When putting up your home for sale, it may be tempting to shrug off pest infestations as the future owners’ problem. But Moxie Pest Control, a provider of pest control in Nashville, posits that it’s essential for home sellers to do their due diligence in mitigating pest infestations before they pass their property off to the buyers. Otherwise, they might risk losing the sale.
Unless buyers are looking for a low-cost house, these aspiring homeowners are unlikely to ignore indicators that signal costly pest infestations. Most homebuyers are in the market for move-in ready homes, sure to impress houseguests days after their occupation. With the rising cost of a home in mind, buyers handing over their life’s savings won’t settle for a property ravaged by pests.
How pests diminish your home’s value
Pests can cause countless damages to your home, lowering its value or delaying the sale. How so?. For household pests, no room or piece of furniture is off-limits. Given a chance, they’ll inflict the below damages to your property.
Structural damage
To the delight of pests such as termites, ants, and long-horned beetles, wood is the primary building material in most homes. These insects are infamous for feeding and burrowing into your home’s wood beams. The end result? The compromised structural integrity of the wood, making it susceptible to cracking or collapsing.
Electrical damage
Did you know that rats’ teeth never stop growing? As a result, they need something to soothe their gums during these teething phases. One of the telltale signs of rodents’ infestation is small bite marks on your household items. With this in mind, your electrical equipment isn’t safe from these pesky home invaders’ incessant gnawing.
Due to their length, shape, and softness, power cords make a perfect teething tool for rodents. Since rodents aren’t one-time visitors, repeated chewing of electrical cables could expose the internals, leading to a significant fire hazard.
Carpeting damage
Pests aren’t just content to just crash on your carpet. If left undisturbed, these rodents will repurpose your soft surfaces into food sources. Before your very eyes, rats and mice in all stages of development will tatter your expensive shag carpet, leaving exposed threads and unsightly patches in their wake.
Baby moths are known for eating clothes and any kind of fabric, hair, or fur. To that end, your throw blankets, drapes, and other décor is just another tasty snack for these home invaders.
Additionally, rodents, moths, and other pests defecate, urinate, and lay eggs on your carpet, transforming your carpeted surfaces into an eyesore. Note that any damage to your carpeting, no matter how small, can be expensive to fix.
Pest inspections: mandatory or nonessential?
When putting your home for sale, conducting a pest inspection before closing offers buyers peace of mind. For those homeowners unfamiliar, a pest inspection is similar to a home inspection. The only difference being that pest experts draft a more comprehensive report concerning the infestation’s severity.
A licensed pest inspector performs these pest inspections with intentions of spotting subtle pest invasion signs. Note that these pest inspectors specialize in real estate transactions.
While most states don’t mandate pest inspections before closing, mortgage lenders and some other types of loan lenders require a clearance certificate to show that the property is pest-free. Additionally, buyers can also request a formal pest inspection if home inspectors spot troubling pest infestation signs.
If you’re currently selling your home, it’ll save you time if you conduct pest inspections before listing your property for sale.
Why pests repel buyers
Pests are disease-ridden, unsightly, and unsanitary, making these insects and rodents the worst nightmare of current and aspiring homeowners. If your home is pest-infested, it’ll take time before you finally sell the property. Pests are a deterrent to homeowners because of the following reasons.
They carry diseases
Did you know that rodents like mice and rats can transmit deadly diseases such as Hantavirus, leptospirosis, and salmonellosis? According to the CDC, humans can contract potentially-lethal viruses when they breathe dust contaminated with rodents’ droppings and urine. Other modes of transmission include direct contact with rodents’ waste and rodents bites (although these bites rarely occur).
Rodents do more than just contaminate your food sources, which is why you must consider the potential health implications before overlooking a looming infestation.
So, before you erect that “For Sale” in your yard, be sure to eradicate rodents like mice and rats in the attic. If you’re unable to complete the extermination yourself, hire the experts.
They emit unpleasant odors
If you keep your nose peeled, you’ll likely notice an odd smell in a pest-infested home. For instance, cockroaches emit an “oily smell” that is quite pungent and could strike you (and other houseguests) as quite musty.
Much like roaches, bedbugs also release unpleasant odors. Although not easily spotted, bed bugs emit a sickly, sweet smell in the infested areas. Homeowners that catch wind of these potential odors should be wary of bedbug infestations nearby.
Rodents like rats give off a smell akin to ammonia. And worse yet, rats and mice mark territories and communicate using urine. To that end, you don’t need to be a pest expert to notice the urine smell around your premises.
If any of the previously mentioned pests have sought refuge in your living spaces, strange smells caused by pests’ droppings and dead bugs may throw off potential homebuyers.
They can aggravate allergies in the home’s residents
Many people are allergic to pests’ fecal matter. And while dust mites aren’t visible to the naked eye, they still have the power to stir allergic reactions. In fact, experts have linked dust mites to symptoms of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and eczema.
In that same vein, research has shown that pest waste and carcasses contain a protein known to trigger allergic reactions. More specifically, cockroaches can trigger allergic reactions and cause food poisoning by contaminating food with their saliva and feces.
Failure to curb pest infestation can lead to increased doctor visits and devastating health complications.
Before you go
Why subject your home to the loss of value while you can proactively deal with the pest problem at hand? While your home will take precedence in the selling process, a pest infestation can cause incalculable damage to structures and humans, as well.
Instead of handing off the problem to the buyer, take proactive pest control measures to quickly and permanently deal with the situation.
