Should I buy a house with septic system

Question

A solid house deal in decent school. I am thinking about buying it, fixing it and renting it out, but it has a septic system. I am not sure if I should get into it even if it is working now. I am not hands on and I am not looking to be hands on myself down the road either. I just want to invest.

P.S. I am an investor located in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am trying to build my passive income rental portfolio through rental properties like multi family or single family homes in decent school areas. If you are interested in going along with me please shoot me an message. I would like to partner with another investor to do some flips for capital and build the passive income pipeline at the same time. I have found a rehab partner with 8 remodeling awards that can do the work.

Erin Tarantino · Answer

These are great videos

https://youtu.be/udBaGyzJyU8

https://youtu.be/jmBqNABTuPE

Tim Davis · Answer

Hi Carrie

I am in Florida and we have a lot of homes that are not connected to public sewer systems.  Septic systems are not a terrible thing but they do need to be maintained.  Some of the things that you might run into are roots growing into the drainfield which could cause the water to back up into the house.  If the drainfield can be jetted that would solve that problem for a while.

Also pumping out the tank every 2 to 3 years would be a good practice.  That cost in my area is about $200 to $250.  I own several propeties with septic systems and the worst thing I have had to do was replace the whole system which ran about $4,000 but it should be good for 15 to 20 years.  Hope this helps in your desicion.

Allyson Straka · Answer

Thanks for all the information everyone. Going to see a duplex with septic and well tomorrow. Being infamiliar with these systems made me nervous and would have not considered investing there before but this really put my mind at ease

Josh Stack · Answer

Morning,

I'm doing some self education on septic systems as we are likely to go under contract for a complex with multiple systems.  I found this thread very helpful and educational.  Thanks to all for the good replies.

Jeff Hengehold · Answer

One thing you can do is call the Health Department.  Ask what type of systems are approved for the area.  There are different "Brand Names".  Then call an installer and get a typical install price.  This will give you an idea what the worst case scenario will be.

Dell Schlabach · Answer

We are in Ohio and rehab a lot of houses with septic systems, we put in 30+ systems in the last eight years

We replaced six last year and three this year already. In our area typical costs are 8,500-9,500 for an off lot aeration system. We have had numerous quotes in the past and use one main contractor these days that does good work at a reasonable price, if you get three quotes you will likely find them coming in between 8,500-12,000

For small city lots, or other lots with  soil that has bad drainage, in our area we put in off lot airation systems. County determines what they will allow, but  these are the cheapest in my experience.

For an area with good soil, if putting in leach lines you should still be under 10k .  If you have a large lot say an acre or more and they require a mound or drip system, these are more expensive, most we paid for one of these was just over 14,000

Age of tanks is important to take into consideration, I was told by couple septic contractors that life expectancy of a septic is 30 years. Although if in an area with good sandy soil they may go 40-50 years with out much  problem. If in a very clay area and you have leach lines could be less then 30.

You mentioned septic under a driveway 20-30k repair . Something seems off, unless it was under a roadway that you had to build a temporary bypass for traffic and had engineering requirements that added a major expense. New system should be about 10k and a driveway repair, under 5k . But there are unique situations.

We had one recently that required off lot discharge for a new system, and no acceptable discharge ditch on our property. It required engineering to go across a small street in allotment, building a new temporary road so fire trucks could get into the neighborhood during construction, etc etc. About 10k extra. We originally figured 10k for system 3k extra to go across the road.  We ended up getting the county to approve an on lot discharge system and it cost us just under 9k for everything.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

Justin Owens · Answer

I have had septics and they are generally no big deal. If they are designed right and fuctioning make sure it is being treated once a month to add the good bacteria that breaks down the waste. My favorite is Bio Safe One  https://www.amazon.com/Bio-Safe-One-Septic-Solutio...

If somehow you can get tenants to dump a bag of that in the toilet once a month at the same time they change air filters (wink wink) the systems will be just fine.

Karen O. · Answer

Carrie, I  wish I'd asked the question many years ago.  I stayed away from homes with wells and septics because as a city girl it scared me too.  That limited my home pool too. Fast forward 20 years, and bought a house with w & s and have experienced no problems at all. (Knock knock).  Have the system tested.  If all ok, have the septic pumped out once or twice a year and you should be fine.  Best of luck.

David Dachtera · Answer

@Carrie Lee,

Where I am in northern IL, most homes in unincorporated areas have well and septic, though some do get water / sewer service from the neighboring municipality.

I would  just view it as an additional expense and figure it into your numbers.

The buy / not buy decision will be a matter of personal preference.

David J Dachtera

Robert Santangelo · Answer

The costs can vary, greatly, depending on soil conditions.  Different areas have vastly different soils, and the percolation ability (or inability) of the site can make a big difference in cost.  If you have to bring in material to make the site viable (such as when there is a lot of clay), that's an expense that a sandier soil site wouldn't have.  Get an inspection and put an escape clause in your agreement based thereon.  The field is usually the biggest potential expense.  Around here, the acid test on a septic field is the hydraulic load test...they put a specified volume of water (based on BR count because systems are sized/designed based on BRs) and measure the water level in the field following the specified input.  Then, you wait 24 hours and repeat the process...at no point during the 2nd day should the water level ever exceed the level at the end of day #1.  If it does, the field fails.  Good luck in whatever you decide!

Should I buy a house with septic system

Most Popular Reply