Deficiencies and Effects on the Home

Hardboard siding naturally absorbs water and swells slightly. With proper sealant application, caulking and regular paint maintenance, this process can be controlled and kept at a safe level. However, improperly manufactured and installed hardboard siding can undergo serious deterioration, the effects of which can include:

• Buckling
• Rotting
• Softening
• Blistering
• Severe swelling

This can cause severe damage to homes and surfaces. Further damage can occur in the form of:

• Irremovable mildew
• Bowed wall studs
• Indoor leaks
• Buildup of toxic mold within the walls
• Cracked exterior stucco
• Cracked exterior paint
• Damaged nails

These effects can allow large amounts of rainwater to enter the walls and cause further deterioration.

Masonite and the Class Action Suit

Prior to the 1980’s, Masonite had manufactured high-quality hardboard siding (also known as “Georgia-Pacific siding”). However, due to cost-reducing changes in the production of their hardboard siding, the products manufactured during the 1980’s and 1990’s were of a low quality, loosely-pressed and susceptible to extreme swelling, buckling, etc.

During the 1980’s through the early 1990’s, many homes were constructed using hardboard siding products manufactured by the Masonite Corporation. Millions of structures were built using the defective hardboard siding, which then began to exhibit the signs of early deterioration, causing millions of dollars of damage to homes and businesses.

In 1994 a lawsuit was filed against Masonite contending that the product had failed to meet its warrantee; the result of the original lawsuit was a class action suit and a settlement which stated that the anyone who owned property that had been constructed using or fitted with Masonite hardboard siding between January 1, 1980 and January 15, 1998 was entitled to reimbursement for any damage caused as a result of the faulty siding.

Following the class action suit, Masonite ceased production of their hardboard siding. Millions of dollars were paid out to claimants who had taken part in the lawsuit, as well as other property owners who proved the presence damage from the use of Masonite hardboard siding.

Protecting Your Home

Not all structures that used Masonite hardboard siding (or similar brands which also demonstrated the deficiencies of lax production measures) were repaired or had the siding replaced. It is possible that a property that you purchase could have unseen damage if it has been constructed using hardboard siding. It is important that you look for and be able to recognize Masonite hardboard siding and/or the signs of severe siding deterioration so that you can protect a building from further damage.

Masonite hardboard siding will usually have the name “Masonite” stamped on the siding itself, sometimes accompanied by the notation “X-90″.

If the deterioration of any kind of hardboard siding is not severe, the process of deterioration can sometimes be slowed by the regular application of paint and/or caulk. Unfortunately this is not a permanent measure, and without replacement, defective hardboard siding will incur problems in the future. To ensure the minimum risk of deterioration, siding should be a sturdy variety such as vinyl siding. Some types of siding can be examined and replaced by a homeowner, but for absolute certainty that there is a minimal risk of siding deterioration or damage from incorrect installation, contact a licensed Alabama contractor.

from PROPEX.com

See a video review of the house in the above picture HERE

After my first review of this house (which was mostly shock, awe, and morbid curiosity) I had to go back and review it again, this time to try and determine whether this house should be rebuilt or bulldozed.

See Part 1 HERE

Great example of the poor quality material that was used on many homes built in the 1980’s and 1990’s. A class action lawsuit was lost and millions of dollars were paid to many homeowners who had houses built with Masonite Siding.

This house is a great candidate for rehabbing and flipping.

Harvest area Realtor(r) listed property

For Sale By Owner.  Harvest Alabama FSBO.  Contact me and I will put you in touch with the sellers.

Morbid curiosity demanded that I go look at this Huntsville area foreclosure.  Look for PART 2 I’ll be discussing whether this house is worth rehabbing.

“This year, we’re anticipating sales will peak earlier,” says Nicole Hall, editor in chief of Lendingtree.com, an online mortgage comparison service. “The best time to get your house on the market will be February or early March, and maybe even earlier if you want to avoid competition.”

Traffic on real estate Web sites begins to rise right after the New Year, says Ken Shuman, spokesman for real estate Web site Trulia.com.

Source: Forbes.com, Francesca Levy

Walter’s notes:  CLICK HERE for a video explanation of the tax credit, which now includes “step up” buyers.

The Huntsville Alabama Real Estate market should continue to outperform the rest of the country, but we will still be affected by national trends, including the “shadow inventory” of foreclosures that will help keep prices low.

This is a For Sale by Owner property in Huntsville, Alabama.   With a 5% down payment you can own this home for less than $700.00 per month.

If you would like to have your FSBO property featured on this site please contact me.

The argument centers on the possibility that recent gains in home sales and valuations could quickly be eroded by a flood of new bank-owned homes – homes that have yet to show up in foreclosure figures, either because of delays by borrowers and banks or by creative accounting methods.

But despite dire predictions – such as Amherst Financial’s prediction, previously reported by DS News, that 7 million new foreclosures lay in wait for the economy – the avalanche hasn’t transpired yet.

That’s according to the data provider Foreclosure Radar, which says the shadow inventory in California – ground zero for the supposed deluge of REO – is actually falling. The research firm says banks and investors in mortgage pools held 90,365 foreclosure properties in the state at September’s end – down 42 percent from the 155,269 bank-owned homes in California the same time last year.

So, what gives? Well, the floodgates haven’t broken yet, says The Wall Street Journal. Despite rising unemployment and default rates, foreclosed homes are selling faster than they’re becoming available on the market.

Thank the government for that, The Journal said.

“That’s because the foreclosure process – the time lapse between initial delinquencies and eventual sales on the courthouse steps – is being lengthened by government mandated efforts to keep many distressed borrowers in their homes by modifying their loan terms to ease monthly payments,” the paper said.

Certainly, every step of the loss-mitigation process takes time – especially when servicers are swamped with modification requests. And that’s been good news in the short term for the housing markets, as investors and would-be home buyers drove prices up on the rapidly shrinking supply of REO that had made it through the foreclosure pipeline.

For its part, the government has been working lenders over to find alternatives to foreclosure, as in a schedule of monetary incentives for short sales and deeds in lieu hinted at by the Treasury Department earlier this month. Loan modification programs, too, are expected to expand, both to include more borrowers under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program and to offer other options to borrowers who don’t qualify for HAMP.

That may just forestall the inevitable, though. Another 37,417 California borrowers received notices of default in September – more than double the 16,746 who got such notices a year earlier. And with unemployment expected to rise further into mid-2010 – it’s already at a record high of 12.2 percent in California – defaults are likely to rise again.

California, of course, is not alone in this struggle. Unemployment and default rates are behaving similarly in Arizona, Nevada, Florida and other hotspots where the housing bubble burst most violently.

Given those figures, the question isn’t whether the explosion in shadow inventory is coming. The question is how bad it will be when it does arrive.

That, Amherst says, is a predicament that’s “too severe to contemplate.”

By: Adam Weinstein