House with sump pump in an area not a lot of house has one

[Arif Bhuiyan]

I'm looking at a house that has past history of flooding the basement. Owner had fixed the damage in 2014 and installed sump pump with lifetime warranty. No issues since then other than pump got activated a few times every year. Pump is being checked up every year and has a generator too. What could be potential issues down the line if I buy the house. Only a few houses in the neighborhood has water issues. What kind of cap-ex I should keep in my long-term budget for any potential water issues? Property is in Greensboro, NC and I live out-of-state. Thanks so much!

[Shane Wolf]

Where I grew up, every basement had a sump pump. Sounds like they did it right with regular maintenance checks and backup generator. The things I would plan for are 1) ensure you have some type of flood and/or water backup insurance on the property and 2) plan that at some point it will fail and set aside reserves for the deductible and 3) plan for future replacement of the pump and generator. Would base the amount on the expected life span of the models in use.

One semi proactive thing you can do, if it already doesn't have it in place, is get a water sensor alarm. Is a relatively inexpensive device you can put in the sump pump hole. You place it at a water level higher then where the pump would normally kick in at. If water reaches that level, either would mean the pump has stopped working or cannot keep up and will send a audible should out alerting the tenant of a potential issue for them or your PM to quickly address.

Is the basement finished or just used for storage?