Bad Way to Save Money – Skip Termite Control
In the process of moving to Georgia, we’ve had to do a number of things to get our house ready to sell. Powerwashing, mulching, etc. have been some of the fun things that we’ve had to dish out money for recently.
Then we got the dreaded news from the termite inspector – I’ve found evidence of termite “mud tubes” in your crawl space. Gasp! How could this be?
Termite High Activity Areas
I never knew this, but apparently Virginia is at high risk for termite activity. Who would have guessed? We had our home inspected three years earlier when we bought it, and it came with a clean bill of health in the termite department. Because of this, I figured there was nothing else that needed to be done… Boy was I wrong!
If you’ve never had a look before, I encourage you to check out the below termite activity map. The reason will be made clear in a bit 🙂
Termite Activity Map
How I Screwed Up by Skipping Termite Control
As I mentioned, when our house was inspected three years ago there were no concerns brought up around termites. Likewise, when we sold our other house there were no issues with termites. Apparently, over the past three years these annoying pests have moved in.
A simple annual plan with any local pest control company or a place like Terminix would have run me about $99 a year. Many of these annual pest control plans come with insurance (termite bond) that will cover any type of damage that are caused by termites in the future.
Luckily, the inspector found no damage, but he cost to do a full extermination ran us $825!!! That is definitely something that we were not planning on. If we had been cautious and simply signed up for the annual plan, we would have saved ourselves a lot of money in the long run.
Should You Skip Termite Control?
If you live in the “Very High Risk” or “High Risk” termite activity regions, then I think you’d be crazy to skip termite control for your house. I never paid for termite control because I did’t fully understand the risk of these little buggers.
Now that I know two thirds of the US are at high risk for termite issues, I will plan on having my house checked for termites annually to protect my huge investment! If you haven’t had your home checked for termites recently, then what the heck are you waiting for? This could unknowingly taking a huge risk!
I just talked with my aunt yesterday, she told me that she just contacted one of the pest control companies because they are living in a very high risk of termite. She said that they do it every year.
Clarisse,
Good for her! I know I learned my lesson with this personal experience. I will always get termite control if I live in the medium to high risk areas.
I honestly thought people very rarely had termites. It turns out I live in a high termite area. Going to make an appointment soon lol. I’ve never had the pest control companies look at my house because I never thought I have had a problem. Better be safe than sorry.
John,
I was in the same exact mindset as you it seems. Good luck getting it checked out. I recently heard from someone that used to live in Alabama that had $30,000 worth of damage repair due to termites. Lucky for him, he had his home bonded so it was no money out of his pocket. I cannot imagine having that happen without protection.
There are a bunch of things we overlook that when it comes times to sell our house, we get bitten. I would have overlooked this as well, but thanks to this post, I am going to have to look into an annual plan since I live in a high risk area.
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Yeah – it totally caught us by surprise. Never again! Good luck getting protection.