DESPERATE FOR A HOME, PEOPLE SNAP UP GROW-OPS

Sale Of Condemned Houses Alarms Calgary Alderwoman

CALGARY - Calgary's red-hot real-estate market is so frenzied people
are lining up for condemned houses that were used as drug operations.

And while some houses are listed as former marijuana grow-ops, Ald.
Diane Colley-Urquhart says there could be thousands of similar homes
on the market which desperate, unsuspecting buyers may purchase.

"The market is so hot (that) these houses are selling with zero
conditions on them," said Colley-Urquhart, who toured a former grow-op
Sunday with a woman who wanted to buy the three-year-old house listed
for $320,000.

"She wants to get someone to come in and look at the damage ... but
she hasn't got time because people are lined up knee deep to buy the
house," said Colley-Urquhart, who chairs the Stop Grow Ops Calgary
Coalition.

In recent months, prices for resale homes have soared as people moving
into the booming city scramble to find a place to live. The possession
time for new homes has stretched to up to 14 months as builders
struggle with a shortage of workers in construction trades.

Calgary realtors sounded the alarm last fall about former grow-ops
being put on the market. Housing agents now require sellers to sign a
disclosure form noting the home's former use. Although police shut
down 300 operations last year alone, there's no way to know if that is
just the tip of the iceberg.

"We don't know if we have 900 of these houses or 9,000,"
Colley-Urquhart said Monday.

The seedy past of the home she toured is no secret. It's mentioned in
the real estate listing, health warnings are posted on the windows and
the home looks as it did when police shut down the grow-op in April
2005.

Dozens of pots -- minus the plants -- cover the unfinished basement
floor. There are telltale changes to the ventilation system and holes
are ripped in the drywall. Chemical bottles are spread across the
kitchen counter.

The realtor handling the house said there have been three offers since
it went on the market a week ago. Elizabeth Rutto would not say what
people are willing to pay for the house, but added that, in general,
such homes have sold for top dollar.

"A few have sold this year and all have sold well over list price,"
said Rutto.

"That's not surprising because they're often listed well below market
value. A few are listed $100,000 below market value."

Kevin Clark of the Calgary Real Estate Board, who has shown the
condemned house to a potential buyer, said what's more worrisome is
that there are sellers who don't want to be upfront about a home's
past and who opt to go directly to potential buyers.

"The huge red flag we see is that within the speed of this
marketplace, if I personally owned a grow operation, the place to be
selling it is privately," said Clark.

"If a contractor/tradesperson was to be the buyer of the house, they
might look at it quite differently and be able to remediate it. Your
average homeowner, I'd say absolutely not, avoid it completely. The
problem we run into is that there's no standard measure for
remediation."

A public health inspector with the Calgary Health Region says anyone
buying a condemned house can't move in until the property is brought
up to acceptable living standards. That can cost tens of thousands of
dollars.

Inspector Vicki Wearmouth said it's not uncommon for a home to need
upwards of $35,000 in repairs, which can mean stripping a house down
to its studs to get rid of mould. In the most extreme cases,
demolition is the only answer.

"I get many, many calls from realtors and prospective purchasers
questioning individual houses that they are looking at," said Wearmouth.

"If they purchase the property, they can obtain a property of the
order that outlines what work is needed to be done before they can
occupy it. The notice of health hazard is issued to the property. It
doesn't lapse just because somebody sells it. It has to be
remediated."

Wearmouth said health inspectors condemned 78 houses in 2004 and more
than 100 homes in 2005. She expects that number will continue to rise
this year.