Bed Bugs Epidemic

[Henner Mohr]

Around 20% of my portfolio in Denver has bed bug problems. Just a couple of weeks ago a house rental was infested, this is a first for me usually it's apartment buildings.

Apparently the lady was running a daycare out of the property and I had no idea. In any case she became infested with bugs and didn't know what they were. Only when the doctor found them in the clothes of her kids did she learn of them.

In any case I spoke with the bug exterminator that I hired and learned some very interesting things that I thought I might share. This is good information for landlords and tenants..

They are very difficult to get rid of. In the Denver climate they ask that you bag up all of your clothes and wash them in very hot water. Then you pour bleach/water mix into tubs and put all of the hangars in the mixture. (My tenant did this and was amazed at how many bugs floated up.) Furniture is discarded, mattresses are covered, the property gets 3 separate treatments and then maybe you get rid of them.. only if the tenant really cooperates.

I learned that people bring bugs home three primary ways:
1. Going to movie theatres. The bugs like the dark and sit in the chairs moving from person to person. They don't bite you they just travel this way. People with bugs sit down and the bugs crawl off onto the movie seats and then crawl onto the next person to go home with them.
2. Restaurants and airplanes are another popular means of travel for them. Again from the seats..
3. They travel up to 50 feet looking for meals and will travel through apartment buildings, infesting one after another.

Most apartment buildings in Capital Hill in Denver have bed bugs. All of the ones I had certainly did. (Not every apartment but always a few.)

You cannot just turn off all utilities and let them freeze in the winter. They can survive at least a year without any food.

There is now a dog service in Denver you can hire that will sniff a residence and detect them before you make a purchase. I think it's a great business idea.

The Bed Bug business is up fifty percent in just the last two years alone in Denver. The bugs are also becoming increasingly resistant to treatments and thus alternative methods need to be devised to get rid of them.

I hope this helps anybody out.

[Account Closed]

And of course, after you get the building clean, the next tenant is just as likely to bring in more with their stuff as they move in.