Was Your Orlando Foreclosure House Ever Used to Cook Meth?
I’ve been buying and selling Orlando real estate since 2004 and in that time I’ve re-habbed over 300 houses. About 95% of these homes were Orlando foreclosure homes that were lost or given up by the homeowner due to none payment. Most of the time it was just typical normal things that happen in life type stuff like loss of employment, divorce, medical illness, etc. However, every once in a while we would pick one up that was used as either a drug dealers house or even worse,… a meth lab. “Meth” or “Crystal Meth’ is the abbreviation for the drug called Methamphetamine. It’s a highly addictive drug that can be created or “cooked” using over-the-counter products found at any local drug store.
Based on National studies that have been done, the U.S. has an estimated 2,500,000+ homes that have been contaminated with meth! The majority of Orlando realtors, home buyers, renters, wouldn’t have the slightest idea if a house was formerly used to cook this awful drug. This is why you sometimes you should rely on your own instincts. If something seems odd or weird about the house or you feel like something’s just not right, then you should investigate further. It’s not hard to tell when a house was recently used as a Meth lab as long as it hasn’t been cleaned up yet. Many times the owners or the lender will hurry up and change out the carpet or give it a coat of paint in order to make the house appear to clean and normal. Unfortunately, it takes a lot more than a coat of paint and new carpet to decontaminate a house from these nasty toxins.
Here are some tips to see if the house was ever used as a Meth Lab even after it’s been cleaned up
1- Ask the neighbors- This is the easiest and probably most accurate way…[Unless they’re lying to you so they can get a decent neighbor to move in next door] 2- Buy a chemical testing kit. 3- Contact the local police dept and inquire about any police issues on the property. 4- Talk to the local health dept for further advice on your suspicions. 5-Have it professionally tested [This may be a bit expensive, but worth every penny if plan on living there]
Here’s a Scary Piece of Info: According to law enforcement departments and contractors that specialize in meth lab clean-ups, only an estimated 1 out of every 10 homes that have been used to cook meth have ever been found by the police!
For former meth labs that haven’t been cleaned or covered up, it’s much easier to tell especially if everything was left as-is.
Tips to see if the house was recently used as a Meth Lab and never cleaned up
1- Look for chemical stains on the floors and walls. Meth labs rely heavily on strong chemicals and acids to manufacture the drug which means spillage resulting in permanent staining. 2- Dead or burned grass and landscaping. Meth is sometimes cooked in remote locations in order to avoid being found out by neighbors. They will then burn the evidence such as packaging materials, etc. in the yard. Look for burn pits and or dead or stained grass, this could indicate a place where meth-producing ingredients have been disposed of 3- There’s kitty litter present and no other signs of a cat ever living there. Kitty litter is sometimes used to soak up chemicals that have spilled. Look for it in unusual places like in piles or scattered on the floor as opposed to a litter box. 4- Windows covered or painted to keep outsiders from seeing what’s really cooking. 5- Weird plumbing and glassware. Meth labs will usually be rigged with some sort of ventilation system to get rid of toxic fumes. Police will also find different glassware around the house like what you’d find in a high school
chemistry class. 6- The house hasn’t been cleaned for a long time. Meth users only care about meth and cleaning the house is not even close to making their “to-do” list. 7- Plastic bottles are present. The “shake and bake” method of making meth is very popular and is made with the use of plastic bottles of all shapes and sizes. The bottles will sometimes explode causing people to get burned as well as fires in the vicinity of the explosion.
I realize that this article may be quite a shocker for someone looking to buy a foreclosure or a short sale in Orlando. However, when I read about the statistics regarding the relation between meth labs and foreclosure properties I felt that I just had to write about it. Toxins that can be left behind from a meth lab can cause serious sickness in people and eventually even death if someone is exposed for a long time.
