Pat Mellen Law LLC

01/19/2025

PSA for my LA people - pass it along.

11/20/2024

Glad to help raise awareness with M**h Toxins Awareness Alliance!

We are so excited to have Pat Mellen, Esq. of Pat Mellen Law LLC as a repeat contributor in Home Zone Magazine Vol 2!

Pat is an attorney that specializes in dispute resolution of residential properties, including instances of m**h contamination.

When it comes to real estate, what you see isn’t always what you get—especially with flipped homes. In her article, “The Hidden Risks of Flipped Homes: Protecting Yourself from M**h Contamination and Other Latent Defects,” Pat emphasizes that beneath their polished appearance, these properties can hide serious issues like m**h contamination. Buyers should thoroughly research a home’s history using property records, MLS listings, and seller disclosures, and always ask neighbors about the property’s past. Short-term flips, often sourced from distressed markets, come with higher risks due to rushed renovations and waived inspections. Protect yourself by screening for m**h contamination before closing to avoid costly surprises and ensure a safe home.

You can see Pat’s article here! https://zurl.co/WQYw

If you would like to be a contributor in a future issue, email us at Info@m**htoxinsalliance.com.

10/30/2024

Update on this tragic story in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. What would you do? Major or catastrophic loss of a home is ALWAYS an emotional journey. How do you live with accepting a 75% buyout - when there is little hope in functionally staying? Hobson's choice if ever there was one. Resolution of these cases always involves really tough "choices" forced on people who really don't want to make them.

FEMA will give $42 million for Rancho Palos Verdes to acquire properties. Those sites will then be turned into open spaces.

10/30/2024

Every residential house challenge is unique. DIY'ers beware? Some problems fight back.

“At that point, we should have called the Department of Health and got our rabies shots right then,” Riecken said. “But we didn’t know to do that.”

For a millennial couple buying their first home, on an island in the Puget Sound, the cost of humanely resolving the bat problem was more than they expected.

09/29/2024

Every step in this direction deserves recognition and celebration. They are acts of political courage and prioritization of pragmatic public safety in an era that is sorely lacking both.

Westminster is the second community surrounding the 6,200-acre federal property to withdraw from an intergovernmental agreement supporting construction of a tunnel and bridge into Rocky Flats Natio…

09/27/2024

More in the way of chutzpah and taking advantage of a tight housing market. (Full disclosure - I have no dog in this fight.) In case you think this kind of BS doesn't happen right under your nose. Just because it looks pretty does not mean it's real or it's safe. If it looks too good to be true ask a lot of questions. Check permits. Resist the urge to think the lottery fairy is smiling on you. This one blew up pretty spectacularly but I'm sure there are 10 more just like it getting away with putting unsuspecting people in danger for the almighty dollar.

Ash House has two weeks to destroy illegal construction

09/22/2024

What an incredible tragedy for these homeowners. It's hard to imagine how this can work out to any reasonable conclusion. A huge challenge to the legal system concepts of foreseeability and mitigation of damages. I'm not even sure who is liable in this situation. I also used to live near there and drove/ran/played golf/got married up on RPV and Portuguese Bend and it is so incredibly beautiful but now seems to be sliding back to the ocean. So sad.

Cut off from vital utilities for more than a month while living on the active landslide whose limits have yet to be determined, Keefer and his wife have seen their lives upended by the escalating emergency in ways they never could have foreseen.

09/20/2024

If this does not make you shudder you are not paying attention. What a terrible idea.

The Three Mile Island Nuclear plant, home of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, would restart under a deal in which Microsoft purchases all its power.

09/19/2024

One for the good guys - but this is just more evidence that NEPA-based litigation RARELY works. Good on them to be creative and find other ways to reach the same goal.

How cowboys, conservationists joined forces to stop drilling

09/05/2024

The nitty gritty of a sh*tty situation. This is an aspect of every m**h or mold or construction circus case I have. How to afford the remediation? Where to live in the meantime? Who pays for it all?
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"Some homeowners, from Hawaii to Colorado, wish their homes had burned down because they can’t afford to make them safe again.......
State Farm, the Hussey’s insurer and the largest residential carrier nationwide, disagrees that such a level of cleaning and restoration is needed. The company initially gave them about $29,000 to cover all the expenses associated with the smoke damage, including buying replacement items for belongings that outside experts said they should throw away. They are afraid to move back, Janice said, and unable to cover the difference. Her big family “has spent the last year jostling between hotels and apartments until State Farm stopped paying” for their rent in February. In a letter viewed by The Post, the carrier said that since it had paid for restoration , the family’s home should be habitable.......
Families whose homes were left standing after the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, Calif., and the 2021 Marshall Fire near Boulder, Colo., endured similar battles with State Farm and other major insurers. And as climate change and development turn more wildfires into urban blazes, homeowners are increasingly reporting smoke damage and sparring with their insurance companies. It’s a reflection, experts say, of the growing gap between what a disaster costs and what insurers are willing to cover..........
A big part of the problem, experts point out, is that there are still no industry standards or state or federal laws that regulate the assessment, testing and removal of wildfire smoke damage in homes. That means the insurance company and their chosen experts are the ones who determine if a home is safe and habitable, and who can rule that its contamination is not as serious or costly as physical property loss.
“There’s no oversight,” said Louis Adams, an indoor air quality specialist. “Anyone can do whatever they want.”
Colorado is trying to become the first state in the nation to change that. Years after the Marshall Fire left scores of residents with smoke-shrouded homes, state lawmakers are trying to create minimum “uniform standards” for insurance and testing companies as they assess houses that absorbed toxic, cancer-causing pollutants.

A year after west Maui’s deadly wildfire, Lahaina families are stuck in smoke damaged homes they say are making them sick because they can’t pay to fix them.

06/03/2024

Another wrinkle in the home buying market these days. Feds raised interest rates for a reason, and IMHO part of the intended effect was to slow down the residential real estate market where prices and competition were unsustainable. Some people got caught in the "squeeze" by bad advice from professionals whose livelihoods stood to be hurt when the volume went down.

Steven and Katherine Wolf missed out on the ultra-low mortgage rates of the pandemic. By the time the couple secured solid jobs and could buy a home, borrowing costs more than doubled.