Selling A House With Asbestos? 10 Things You Need To Know

It’s time to sell! You’re looking forward to finding your new home, but likely worried about getting top dollar for your current home. A lot can go wrong — will it close on time? What will the home inspection find? What if you miss out on your dream home while you wait for a buyer? But if you are selling an older home, you may have another worry — asbestos.

Laura McKenna is an experienced agent in West Concord, Massachusetts, an area with older housing stock where asbestos is common.

“Sometimes the owners have been in the home for decades and they don’t know,” she says, “But I can kind of tell by the size of tile in their utility room, or the size and designs on the tiles, that there’s likely asbestos in the house.” Applying her 40 years of real estate experience, McKenna knows to bring it up early with her sellers because she doesn’t want the transaction to fall through later on.

If you know, or suspect, that your home might contain asbestos, you’ll need a strategy to deal with it during your home sale.