Termite Damage - Should I Go For It or Walk Away?

[Patricia Rozario]

I've made an offer on a multi family home in New Jersey. I plan to rent out and hold for a few years at least. The inspection revealed that there has been previous termite damage done in the wooden support in the basement. The current owner of the property lives in North Carolina and hasn't done much in terms of maintenance. I got a termite inspector to go and see the property and he said that it's extremely bad and that the owner didn't really solve the termite issue and prematurely added sistering essentially giving the termites more sources of food. There's a crawl space that's inaccessible because there's plumbing that goes across the door but likely there are termites there as well. He said he will be able to fix the termite issue, but can't make a statement about the structural integrity of the home. Due to the nature of the existing damage, it's likely that the termites went up into the walls and above. In terms of the price we're getting a discount of 50K compared to the market value in the area. However, we're unsure about the "unknown". Does it make sense to proceed with the deal and if so what are the potential worst cases and how much money would be required to offset those. 

[Lynnette E.]

If the termites were killed, then sistering would be the normal way to deal with the damage. 

When getting termite treatment often you can get a year to year warranty/insurance/guarantee to retreat if they come back for free or the annual premium.  If the termites are still active that is the way to go.  If they are not active, then the sistering should not be a problem and its pretty easy.  

Sistering is so easy, my two teens did a kitchen, laundry and dining room of one of our rental houses that previously had termites.

And with termites, you never know what could be in the walls, any house you buy has the potential for unseen termite damage.

Ask a structural engineering company to look at it to see what they would recommends.  Termite companies generally are fear mongers and over priced.