BiggerPockets

Dear all, we just finished all the remodeling, and my listing agent just have a termite company did a termite inspection. that is the nightmare, the termite inspector told me that we need to break up the kitchen tiles to replace couple of rotted wood which we didn't discovered.

will this re-inspection report kill my deal? I am having very low margin on this property due to over remodeling.
and what is the best options for me now? the staging furnitures are at the property already, and I signed the contract agree not doing any work after the property is staged.

Steve's idea will likely not fly as the end buyer likely has a lender and lenders will not usually loan without a clean termite report.

You have just learned another valuable and costly lesson taht $95 could have saved you. Get a termite inspection during your purchase process so you know what issues are there and can handle them during your rehab.

Since you are, where you are and the problem is only in one spot (as indictaed by your post) use plastic to seal off the kitchen, chip up the tiles, replace the bad wood beams in teh subfloor, and replace the tiles. From your description, I can assume that this is an elevated foundation. The other option may be to work from underneath the home (although very difficult).

As to your contract with teh home stager, you have two options:
1. Ask them and get permission, describing the small amount of work that will be done and tha erea will be sealed off during the work performed.
2. Seal of teh area, get it done, and don't tell the company and you will be liable for any damage done to their property. If you are willing to take on that liability, then you may go that route, otherwise, you will need to get permission or have them romove their property, do the work, then pay to have them bring it back.

Will, the staging company is very strict on this. I might not be able to do it. my only option is to do it outside or leave it.

Darrell, I will have my contractor to come back to do the structural repair. I am hoping I can do it underneath or break the stucco on the outside walls. I think learned the lesson on this first flip.

Dear Will, the termite company suggested to open up from the floor to fix the damage wood at the crawlspace, that means we might not have enough room to fix it underneath. My listing agent suggested to just leave it. I am kind not feeling not comfortable with it. the re-inspection report indicated $4900 termite.

As others have said, this should be able to be fixed from underneath the house... You may need to dig out a little more dirt... Make sure you're not hitting utility lines underground...get a few quotes from framers... Some will say to do it from above bc they want a bigger job fixing the tile as well... Also some may not want to go underneath bc it's dirty, tough work with not a lot of space...call a few different contractors and someone may be willing to work hard... My framers almost always fix foundations from beneath

Know that termite companies charge very high rates for repairs on termite work, mainly for two reasons: 1. They are responsible if anything gets re-infested if they do the work wo they insure themselves by charging high rates 2. They are not contractors so they sub contractor work out, they only do the pesticide/insecticide treatments so the rates are much higher than you can do.

I see many termite reports showing some very minor drywrot damage and bids of $900 to fix it, yet it costs me less than $100 to fix it. Keep that in mind, your contractors will not be charging you (at least they better not) $4900 for this work.

Look for a new staging company. I only pay mine if the house sells, no way they get a free ride on my dime.

Brokers only get paid when it's sold and stagers are just another member of the marketing team, make them put their money where their mouth is when they are telling you how quickly it will sell and how much more it will sell for. And an investor,or broker, is not a one time customer.

And if they are going to be jerks after being informed of the situation then they go into my people not do business with binder and I let others review it along with my OK to do business with binder. Funny, they always look at the do not do business binder first.