Chelsey, found the sound of it (correct me if I am wrong) you have encountered subterranean termites and the wood underneath must have been touching soil at some point for these termites to infest the wood.Sounds like this can in fact be treated and resolved underneath without doing any work in the interior.

And why do you think I have so many picutures of my lab Sandi wearing a sign that says "My Human Buys Houses"??

Now that many homes here are heated by gas, there is a concern that the previous owner failed to remove or decommission (fill with sand) the ust (underground oil tank) leaving a leaking UST that is contaminating the soil.

We just get mad when they don't squander it in OUR DIRECTION.Milton Friedman the famous economist once said - and I paraphrase-"If the US Govt. took over the Sahara Desert, in 6 months there would be a shortage of SAND"I remain forever a fan of Real Estate,Rob ElyREauthor

The area I live in was pretty heavily hit by Hurricane Sandy.

J Scott - Here's the donate link I'd like for you to use:http://sandyrelief.org/Please donate the funds on behalf of BiggerPockets.com to the Sandy Relief Fund . . . that'll make my day!

Sandy Blanton,You cannot in any way personally benefit from your IRA's ownership.

Hope this helps.I've been doing a lot of research on this the past year, and this is what I've found (I could be wrong of course):Material prices aren't too much different around the country if you shop around for suppliers (there are differences in areas where shipping is more difficult and costly), and labor prices are surprisingly consistent (though there is a range of about 25-35%) if you ignore the high priced areas.Obviously, there will be regional differences in both labor and materials (especially in places where climate, soil and natural conditions impact building codes), but if you ignore places like NY, NJ, California, etc, you'll find that prices generally fall within 25-50%.I see you're in NJ, so you can probably throw the prices I mention out the window, but for a surprisingly large % of the country (especially between the coasts), prices will be pretty consistent within a 25-35% range.All that said, this is a topic I'm very interested in, and would love other data points, as I could be wrong

Originally posted by Sandy Blanton:I don't think I've ever bought a new washer/dryer.

Sandy, the majority of the properties aren't bank owned in my market.