Termites in Independence, MO (Kansas City suburb)

[Brent Kiger]

Quick question for anyone with some experience dealing with this. I am under contract on a duplex, and during the inspection, we found evidence of an active termite infestation. My initial instinct was to back out immediately, however in talking to my realtor he is making it seem like its not an automatic deal breaker.

I certainly am going to request the seller fix the termite problem. There was evidence in the basement, and when you walk in the kitchen of both units you could feel the floor joints sink a little. That seems like a huge deal to me, but maybe not.

Really just looking for anyone with some general advice in dealing with properties that have termites.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Brent

[Laura Williams]

@Brent Kiger

I had termites found in one of my properties. From what I understood it's not a huge deal as long as they haven't destroyed too much of the wood….supposedly the termites in KC aren't that aggressive as in other parts of the country. To treat them the cost was $500 and that is suppose to be good for 20 years. With that being said I would definitely get a structural engineer to look at your floor joist and the structure part of the house especially if you are noticing something that doesn't seem right & since termites were found. It's not expensive…a couple hundred bucks. I just had a house under contract where the whole structure needed a new center beam and floor joist had wood rot. I was able to negotiate 20K less in price to fix the problem. Was definitely money well spent to get the structural engineer in there.