Often, home inspectors will offer “a free termite inspection” included with their pre-purchase home inspection price. Almost always, home buyers aren’t aware that such termite inspections come with no guarantee whatsoever! When a licensed pest inspector prepares an inspection report, most often the inspection is guaranteed, so that if termites are discovered after the home is purchased, the purchaser is protected against paying for related repairs.
Newsday published an article on this subject and outlined how real estate lawyers will recommend an independent termite inspector:
“The engineer found no termites, but when he wouldn’t give a guarantee, I suggested [the buyers] bring in a licensed pest controller,” Minella said. With a written guarantee, buyers would be protected against paying for repairs in case termites were found after they moved in.”
When I offer a bid for a home inspection, I will recommend a choosing a licensed pest inspector who will prepare a separate termite report. These inspections and reports are usually competitively priced because the inspectors anticipate that some of these inspections will lead to work down the road. As a matter of fact, this gives them an incentive to make an extremely thorough inspection in order to find infestation. In one case, a termite inspector found a clean house but found infestation under a log right next to the house. In this situation, treatment was recommended in the report.
In a number of cases, licensed termite inspectors found massive infestation problems and these reports were used as negation tools because the buyers wanted the houses regardless. The slightly higher cost for a separate termite inspection is worth it for a number of reasons.
Termite photo by Scott Bauer from Wikimedia Commons, at this link
Tags: Long Island termite inspections, Home inspectors offer termite inspections, Hamptons NY termite inspectors
