What do you do for termite control?

[Joseph Todd]

Hey all,

I've been working with my PM to get a termite control schedule put in place on my MF properties. All of them are between 4 and 8 units. Both she and the realtor on my most recent deal have been pushing the idea of termite bonds. I just received a quote from the termite company and it includes a $1,000+ one-time up front installation fee for some sort of device that prevents them on an ongoing basis, and then like a $200-ish per quarter charge on each property for ongoing treatment.

~$200 per quarter per property sounds about right to me for termite control, but I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around a $7,000+ up front cost to install their system at all of them. How do you guys handle termite prevention? Is this a standard thing or am I being sold an expensive system I don't really need?

FWIW, I live in Los Angeles where we are no strangers to termites and I've never heard of something like this.