Bank Lenders Are Paying More Attention To Termite Damage In Homes
Bank Lenders Are Paying More Attention To Termite Damage In Homes
Many of us are either living in our own home, or are hoping to someday buy a home. Raising children as a homeowner is a simple and common desire for most young people. Everybody wants a piece of the American dream, but something you would never expect is making home-buying more difficult in some cases. These days, bank lenders are paying more attention to the risk of termite infestations within a home. Termite damage can be expensive to repair, and regular termite inspections within a home are absolutely necessary in order to avoid termite infestations. Unfortunately, many homeowners slack on having in-home termite inspections conducted. Some homeowners completely avoid termite inspections under the mistaken belief that they are unnecessary. There are also those types of homeowners who believe that termites cannot go unnoticed. These homeowners will simply rely on their own eyes in order to ensure their home is free from termites. However, it takes a licensed and educated professional in order to properly determine whether or not a home is infested with termites. Many states are now enacting laws that require licensed contractors to provide lenders with detailed written reports concerning a home’s history of termite infestations.
Every state has laws on the books that require homeowners to provide lenders with information about past and present damages to their homes. These reports have always made mention of “wood destroying insects,” or “WDI.” However, these laws are changing to force homeowners to provide more information concerning WDI damage, which is mainly limited to termite damage. For example, lenders in many states are demanding to know if past termite damage was cosmetic or structural. Even more invasive are questions concerning the results of past termite inspections. Lenders require a written report made up by a licensed contractor which details the results of every termite inspection ever conducted within a home. Of course, this information also gives away whether or not homeowners blew-off termite inspections.
This information is important to lenders as well as to the buyers of homes. Lenders want to protect their investments. And home buyers may not be able to make mortgage payments if a previously unknown termite infestation is found within a new home. This could result in the new homeowners being forced to pay large sums of money to have their new homes reconstructed following termite damage. This also means that a person hoping to buy a home can only get a loan provided that the home they want to buy has the proper reports concerning past cases of termite damage. Sometimes, the burden of providing these reports can be on the buyers, and not the homeowners selling the property.
Do you think that it is fair for a prospective homebuyer to be legally obligated to provide a termite history report to a lender in order to receive a home loan?
