I will try and sum this story up as short as possible, but it’s quite complex, especially with people who aren’t on the “inside” of the foreclosure clean up business. I had my own Property Preservation (securing and cleaning up foreclosures) from February 2010 until May 2012. To quote a pro from the industry, and couldn’t say it any better...

“If a mold expert would team up with a journalist to expose the dangerous cost-cutting game the nationals and banks are playing in relation to mold, then maybe we'd see some progress. If consumers are made aware that foreclosures are being improperly treated for mold, an extremely serious issue, their reaction will put a stop to this practice. Banks won't like it when their properties with mold get a death sentence, so to speak, because nobody will buy them due to fear.

I walked into a property today that had been treated with bleach/killz for mold a few months ago and I walked out with a major headache. Mold is still there, you just can't see it now.

I would bet everything I have that those asset managers and the executives at nationals and everyone below them would NOT be trying to pay contractors $2/sq ft or w/e the pay is to bleach and killz mold in their own home. None of them would try to cut corners to get rid of the mold in their home, because (surprisingly) even though many of them lack intelligence, they are not mentally incapacitated “.

I have probably serviced between 2500-5000 properties in my short time, I’d say 50% give or take had mold, whether it was one square inch or so bad the house should have been demolished. I live in Tucson, AZ, and only serviced the bottom half of Arizona, we don’t really have basements or flooding and I have seen that much mold, I couldn’t imagine the houses where it freezes, floods etc. It has to be much more dangerous and life threatening. The banks, asset management companies, etc. cut corners and put us, the contractors at risk, and you could say that it’s our fault as well for not using the correct safety measures, but they pretty much blackmail you into cutting the corner by not paying us enough to take the safety measures, or threaten to lose the job, all our work, and pretty much our businesses if we say no, because they’ll just get the next guy in line. That said, they usually just bleach and spray killz, no matter the size or seriousness of the mold, it’s just a quick “cover up” to pass the house off and sell it. Not caring about the future occupants ever knowing it was there, and as many of you know, mold is still there, if you just spray over it (I would say because of the cheapness the banks pay, 50% of contractors just paint it, not use bleach.) They should hire trained and licensed mold remediation companies, but they know that those are high dollar, and it’ll mess up the sale of the houses, so they “make us” pass the house off to get it for sale quickly. Let alone the companies I have worked for that said to just “avoid the mold” “cut it out of the photos” to get the other work at the property and pass it off, putting us at risk going into that property anywhere from 1 -50 plus times while the mold is not taken care of, to prepare it for sale. I do have photos of a lot of these “unfixed” houses. Along with the addresses as well. If we can get this out to the right people, you will have tens of thousands of contractors coming forward to speak against these banks. I’m sure the banks have injured countless people and even taken lives by not informing new occupants there is still mold in the homes. Here is why I want this out there and to be fixed NOW, before anyone else gets injured. Because of my mold exposures (and lack of correct safety by me along with the banks etc). I now have mold in my body permanently, and have suffered serious side effects. It was in me so long and went untreated by 7 different doctors, 4 ER Visits, and an urgent care visit that all passed me off as “healthy”. The only things I have ever even gone to a doctor for before this were two kidney stones, so I don’t go unless I absolutely have to. (Would also like to speak to a lawyer about medical malpractice suits, as they racked up my bills, I informed them all that I was exposed to serious mold and they never looked for it, my first two ER visits were leaving a house so bad it had to be demolished, and I’m guessing the mold was in me before that and flared up) 4 CT scans, x-rays, and even a 5 day stay in a mental hospital because it has affected my brain and head so bad, I’m not who I used to be all the time.) It has now caused me to have Fibromyalgia and brain damage so far. (I have now found a very good mold doctor and we’re running all the labs to find out what kinds of mold are in me, whether there are the more dangerous ones or not, the extent of my brain damage and any other lifetime problems I will have now.) I’m only 24, and was in perfect health my whole life before this. I want to find the right team of Journalists, Mold Experts, and Legal Team to go against these companies that forced me into these working conditions, Chase Bank, HUD, Fannie Mae to name a few… But also get the exposure so others will step up (I currently have my two top contractors who worked for me getting checked as well because I think they have had problems because they’re also infected.) I want these banks to stop this practice, stop harming contractors, any future visitors and occupants of these properties, especially the children and pets. I have records of most of mine, so we can even get a list of addresses if there is somehow a way to make this very public and get the current occupants to doctors, or to inspect their homes if the mold was ever treated properly. I apologize for my “short” read, but I hope this is enough to get the right people in contact with me. I’m not just some sue happy kid, but I also don’t have money for my medical bills, let alone a specialist, or lawyers. I want this practice stopped, my bills covered and minimal pain and suffering, I’m doing this primarily because I am probably the only one who will step up, the rest have either lost their businesses because they chose safety over the money, or are in the loop profiting big off this very serious and life harming and life taking problem and don’t want to lose the money, and they’re the ones just paying guys to do the labor and harm them and not themselves.