Pubdate: Wed, 14 Apr 2010
Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 Nanaimo Daily News
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608
Author: Derek Spalding

POT-GROWING OPERATIONS DECREASE PROPERTY VALUES, MAKE TOUGH SELL

Real Estate Experts Discuss Restoration Projects, Explain 
Depreciation Of Home Resale

Selling homes identified as marijuana-growing operations can be a 
difficult task, according to real estate experts in Nanaimo.

Property owners tend to spend anywhere between $10,000 and $20,000 on 
average to bring the property up to code, only to then take another 
$30,000 to $50,000 hit when they try to sell it, explained Stanley 
Chong, realtor with Realty Executives.

Once the police clean out a grow-op, city bylaw officers secure the 
home by boarding it up and turning off the water. The home can be 
sold at any time, but most owners work with city staff to obtain a 
new residential permit. A grow-op illegally transforms a home into 
agricultural use and it must be made livable, according to Ralph 
Topliffe, the city's building inspection supervisor.

Construction costs are high, but a key component of the restoration 
comes from air-quality consultants who ensure the home is free of 
mould and moisture left behind. Selling a remediated home should not 
be difficult, but it can be, according to Chong.

"There is always going to be that identification on the property 
statement," he said.

Gordon Wedman is the Nanaimo branch manager of Pacific Environmental. 
The air-quality consultant usually inspects about six grow-op homes a year.

His tests measure the amount of mould spores in a home and his 
inspections can cost up to $3,000.

The value of the home should not decrease tremendously after it has 
been returned to livable condition, according to Vancouver Island 
Real Estate Board president Jim Stewart, but the negative stigma 
attached to the home lasts well after it was sold.

"When I drive by those houses on Terminal (Avenue), I will always 
think: 'Remember when there was a bunker under there,'" he said, 
referring to the RCMP's latest raid.

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BY THE NUMBERS

Residential grow-ops closed by police in Nanaimo :

2004: 17

2005: 11

2006: 15

2007: 12

2008: 6

2009: 6

2010: 7
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart