Radon is the type of issue you can neither see nor smell nor touch until the test comes back with a high enough number to make you think twice. You’re preparing your house for sale, and radon came up, from a test you had done in the past or recommended by a home inspector you had when purchasing the property, or you’ve heard that there are higher-than-normal levels in your community; now they’re making you fix it?
Essentially, no one is going to force you to remediate your radon levels in order to sell the home, but you MUST disclose what you know. This guide explains what radon is, testing and disclosure, and a seller’s home as-is cash works differently than the like-display method since value-based.
This article is not intended to provide legal, tax or environmental advice of any kind and is for informational purposes only. Each state varies in regards to radon disclosure requirements and no two properties are completely the same, therefore consulting with local or state environmental or health department and a licensed professional regarding how best to proceed specifically is an advisable step.
The Truth About Radon and Why It Is Important for a Sale
Radon- It is a radioactive gas formed from the decay of uranium in soil, rocks and water. This colorless odorless and imperceptible by sight is precisely the reason that lead issues occur during a real estate transaction instead of being something the homeowner simply notices on their own.
In fact, the CDC states that long-term radon exposure causes lung cancer and there is no safe level of exposure so reducing in-home radon will nearly always reduce risk below even the individual action threshold commonly referenced. The action level specified by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for reducing radon in a home is 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 1 of every 15 U.S. homes has radon at or above that level, which actually can occur in any home, no matter how new or old it is and whether it has a basement, because radon seeps in through cracks and holes in the foundation and not because of something a builder did (or neglected to do).
Preparing Your House for Selling: Should You Fix Radon?
There is currently no federal law that mandates mitigation of radon before a seller sells it. Three distinct things that we confuse.
- Testing: Discovering what the actual radon number is
- Disclosure: Getting a buyer privy to anything you know about it
- Mitigation: A system was implemented and put in place to reduce the level.
Federal law, and the vast majority of state laws, dictate that coverage be appropriately disclosed, not mitigated through avoidance. Because, usually one has to let a prospective buyer know if your home is showing radon in higher levels than normal. You won’t usually have to mend it first.
What You’re Required to Disclose
Disclosure requirements vary by state. Some states, for instance, actually require sellers to provide the results of any radon test they know about, or say whether or not the home ever has been tested at all; other legal entities include radon in a more general defect-disclosure form. At a minimum, a radon test result with an elevated reading in your lap not disclosing it to a buyer is something that will provide you liability exposure after closing no matter where you are at.
So What Is It That Makes Radon Such a Thing in a Regular Sale?
Mitigation is not mandated, but radon often complicates elements of an acceptable and basic listed sale in a few anticipated ways:
Inspection time, a buyer typically wants to inspect. Additionally, testing for radon occurs naturally in the course of a home inspection and the EPA even goes so far as to inform you within their Home Buyer’s and Seller’s Guide to Radon that if you’re weighing on whether or not you are going to buy any old house, you’ve got to have an idea what kind of radon level you’re buying prior than closing.
Lenders sometimes require it. Other times, radon testing has been included as an FHA mortgage requirement because HUD has issued guidance to mortgagees about safely integrating language on the risk of radon into home inspection forms used for homes backed by FHA-insured mortgages.
An extremly high print becomes a bargaining chip. Generally if it tests at or above the EPA’s 4 pCi/L action level, buyers will either ask the seller to install some sort of mitigation system or lower the sale price by at least as much as most professionally installed sub-slab depressurization systems cost.
However, you still have some buyers back out, or coast to coast renegotiating. If a buyer sees that elevated levels of radon has been detected on an inspection report, the process of mitigation is as easy as taking out the trash and putting it in its proper place.
Financing timelines stretch out. If a lender requires that radon be solved before ever closing on the property (regardless of an option to remediate), well, now you’re extending weeks to a transaction dependent on paths for inspection, appraisal and underwriting aligning at all.
A Standard Sale, the Answer if the Radon Is That Challenge at Hand
| Factor | Traditional Retail Sale | Cash Sale (As-Is) |
| Radon testing required before sale | Often, a buyer or lender will demand | Eagle Cash Buyers No obligation |
| Mitigation required before closing | Sometimes higher than expected if levels are high | Not required |
| Disclosure of known radon information | Required | Required |
| Buyer financing contingencies | Routine, and subject to radon discoveries | None, cash transaction, no lender |
| With radon, the buyer can always opt out | Moderate | In PAST purchases, this was not a consideration |
| Typical timeline impact | Weeks for testing, negotiation, or mitigation are added | Further timeline impact for radon alone |
The one thing that is common between the two columns is disclosure! That shifts all of that downstream from it, no lender who needs a radon issue rectified, no buyer pricing the sale based on an inspection item and not needing to establish a mitigation system prior to you closing.
What Eagle Cash Buyers Sees When Radon Is in the Picture
We purchase houses in any condition, including houses having raised radon levels or possibly no radon history at all. So here is what that looks like in practice:
Data is just data, no home insurance discount. We flip this on its head and request that sellers deliver what they know about their residence, including any history of radon test results, which is a baseline amount of knowledge for a buyer. You had better not have installed a mitigation system or hired a radon professional at the time of your call!
Evaluate if any mitigation system is going to be needed before bidding. Because we’re not a retail buyer and have FHA lenders that will close with radon levels unmitigated. For a more comprehensive view of how we handle condition and environmental issues across the board then check out our page on how we buy houses as is.
No lender-driven radon contingency. Since we are not buying with a mortgage, there are no underwriting guidelines stating that an acceptable radon result must be obtained before closing.
A straightforward, documented process. We will put you first in whatever you need to disclose, and then the paperwork is on us from there. Check out our how it works page to learn all the details.
If you have some other condition issues in addition to a radon question on your property that’s doesn’t change the process either. Posts about the real estate due diligence period and selling a house with code violations share similar scenarios as when a piece of property is found to contain more than an average listing can describe.
This Is the Stuff You Want to Make Sure You Have When You Disclose Radon
You don’t have to test before reaching out but some preparation will save time in the disclosure discussion:
- Locate any existing test results. Locate any paperwork if you or a previous owner, or perhaps even a home inspector performed a test.
- Auto check deployed mitigation system if exist. This is good info for a buyer if the house has an operational radon mitigation system and a report should state whether it was serviced and retested.
- Check your state’s disclosure form. Most states do however have a Seller’s Disclosure form, and part of that document is usually a standard radon question to fill out: knowing what your state says on the matter will help you know how to respond.
- Don’t guess or omit. If you have never tested and also do not know of a radon issue, it is fine to say that you do not know. This is different than omitting a fact that you actually know.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I Test My Home for Radon Before Selling It?
In general, no. Federal law has not required sellers to test prior to listing; however, certain state disclosure laws may pertain as to whether or not a test was conducted. Even if the seller has nothing done or doesn’t do anything, buyers will always want their own test as a part of the inspection even when financing is coming from certain loan programs.
Is It Possible to Sell a Home With Dangerous Radon Levels?
Is it illegal to sell a house with high radon? The normal practice is to disclose the knowledge that you have of it, not to fix it prior to selling.
If I Sell for Cash, Am I Exempt From Radon?
No. The obligation to disclose known material information, including radon testing results where appropriate, … does not disappear merely due to the method that a buyer is using to pay. The cash sale does eliminate those pesky inspection contingencies and lender driven remediation requirements that so often followed just after disclosure in a traditional sale.
Radon Mitigation Prices. How Much Does Radon Abatement Cost on Average?
Costs will differ depending on the type of home and foundation but a typical project undertaken by licensed radon contractors is sub-slab depressurization system installation. It is not a cost that you should need to incur just so as to market your home for sale cash money, because Eagle Cash Buyers does not require mitigation up front.
What Radon Level Requires Action?
While the EPA calls remediation in homes with radon greater than 4 pCi/L necessary and states that there is no risk-free level of radon exposure, it also notes that lower is always better than higher irrespective of whether a reading exceeds or falls short of an arbitrary threshold.
High Radon Readings Can Lower My Cash Offer
When analyzing a property, conditional and environmental variables, including an identified radon deficiency, are part of the picture together with geographical location and up-to-date market conditions. That is not much of a deal breaker, with retail buyers or some mortgage lenders.
Working in a Radon Question in the Contract Does Not Necessarily Mean Installing One Up Front
This is why radon disclosure exists: to let buyers know what they are getting into, not to force sellers to undertake a mitigation project which will do nothing because no one intends on selling the home. But if you think of testing, disclosure, and mitigation as the three things they really are then it’s not very scary to do: just disclose what you know and pass on the rest to the buyer making that choice rather than needing to clear each of those steps chronically first.
What starts to become really expensive and time-consuming in a conventional sale is that you are getting driven through the inspection line item with regards to some component of mitigation and that ultimately ends up in either a renegotiated price or the buyer walking away completely. And this is exactly the friction a cash sale is built to remove for us. So, if you already know, or have a good hunch that radon is an issue in your home and are wondering whether it’s going to take the sale down with it, give us a shout. We purchase houses in any condition and can discuss what disclosure entails for your specific home in 44 states.
