SCAM II- Termites Can't Jump

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The introduction to this blog says personal finance for young people and I'm going on and on about houses, flipping properties and, now, termites.  Getting a bit far afield?  Maybe a little bit but not really because wealth building is about avoiding mistakes or at least limiting the damage.  Mistakes will be made but avoiding the one that sinks the ship is the important thing.  So back to termites.

Ok, yesterday we avoided the slimy buyers trying to pull the house level scam.  There is light at the end of the tunnel with just the termite inspection left.  And termites, or just the thought of termites, eating your house is scary.  My termite knowledge is a bit spotty so call up Mike Johnson, resident house guru.  And it went like this, me first then Mike.

"How can you tell if you have termites?"  "You can't really unless you get under the house or the house falls down.  If that happens its too late."  "Not getting under there."  "The inspector will and can tell."  "What if he says you have termites?"  "Treat 'em."  "How much?"  "$500."  "OK."

Since Mike is stuck, price wise, in the mid '80's I thought maybe $700-$800 but not $10,000.  Whew.  Limited damage. 

So the buyer scheduled the termite inspection and, lo and behold, we had termites.  Not bad but needed treatment and he would do it for a mere $800 plus tax.  Having the guy doing the inspection also doing the job didn't sit well with me so back to Mike.  "Got termites.  Know any good termite guys?"  "Greg Borgeson.  Tell him I told you to call.  Tell him to give you a good price or I'll beat the hell out of him."  "Will do, Mike.  Thanks." 

Got the number and arranged to meet Greg at the house.  Greg took a look at the termite report and said, "Figures."  There's a lot of body language in the home repair business and this meant "Seen this guy before and you probably got screwed."  No outright condemnation, just a look and "Figures."

"How do you get in the crawlspace?"  Since houses with crawlspaces don't have basements and thus no basement stairs, there is usually a trapdoor in the house or a removable panel outside.  I had put a 'skirt' around the house made up of siding screwed into the house between the house and the ground.  To gain access just unscrew a couple of boards and crawl on in.  Greg said "Let's find where he went in."  We walked around the house and did not see any boards or areas that looked like they had been off recently.  "Figures." 

Greg looked at the diagram the other guy had drawn (standard operting procedure in the termite trade) which indicated the critters were in the rear of the house.  I removed some boards while Greg put on a 'Ghostbusters' outfit.  As he was entering the crawlspace I asked about the worse thing he had run into.  "Hornets."  I would have thought snakes.  "How about snakes?"  "That's what this is for." he said, brandishing an ordinary, Home Depot hammer.  "That?"  "Just got to get close enough."  "Rattlesnakes?"  "No, usually copperheads."  I had a run in with a copperhead once and that was enough.  Copperheads are rattlesnakes with anger management issues.  They also don't have the rattle so you don't know they're out there until too late.

Greg was soon under the house and roamed around for about half an hour.  Threw out some boards and declared, "You don't have termites.  You had termites but not anymore."  "Where did they go?" I asked.  "Somewhere where they could find something to eat." he said.  Greg gave me a short course on termites--seems that when we put in the concrete blocks to level the house we cut off the path of least resisitance for the termites and when I fixed the plumbing in the bathroom I cut off their food supply.  I still wasn't getting it.  "Termites can't jump."  he said.  Actually they can fly but those are the swarmers, not the grunts that do the real work, or damage, in this case.  The grunts commute to work by going from wood piece to wood piece and when concrete is put in place of wood they go somewhere else.  Also, they like damp wood and when I fixed the bathroom the wet wood went away.  The termites went looking for greener pastures. 

"Anything else?" I asked.  "Yeah, cobwebs." he said.  I was confused since cobwebs are not all that uncommon in dark, dank places.  His point was IF the other inspector had done what he did, he would have swept away the cobwebs.  Since the cobwebs were there this meant the first inspector had not gone under the house.  The termite equivalent of the dog that didn't bark.  "Figures."  That word again.

"Has the bank seen this report?" he asked.  I told him the buyers realtor had the report.  "You're screwed.  They have the report and you'll have to treat."  "But there are no termites" I protested.  "He said, she said... you know." he said.  One experts word against the other. 

I saw the logic.  I would have the treatment.  "How much?"  Greg came back with $600 which was better than the other guy and I figured he would actually do the work so signed a contract.  Bitched at my realtor but resigned to it so go ahead.

Got home and got a call from the realtor.  Seems she called the other realtor and somebody realized or discovered that the buyers had some kind of homeowners warranty that would cover the treatment for a deductible of $200.  I think my realtor put the screws to their realtor.  Better than a sharp stick in the eye but I had a contract with Greg.  Called Greg, explained the situation.  His take was twofold--1) the warranty work wasn't worth anything and 2) he would let me out of the contract. 

So $200 poorer at the closing but we did close.

Bitter?  Not really.  I was out $200 but had found two honest men, Kevin and Greg, and that's two more than Diogenes.

   

Comments

[Henk]

Why don't you americans use bricks to build a house ?