previous batch of the mix contained asbestos and the same tools were used in mixing and application, the residue can still be detected when testing today. There’s a possibility the ceiling of my new listing contains asbestos.
Most people don’t like the idea of asbestos being in their homes. My understanding is that asbestos was included in many of the building products that were used when the dreams of expanding suburban America are being realized. The only way to know for sure if asbestos is present is to get a test. Once test results are available, they become a disclosure not only for current owners and buyers, but anyone buying the house years down the line. The question is, do I test for asbestos when selling houses, and would I be testing for this particular home?
I have used Jakala out of Novato to test popcorn when representing buyers. I generally don’t test for asbestos on listings because you have to draw a line with every house when getting it ready for sale. We get home, pest, and sometimes roof inspections. In much of Marin County, sewer inspections are mandatory and several cities have their own resale inspections. I’ve gotten mold tests. The list goes on and includes engineering reports. You have to stop somewhere when getting a house ready for sale, and I usually stop at asbestos and leave that inspection to buyers if they feel it’s necessary.
Let me get this out of the way, I am not a home or asbestos inspector. I could make comments on asbestos from what I’ve heard from other people, but I leave that sort of thing to the experts. My business is selling homes for the highest possible price, and part of that is making decisions on when to test and when not to test. In the case of my current listing, I chose to test and dropped off a sample at Jakala this week. Why test?
As I alluded to earlier, the concrete knowledge of asbestos on a property has historically turned off buyers. However, we are in the kind of market currently where buyers accept such ‘deficiencies’ because they lack alternatives. If you want to buy a house, you are going to have to settle for what is out there. This particular house also has a roof that appears to be older than its useful life, so I got a quote on roof replacement as well. In a different market, one that isn’t so hot, it can be better to not have a roof quote and leave that up to buyers. I feel like this kind of information is helpful to have up front it today’s market.
The more information you have up front for buyers, the more likely they are to make offers without inspection contingencies. That means that when they come in with an offer, they can’t try to renegotiate after their own inspections. It is their risk and their choice if they want to make offers based only on the sellers’ inspections and disclosures. In 2021, I represented 17 sellers and looked at lots of offers that didn’t include inspection contingencies, mainly because our inspections were pretty thorough and I used the same reputable inspectors that buyers would be using anyway. Inventory was pretty sparse too, which definitely played a part in buyers making non-contingent offers.
Every house is different and every situation is different. Every seller is different. My job is helping figure out what’s best for each seller, and in this case we agreed to get an asbestos test. There may be no asbestos in the popcorn. One way or another I believe it’s going to be valuable information for both the seller and buyer to know up front.