Posted by DoubleJ on July 18, 2005 at 12:43:25:
Thanks a million!
Any assistance is greatly appreciated. God I love this place!
Are rehabbers generally scared of termites? - Posted by DoubleJ (FL)
Posted by DoubleJ (FL) on July 18, 2005 at 09:18:38:
I am working on a short sale with a guy whos going into foreclosure. My fear is in the condition of the property. In the bathrooms and kitchen, you can see termite wings all over the place, so they are definitely in the house. The house is a frame construction as well.
My question is, do most rehabbers laugh in the face of termite damage? Or do they all walk away from it? It would appear to me that there are some potential deals to be had in termite situations.
At any rate, I plan on trying to short this house close to the value of the land, in hopes that I can assign my contract over for a 3-5k fee. But I dont want to be in a situation where all of the potential buyers turn their noses up.
Only very, very, very large ones. - Posted by Terminix
Posted by Terminix on July 18, 2005 at 15:36:40:
If they are 6 feet tall or more.
Re: Are rehabbers generally scared of termites? - Posted by michaela-ATL
Posted by michaela-ATL on July 18, 2005 at 11:44:22:
JJ,
All my rehabs were 100 y.o. houses and not one didn’t have a previous or active infestation. It’s not the termites (you can kill those) it’s the extent of damage, that you need to be concerned with. If you found a lot of termite wings, that means, that those were ‘babies’, that were swarming. Those aren’t the ones, that eat the wood. Termites start at the bottom and eat their way up. If you find termite damage at the top of a wall, then they’ve probably been in for years and worked their way up.
Just take a good look at the damage, that has been done and base your offer on that.
Michaela
Re: Are rehabbers generally scared of termites? - Posted by Brian (UT)
Posted by Brian (UT) on July 18, 2005 at 10:23:17:
JJ,
During the years my brother and I were rehabbing we ran into this on one of our first deals. We contracted to buy a nice mansion in Piedmont California. We had a friend go in and redo the hardwood floors, we refinished the great wood work and my brother decided he wanted to move his family in and keep the place as his home.
So we went to the bank for a loan, of course they wanted a pest control report and did they get one. Our contract was for $70,000(1961) and the cost to repair termite and fungus damage was $35,000!
Thank god we had used a contract we had gotten from a real estate friend and it provided the sellers must provide a clear pest control report and pay for any repairs needed. We had done fix-ups before and ignored termite reports, lucky for us we used a different contract this time. After that we made it a policy to get a pest control report and a title report before committing any money.
We found our fellow rehabbers were doing the same thing.
Brian
Re: Are rehabbers generally scared of termites? - Posted by Phil
Posted by Phil on July 18, 2005 at 09:33:44:
This is tough. You really don’t know how long they were there chewing away. It could be 15K or more in damage. The end buyers might not be able to get a mortgage until all is fixed. Be careful!!!
Re: Are rehabbers generally scared of termites? - Posted by ski
Posted by ski on July 18, 2005 at 19:29:06:
Had bugs in the house.Wanted to refi. Bug guy found bugs. Bug guy tented the place. No more bugs. Done deal. Of course the bugs could have done some damage but I got a clean report. Mind you it was a refi. If it was for resale I would what any good rehabber would do and that is to tear down a piece of drywall (cost about 6 bucks) and look for damage. I would then repair the damage as would any good rehabber. Replace any damaged studs (3.50 ea.) and go about my busines.
Re: Are rehabbers generally scared of termites? - Posted by DoubleJ
Posted by DoubleJ on July 18, 2005 at 12:09:06:
Ahhh, the wings are from the babies! Thats good news, because I was basing my fear off of the amount of wings found (tons of them) .
So now I guess Im going to have to pull off some of the plaster or drywall and look at the frame some.
Re: Are rehabbers generally scared of termites? - Posted by Killer Joe
Posted by Killer Joe on July 18, 2005 at 12:36:23:
DJ,
Here’s a little tip I’ve picked up from termite guys along the way…if the ‘termite piles’ are a dark color, than they are old piles. If the color of the piles is lighter than it is fresh, and indicates more recent damage. Some times this can help you evaluate the damage.
If you are pulling off parts of the wall, start at the bottom, and inspect the studs just above the sill plate. If you find a few piles, vacuum them up, and give the wall a few good poundings. If the piles return you know the damage is extensive, at least to the studs in question. HTH
KJ