Termites
The Termite Situation
Oct/14/07 11:16 PM
Originally when we wrote up the contract, the seller disclosed that there was some termite activity, and that the termite policy had expired some time ago. Normally this isn’t a problem for a buyer, as the bank won’t actually lend you any money without a termite policy. Therefore it falls upon the seller to renew the policy, which can be in the thousands of dollars. In turn many termite companies won’t cover a house that has current activity or conditions that promote termite infestation. Well, for the seller to get a policy on the house they have to replace all the current termite damage, meaning they could end up spending several thousand in repairs and fixtures that allow proper ventilation in damp areas.
So now the ball has been put in our court. The seller has found a termite company that will cover the house on the promise that the house will be fixed. Thus they have offered us money in the amount of the least of the estimates obtained for the work (Ironically from the guy who owns the company that is going to cover the house with the termite policy). While it may not sound like a good deal for us and that we should just make them fix it, we however are fixing the foundation anyway. And since our foundation guy is going to be down there doing all that work, we are hoping that he might tack on just a little extra to go ahead and fix it. If that is the case then we could come out a couple thousand ahead. The seller won’t have the headache of fixing it, my foundation guy gets a little extra and the Termite guy still gets his policy. And we get to supervise and make sure it’s done right, instead of as quickly and cheaply as possible.
We set up a time this Friday to meet with the foundation guy AND the termite guy. Mainly because we aren’t EXACTLY sure what the problem is, we just know that there is apparently a lot of dirt to be moved. If it turns out that Randy is going to charge us more than the termite guy, then we will put the ball back into the seller’s court.
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