Environmental Issues and Hazardous Substances in the Home

Environmental issues and hazardous substances or materials are rapidly becoming important factors in both buying and selling real estate. Home buyers are learning to be more environmentally concerned and safety conscious when looking to buy a home. On the other hand, home sellers are also becoming more aware of the consequences of having these hazardous substances in their home, as this will probably affect the asking price, and ultimately the selling price of the home.

Environmental issues include the preservation of vital resources in the surrounding area, such as clean air, water and soil. Preservation of the state's environment is important to most home buyers. This preservation also enhances the quality of life and could strengthen property values all over the area. The more the environment is successfully protected and cared for, the more that the interests of all the parties involved in real estate transactions are protected.

Hazardous substances within the home are particularly dangerous. A toxic environment inside is not a place where anyone would want to live, no matter how pristine the outside environment is! Asbestos is one of these hazardous substances. A reason why asbestos can be so dangerous is that is can be very hard to detect. Asbestos is actually a mineral that was widely used as insulation since it was so resistant to fire and able to hold heat very well. Most residential houses built before 1978 have some sort of asbestos insulation in them. In 1978, asbestos was banned.

The way asbestos can create a dangerous environment within the house is if it is disturbed or exposed. If this happens, the tiny filaments (which asbestos is made up of) become airborne and can cause respiratory diseases and illnesses. Before purchasing a house built before 1978, testing for asbestos contaminating materials should be performed. If the house tests positively, the insulation needs to be removed or "encapsulated" which is the sealing off of the asbestos. It's very important to beware of this problem, since it could become extremely dangerous down the road for the family living in such a house.