What to do after home inspection and presumably harmless termites

January 16, 2015 3:52 PM

Under contract, wondering about negotiating without tanking the deal. Plus, inspector found some evidence of termites that were there (presumably) long ago.

We’re under contract to buy a house, and I’m not sure if/how to negotiate from where we are.

The answer to my questions should be: get guidance from your real estate agent, but I’m not super-confident that the agent will work for us here. To keep it simple, let’s say: this is a small town and I believe our agent and the seller’s agent are a little “on the close side.” That might just be my paranoia – but either way, I believe I’d best take responsibility for my interests.

We recently did the inspection. For the most part things were favorable, and the inspector seemed genuinely surprised at how little we’re paying (note: we’re not in a hot market. It’s a relatively small town with a not-great economy. On the bright side, hardly any competition from other buyers. At the same time, there isn’t much available on the market so I don’t want this to fall apart).

The most glaring exception would be that there was some evidence of termites in the crawl space. Damage was (presumably) limited to a small area, and the inspector said the activity was most likely over 10 years old (1940’s house) as any shavings, etc have been covered by dust and the area is currently dry. He said water must’ve gotten down there at some point, but the termites probably died after conditions dried up. He acknowledged that he can’t be 100% certain, but he’s pretty confident they didn’t work their way very far. My sense of things is I trust the guy and he probably knows what he’s talking about, but what do I know?

There are no other health/safety issues. A few items need attention, and those along with repairing any evidence of termites would probably cost 5K or less. Which is real money, but that’s not going to ruin us.

The issue: I’m not great at negotiating or asking for what I want. So what do we ask for, if anything (creative ideas are always welcome). My fear is that asking for too much will lead the seller to say “no way” and look for other offers. (My assumption is that if I raise an “inspection objection,” that opens the door for the seller to exit the agreement.)

I’m probably good at driving a hard bargain and letting a deal fall through if I don’t get what I want, but in this case I don’t think that’s a productive approach (is it ever?). I gather that the seller is not super-motivated (has been firm on price), but the termite issue should be news to the seller. At the same time, we’re supposedly getting a decent deal, and supposedly the termite thing is minor.

Emotionally, I’m also tired from moving, dealing with agents and lenders, etc and I don’t want to tank the deal by asking for too much and find another (more expensive) home. I don’t think I’m emotionally attached – my concerns about the real estate agents have had me willing to walk and wait for a while now. Spending a few hours at the property with the inspector made me warm up to it...

Anyway, that’s enough reading to subject you to. Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions.

Thank you.

posted by powpow to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

Hi, I am also in the inspection period of a home purchase! There's a thing, in my state at least, called a Repair Addendum which is where you ask for any repairs that you want made (treat the area, treat all wood under the house, replace affected wood, whatever). Get a bid on what you'd like done an attach it. The seller checks one of three boxes: to accept and do the repair, to not accept and propose a different solution (use their own contractor or whatever), or to just reject. At that point, it's up to you whether you want to walk away or not. The seller wouldn't be likely to walk at this point, so it does not hurt to ask.

Note that I am not even remotely a real estate agent, and that if your real estate agent can't advise on something this simple, definitely do not work with them again or recommend them, at the very least.

Good luck.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 4:08 PM on January 16, 2015

You have two good options
1) hire a termite specialist to take a look at the spot. That $150ish will give you peace of mind or real bargaining power.
2) Trust the inspector that this is no big deal and you're getting a good deal
posted by Murray M at 4:09 PM on January 16, 2015

Yep, get a termite inspection with a guarantee.

This small an amount of termite activity is so so not a problem. Just get a second opinion to be sure.

Enjoy your new house!!
posted by jbenben at 4:14 PM on January 16, 2015

Thanks all.

UPDATE: double checked w/ the inspector. He said moisture level in the crawl space was about 7%.

Certainly going to work with a different agent next time...

I don't know if I have time to get more investigation unless we extend the Inspection Objection deadline. Or I can just get somebody else in there and forfeit the earnest money (which would probably be less painful than living through a major termite ordeal).

Thanks again.
posted by powpow at 4:24 PM on January 16, 2015

Who recommended the inspector? Was it the agent? If so, be wary.

I agree with the suggestion to get an actual termite specialist to inspect and give you an estimate of what mitigating the damage or any remaining problem would cost.

And I think you are being way too cautious in your approach to the inspection clause. If everything you found is truly <$5K, I would ask for every single thing you found. Worst they can say is no, but they are very unlikely to actually say no and then go and look for other offers - they don't have to, they can just say no or they can give you a small credit of cash to repair things yourself. Either way, even if they say no to everything, you have the option to go ahead with the purchase or to say that if they won't do the repairs it's unacceptable and walk away. Your advantage is that the sellers don't know that you aren't going to walk away if they give you nothing.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 4:53 PM on January 16, 2015

Source: I just bought a 100 year old house about 4 months ago after a very thorough inspection. I asked for everything I thought was reasonable for repairs (certainly far from everything the inspection turned up) - they repaired nothing but gave us a $10K credit at closing. I think it is pretty much inevitable that more things will turn up that were not on the inspection if it is an older house, and that was the case for us - we've spent more than twice the credit so far. If you are trying to stretch your dollars I would recommend getting estimates from all the contractors you would need (plumber, electrician, chimney people, etc) because sometime the inspectors' estimates of what precisely needs to be done or how much it will cost are not that accurate.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 5:00 PM on January 16, 2015

Get a termite inspection. Regular house inspectors are generally not qualified to do a rigorous pest inspection.

It doesn't matter how dry it is under the house. Termites can build earthen tunnels on surfaces or underground to bring in outside moisture sufficient to support their nesting. Local moisture in not necessary. They carry moisture to the food source.
posted by JackFlash at 5:18 PM on January 16, 2015

N'thing the termite inspection, by a REAL termite/pest inspector.

He needs to check the crawl space, but also to check the woodwork in that area of the house for signs of termite damage. This may be old damage, not a result of a current infestation, but while replacing trim may be relatively trivial, not so structural timbers.
posted by GeeEmm at 5:26 PM on January 16, 2015

Similar to you, our inspection showed some old termite damage. There was no question in our minds that we would be getting an independent termite inspection & treatment with guarantee, but since there wasn't any significant structural damage needing repair, we didn't feel that we needed to negotiate this into the sale. Also, there were more important things that we wanted addressed w/repair credit.

We just considered it to be Official Home Owner Maintenance Task #1 and got it done after we closed on the house.
posted by desuetude at 5:33 PM on January 16, 2015

You can't buy or sell a house in Georgia without a separate termite inspection. Also, all houses in GA have evidence of a small infestation sometime in the distant past.

Ask them to do repairs on anything in the inspection report. They can decide if they want to, or if they'd prefer to give you some cash back.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:33 PM on January 16, 2015

What I did was I called a pest control company that offers termite bonds. I read the fine print to be sure they'll become responsible to fix both past termite damage and any future termite damage. They did an inspection that I felt good about because they were going to be on the hook for anything they missed. I have to pay them around $200/year to keep re-inspecting but it seems worth it for the peace of mind.
posted by Bentobox Humperdinck at 7:04 AM on January 17, 2015

Termites definitely don't need moisture to survive and prosper, although they are attracted to areas with moisture. Substantial damage can be done that is not at all visible, although the fact the inspector did a moisture reading is positive - this is one of the ways termites can be detected.

If you're concerned, get a termite specialist in to check. Either way, there's nothing wrong with asking for a variation on the contract based on the inspection findings and the seller almost certainly knows about the issues and is currently holding their breath that you won't find them. The buyer wants this deal to go through (particularly if your area is a slow market), so will almost certainly compromise to some extent on price. If not, you haven't lost anything and it sounds like you're comfortable with the purchase either way, so there's no need to put the pressure on yourself (and possibly the stress, hassle and cost of finding another house) of making a price reduction a dealbreaker.
posted by dg at 2:49 PM on January 17, 2015