The Real Estate Educator's Association is trying to get rid of $4,500, and it's more than a little troubled that it can't.

The money came from the federal government, the Environmental Protection Agency to be exact, and it's supposed to go to a real estate instructor who will teach three courses - including a train the trainers course -- on radon detection, disclosure and mitigation.

The problem is they can't find anybody who'll do it.

"Well, that's not exactly right," says instructor Carmel Streater of Baton Rouge, who is heading up the REEA radon effort. "I have a zillion calls from people who would be happy to put on the program.

"But when you tell them the government expects the course to be given to at least a couple of hundred agents, that's where (the course providers) say they can't do it. They say they can maybe get six or eight agents to attend a radon course, but not a couple of hundred."

Radon, she says, just isn't sexy.

"Radon's just not in the news anymore like it was a couple of years ago. You're just not reading about any kind of big lawsuits. There just hasn't been a 'Love Canel' in a long time."

The law of the land on radon is somewhat ambiguous. Home sellers who know they have a radon problem are required to disclose it to potential home buyers. Home buyers who are suspicious a property may have radon should ask that a test be conducted.

Likewise, real estate agents who know that a property has a radon problem must make that known, and buyer agents who are concerned about a house need to recommend testing.

What Streater fears, however, is that no one much cares about radon right now -- which means REEA may have to give its $4,500 back to the Feds.

"Its like flood insurance," she says. "Right after a big flood people are very diligent about flood insurance. But it's been 10 years since a big flood, now, people think it'll never happen again so they don't bother."

The U.S. Surgeon General's office has issued the warning, "Indoor radon gas is a national health problem. Radon causes thousands of deaths each year. Millions of homes have elevated radon levels. Homes should be tested for radon. When elevated levels are confirmed, the problem should be corrected."

Adds Streater, "This is really bad stuff. It's ordorless, colorless. It attacks the kids before the adults. It needs to be checked."

Making it even worse, she notes, is the fact that getting rid of radon - in most cases - involves little more than inexpensive ventilation.

"But what I hear is that a lot of agents just aren't making the disclosures. Right now the whole idea seems to be don't ask, don't tell," says Steater. "That could come back to be a real problem someday."

Published: March 20, 2000

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