Can I tent a house to kill termite and not fix the repairs?

[Dan Marl]

Hello everyone.

I just bought a house and plan to do minor repairs before I will rent it out. The problem is that there are termite damages around the house (the fascia, soffit).

I don't have the money now to fix the wood but I plan to tent the house to kill all the termites. Is that a good idea? Tent the house not and fix the damage later? Or do I have to fix the damage and tent the house immediately? The house is in Southern California. 

[Jake Wiley]

@Dan Marl - Did you get an inspection?   Do you have any concept of how extensive the damage really is?   Do you know what kind of termites they are?  Is it localized to just one area, or is it spread out all over?   

Fascia and soffit damage isn't a real concern unless it's letting water or pests in, but the real concern is how much damage they've done behind the walls and areas you can't see.   If they crawled their way up from the ground, they've had a lot of wood to eat up on the way up to the soffits.    If they are all over, it's not a localized problem that you'll be lucky to catch with the tenting.