Of all the prospective property buyers currently on the market, 32% are first time home buyers. It’s important for these soon-to-be-homeowners to find out everything about the home, the entire property, and even the history of the area.
According to KTAR, first time home buyers should talk to the seller, the real estate agent, and anyone else involved in the property deal to find out if there is the potential for termite damage.
A thorough termite inspection must be done before any real estate contract is signed, no matter how eager the home buyer may be. In an average year, termites cause between $1 billion and $2 billion in property damage.
“So they’ll come right up inside of the wall, and they’ll build their dirt tubes in the wall void and stay inside the wall until the temperature and humidity are just right, then they’ll come swarming out,” said Thomas Tramel, a termite exterminator in Jackson, Mississippi.
WJTV reports that termites can swarm in numbers in the upper thousands and cause significant damage to a home’s structure. They can get into the wood and eat away at furniture, walls, ceilings, and the entire structural support of the home.
“The first thing to look for is excessive debris against the side of the house,” added Tramel. “Too much mulch or old mulch that hasn’t been taken out and you put new mulch on top of it. That builds up and causes moisture. Moisture is what attracts termites to a structure in the first place.”
New home buyers should look to this Australian couple’s misfortune before deciding on any new property investment.
According to the Sunshine Coast Daily, a Buderim, Australia couple who chose not to be named made an offer on a beautiful house two years ago after it passed building and pest inspection, and started to move in with their two young children to make it their home.
As soon as they started to renovate the home, however, the couple found an excessive amount of termite damage and termite infestations, covering more than 75% of the entire house.
Be sure to thoroughly inspect every inch of a home before any deals are made.
