I am a home owner with my house on the market on Del Amo Blvd, Torrance,CA near EXXONMOBIL.
Environmental investigations have found portions of this area have methane gas and petroleum hydrocarbons, including benzene, in the soil and soil vapor (air spaces between soil particles)at levels that have the potential to cause adverse health impacts.
There are currently 10 homes are contaminated.
My house is on the market and priced below market value but as per my Realtor due to the publicity regarding the 10 homes that have been found contaminated this would be the best price to list it at and possibly taking a little longer to sell. My house would have been listed at $430 -$425,000.00 based upon the current market and my location with the Torrance school district.
As of March 25, 2008 when my house went on the market we have had only a few showings of this house which I truly believe is the result of the contamination found on this street. We must disclose this information to prospected buyer and having them walk away or possibly not getting financed by the lender.
I have contact Carolin Keith with ExxonMobil regarding my house being on the market and requested to have my home tested in order to provided a clean bill of health for my house, which I would hope would help in possibly help in selling my home. She informed me that 20 other homes have been selected to being tested and I was unable to get on this list since I did not attend the meeting when the homes were able to sign up for testing to be done. I was also informed that the results of these 20 homes will not be available until the end of July and if at that time they find anything that requires additional testing of homes I would be put on this list.
Even if we have a clean bill of health, I truly believe that this street is marked and there are too many unknowns for a prospective buyer and lenders.
I have been advised that my home is not affected due to a perimeter has been placed my home is not in the affected area.
I found out that another 9 homes have been offered some form of financial assistance, these 9 homes are adjacent to the 10 homes that are contaminated, which excludes me.
I have spoken again with Carolin with EXXONMOBIL about this and she has advised that they currently do not offer assistance do the other homeowners on the street who are not affected directly by the contamination. However I am affected by this completely because I can not sell my home. Who wants to live on a street that is contaminated and uncertain about if and when my property may or may not be contaminated.
I am in a terrible situation, I must re-locate to another state to care for my mother who has had a stroke and requires assistance and must leave by the end of July and can not afford to have a mortgage payment. With the current market situation and adding contaminated soil to the mix does not help me.
I need help with this.
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