San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

When someone buys a home, if the buyer is financing the purchase the lender will require a termite clearance for the home. If a home needs to have work done to obtain the clearance then the market conditions generally will dictate who pays for that. It is all spelled out in the purchase agreement. It is not a bad idea for people selling their home to obtain a clean bill of health from a pest control agency prior to listing the house on the market. In general it is only one of many contingencies so I do not see it closing sales any quicker. The long pull (more often then not) is the loan contingency.

The only difference w/ respect to REO is that pretty much any lender states out front that they are not going to pay for any remediation or treatment due to termites. So in order to obtain the clearance, the buyer has to pay for it.

SD Realtor

Problem is that if the house doesn't sell in six months it has to be reinspected. Might not need tenting again or the Termite Co. may say it does. Getting it done in advance is a good way of really knowing what is coming as far as cost go on that issue. The inspection and estimate are either free or cheap depending on the company.

For those that may need to do this....
Let the contractor know that you are going to get alternate bids and if they say they want to tent the house get the second and third companies to give you a second opinion on If it doesn't really need it the second or third company might say so. Look for the last termite inspection card near the attic access and see when it was last done if you don't know. The agent should coordinate most or all of this and hopefully is taking measures to keep termite co. from running up a bill.

BTW
The repair work they recommend for rotted or infested lumber can actually be performed by the owner or a handyman and the termite co. will inspect it and sign off. Most people just let the termite co. do the repairs. I have one experience where I did the repairs. The estimate was $1000 and the work took about 6 hours and very minimal materials.

CORRECTION: The lender does not require termite clearance unless it is required by the contract as written by the agents. If the agents dont mention termite clearance it is not necessary. The only reason it is done is because it was added to the CAR Residential Purchase Agreement. Surprised you guys didnt know that.

OOPS!
They don't call me the "Realtor to the Poor Dis-enfranchised and Unable to Afford Anything" for nothing.

Actually sdr, I am aware of what you are saying. I can see from my post why you might think otherwise. I admit to not being able to remember countering section 1 work off of an offer. How about you on that one? Writing offers it's always the customary, unless it is obvious the property is "as is".Even many "as is" sellers will do section 1. I will have to pay attention to make sure it is not me or my client in the future. Thanks for being surprised with the apparent lack of knowlege on this item.

Even though if the house doesn't sell in six months (half of the year), the termite re-inspection is pretty much compulsory so we definitely sustain the idea of doing it in advance.

Being able to get rid of all signs of termites and of these insects inside your house is something extremely important. Nowadays it can be easily done using termite tenting or fumigation because it is efficient and highly recommended by specialists.

We suggest people to do a little reading before hiring unknown private inspectors or even their local termite control companies (when handling with the sale of a house for the first time)

Cheers!
John

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Thanks for informative artical.
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