Bugs!

Photo 5651906 / Bugs © Httin | Dreamstime.com

Greetings all and welcome to Real Estate Secrets where we talk about everything involved with flipping and renting properties. I’m you’re host Linda Harley and today’s topic is…termites.

The first time I really had to deal with termites was on my property Alcazar. There was a stream running past the house that caused a lot of critters to come into the house.

I had multiple bug people come out to inspect the house and they all offered up different solutions, but the company that I found to be the most knowledgeable and most responsive was Northwest Exterminators.

The best part about their sales person was that he took his time to educate me and help me understand what was going on. I really appreciated this as I was a total newb when it came to critters.

There are two strategies when it comes to dealing with termites; exterminating and prevention.

I’ve been fortunate enough to not have a house with active termites in my flip and rental houses. If you do, the process involves having someone come out to evaluate the property. If the termites are isolated, like in a wall then they can do a local treatment. If the termites are more extensive they may have to tent the entire house and do a treatment that will take a couple of days.

This type of extensive and costly treatment can be avoided by taking preventative measures. This involves having someone come out and put bait traps all around the perimeter of your house. The bait traps will lure the termites and the bait will be poisonous to them. The company will come out once a year to check the traps and do an inspection.

For Alcazar since the property was next to running water and with the ongoing bug problem, I ended up having the keep Northwest Exterminators on a monthly contract because I never new when a guest would have a bug problem. With the monthly contract they would come out unlimited amount of times to deal with bugs and critters.

Depending on where you live you may or may not have to deal with bugs, but if you do make sure you have a good contractor to help you, and be sure to work the expense into your budget.

Whenever you go to sell a property you will need a termite letter. I’m in the process right now of getting a termite letter for Rocky. Since I’m a regular with Northwest Exterminators, they are able to send someone out right away. The price though for the letter has gone up from $50 to $75. But so has everything else.

I’m not expecting any termite problems at Rocky, because I had it inspected a couple of months ago and we haven’t seen any activity.

That’s all for today. If you found this info useful, drop a comment below. I’d love to know your bug story!

Too da loo

Linda