PFAS compounds found in wells around the state are causing concerns among home sellers and buyers in the state, but the presence of the “forever chemicals” has not slowed Maine’s hot real estate market, real estate experts said.
Residents with contaminated wells in Fairfield, one of the state’s hot spots for PFAS — per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are linked to kidney cancer and other health issues — told the Bangor Daily News recently that they are concerned their property values will fall and they won’t be able to sell their homes.
While some potential buyers have expressed concern about PFAS, that has not stopped sales and rising prices in the Maine market, where inventory continues to be in short supply and demand remains high, real estate professionals selling property in known PFAS locations said.
Home sales across the state rose in April for the third straight month compared with last year’s sales, according to recent Maine Association of Realtors data. It did not break out specific numbers in Fairfield, but sales for Somerset County, where the town is located, were up a little more than 2 percent, less than the statewide average of 10 percent, from February to April of this year compared with the same three months last year. However, the median sales price was $235,000, up 25 percent in those three months, a higher rise compared with a little less than 9 percent statewide.
“The stigma of PFAS is a concern to some people, but this will become like lead paint. It won’t stop people from buying,” said Donald Plourde of Coldwell Banker Plourde Real Estate in Waterville, who lists and sells homes in Fairfield.
Maine law requires sellers of real estate to provide the buyer with a disclosure statement that includes the date of the most recent water test and whether the test was unsatisfactory. But it does not specifically require PFAS testing, which is not part of the current standard private well water tests.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has conducted 416 tests statewide in areas of known PFAS contamination. Some 40 percent of the tests were in Fairfield, where about one-quarter showed well contamination, according to state data. The DEP has installed 488 filtration systems throughout the state for wells with high levels of PFAS so far.
State law also requires disclosure of known defects such as a waste disposal tank malfunction and the presence of hazardous substances such as asbestos, radon and lead paint. Plourde said this information is usually contained on specification sheets during the home sale.
Plourde has the only home listing that includes a notice of PFAS testing among the dozen for sale on Redfin.com as of Wednesday. His listing notes: “Land has been PFAS tested and report is available.” That Joy Road property is located in an area where many nearby homes have tested positive for PFAS and have state-supplied filters, but it did not show a detectable result. Plourde said the property has been on and off the market for about a year because of other challenges, including its large size of 80 acres, long driveway that could discourage people not wanting to plow that much and the electric wires that run through part of it.
Help us raise $30,000 to fund journalism that makes a difference to Maine communities. Explore the impact of BDN journalism and make a tax-deductible donation now.
Plourde said he has talked to potential buyers to educate them about PFAS and has referred them to the state for more information.
“Some people just want to buy a house right now, and if they have to have a treatment system to get water, then that’s what they will tolerate,” he said.
Buyers, sellers and real estate licensees have an obligation to deal honestly with each other, said Suzanne Guild, CEO of the Maine Association of Realtors.
“A seller must disclose known material defects about the property,” she said.
DEP spokesman David Madore said he is not aware of any efforts to revise the disclosure law to specify PFAS test results. He advises potential buyers in areas where the DEP is investigating PFAS to take matters into their own hands to assure they have the full information on a property.
“Buyers should inquire as to whether their well water has been tested for PFAS. If not, the buyer may have the option to include it in the terms of the sale,” he said.
Ashley Reny and her husband, Tony Reny, bought six acres of land on Howe Road in January 2020, used the standard well water test, and discovered within a year with more testing that it had very high PFAS levels. She is unsure if they will be able to sell their home now.
“If we had known we wouldn’t have bought the house,” she said. “It’s not just about maintaining the filter, but the whole unsafeness of it.”
Reny has a state-supplied filter, but she still drinks bottled water because the PFAS counts were so high in her well water before it was filtered. She and others in the town with high PFAS in their water said they remain skeptical that the filters are fully doing their job because they are being supplied by the same state agency that approved the spread of sludge on farms that caused the contamination in the first place. She wants PFAS chemicals added to standard water tests.
Michelle Flewelling, Fairfield’s town manager, said the publicity about PFAS in the town has not had a negative effect on home sales values. She said she has spent a great deal of time with realtors telling them where to find information on PFAS on the state’s website.
“There are a lot of folks that are concerned and a lot that are not,” she said. “When you realize that you probably inhaled PFAS all of your life if you had a Scotchgard carpet or couch or a Northface jacket or used mascara and lipstick that’s waterproof, it’s in absolutely everything. Unfortunately, there are a lot of questions that just can’t be answered.”
Most people in the United States have some level of PFAS in their bodies, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. PFAS chemicals are ubiquitous in society, being used in products from water-repellent clothing to nonstick cookware and some cosmetics. The chemicals have water-, heat- and grease-resistant properties. They are called “forever chemicals” because they break down slowly in the environment.
Fairfield has some of the highest PFAS test numbers in well water in the United States, said Robert Bowcock, an environmental investigator with Integrated Resource Management Inc. of Claremont, California. The application of sewage sludge to farms as fertilizer is the biggest contributor to land contamination in Maine and the United States, he said. Maine banned the practice in 2022.
If the drinking water is clean or has been treated for PFAS, the assessed value of the home will not be negatively affected, said Scott Fortin of Fortin Appraisal in Waterville, who has assessed homes in Fairfield. Home prices there and throughout the state keep increasing because of inventory shortages.
“There’s no difference in the value,” he said. “Fairfield has done well the last few years.”
There are 12 homes for sale in Fairfield at a median listing price of $229,000, according to Redfin. It said some are “hot homes,” meaning they likely will sell quickly. Most homes for sale in Fairfield stay on the market for 37 days.
Fortin said he encountered a different contamination problem when he lived in Belgrade for 10 years. He had arsenic in his water, so he had to install a reverse osmosis treatment system. But that contaminant did not stop his home sale, and PFAS with a treatment system likely won’t stop other sales.
“People are selling their houses who have had the filters, so PFAS doesn’t mean the house is unmarketable,” Fortin said.
Lori Valigra is an investigative environment reporter for the BDN’s Maine Focus team. She may be reached at [email protected]. Support for this reporting is provided by the Unity Foundation and donations by BDN readers.
