Portland Real Estate Blog

Continuing our series on the  Oregon Home Buyer Advisory.  We’ve covered  the sections on Home inspections, Sewers & Septic Tanks, and Death, Crimes and External Conditions.  Today we’ll cover pest and dry rot:

Pest and Dry Rot Inspection
Pest and dry rot inspections are done in many residential real estate transactions and may be required by the lender. A pest and dry rot inspection may or may not be included in a whole home inspection. If a pest and dry rot inspection is desired or required and the buyer is obtaining a whole home inspection, the buyer should verify that the inspection obtained covers pest and dry rot and the inspector is properly licensed. The license status of home inspectors can be checked at the Construction Contractor’s Board (CCB). Pest control operators who do inspections and treatment are licensed by the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Buyers can check on licensing of pest control operators and applicators by calling the Oregon Department of Agriculture at (503) 986-4635 or online.

Real estate licensees do not have the training or expertise to inspect property for pests or dry rot. Like any property condition report, buyers should not rely on the report of an inspector they did not hire. A pest and dry rot inspection is a limited inspection and is no substitute for a complete whole home inspection by a licensed home inspector.

The inspectors that we use do a pest and dry rot inspection during the general home inspection.  Carpenter ants are the most common pest found.  Termites exist but aren’t as prevalent as they are in other parts of the country.  Evidence of rodents is also frequent.

Dry rot can occur wherever untreated wood has contact with soil or where water is able to keep it constantly wet.  Some common problem areas are around clogged rain gutters, decking, and foundation piers.  Rotted wood often gives little resistance when poked but may not be obvious visually.  Rotted wood siding can lead to rotted framing and even mold so it is very important that it doesn’t go unchecked.

If an appraiser finds evidence of either pest or dry rot in their investigation of the property, the lender may require repairs before they will fund the loan.  These lender required repair may come up after the inspection period but may still be negotiated as part of the financing contingency in the offer.  That’s important for the seller to understand.  The buyer may be okay with the condition of the property but if the bank isn’t repairs could come up later in the transaction.

I’ve started writing a series on the  Oregon Home Buyer Advisory.  We’ve covered  the sections on Sewers & Septic Tank and Death, Crimes and External Conditions.  Today we’ll go to the beginning of the Advisory and cover the Professional Home Inspection:

OBTAINING A PROFESSIONAL HOME INSPECTION IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING A BUYER CAN DO FOR THEIR PROTECTION.  [Their emphasis]
A professional home inspection report will provide the buyer with detailed information about the home’s physical condition, its systems and fixtures and usually note any potential future problems. The buyer should carefully review an inspector’s proposal to determine the scope of the inspection. Some home inspectors may not inspect heating and cooling systems, the roof or other systems or components. A home inspection should be done by a home inspector or contractor licensed by the Oregon Construction Contractors Board (CCB). To inspect two or more components (i.e., roof, siding, structural), the home inspector must be certified and either be a licensed construction contractor or work for a licensed construction company. Also, a home inspector is not allowed to perform the repairs within a twelve-month period following the inspection. [continues]

I’ve likened the professional home inspection to a general practitioner doctor.  Well educated in the field but not the specialist.  A GP will refer you to a heart doctor if it is thought that you have a heart condition, a home inspector will refer you to an electrician if there are issues with the electrical system.  Because home inspections are not one-stop-shopping it is important to schedule the inspection as early as possible in the inspection period. You don’t want to be trying to schedule an electrician and then begin negotiating repairs the day before the contingency ends.

The default inspection period is 10 business days in the Oregon Earnest Money Agreement. That can be changed but if the field is left blank it expires at midnight on the last day.  Taking no action means the buyer has accepted the property in its current condition.  The buyer can terminate the transaction, negotiate repairs or accept the property within the contingency period.

Realtors generally have working relationships with home inspectors but ultimately it is the buyer’s decision as to who does the inspection.  I’d budget $300-$450 for a professional inspection.  The actual price will depend on the type of home and its size and may fall outside of that range.

Last week I wrote about the Oregon Home Buyer’s Advisory and the section on Sewers & Septic Tanks.  There are over a dozen buyer due diligence items in the Advisory so it makes sense to go through all of them in the next few weeks.  Today: “Death, Crimes and External Conditions:”

In Oregon, certain social conditions that may be of concern to buyers are considered not to be “material” by state law. Oregon Revised Statutes 93.275. Ordinarily, “material facts” must be disclosed by the seller or the seller’s agent. Because state law declares certain facts that may be important to a buyer to be not material, buyers cannot rely on the seller disclosing this kind of information. Buyers should undertake their own investigation if concerned that the property or a neighboring property has been the site of a death, crime, political activity, religious activity, or any other act or occurrence that does not adversely affect the physical condition of, or title to, real property, including that a convicted sex offender resides in the area. Concerned buyers can contact their local police for more information. Websites for Oregon counties can be found at: http://www.aocweb.org/Cnty-links-frm.htm. Websites for cities can be found at: http://www.orcities.org/cityinfo/cityWebSites.cfm. Some large cities (e.g., Portland) publish crime maps (e.g., www.portlandmaps.com) on their website. Information about registered sex offenders can be found by visiting http://egov.oregon.gov/DOC/faqs.shtml. Buyers concerned that neighborhood properties may have been used for illegal drug manufacture can visit http://www.oregonbcd.org/druglabs/druglabs.html, the website of the Building Codes Division, for more information. Information on Oregon’s Drug Lab Clean Up Program and meth labs can be found at: http://www.dhs.state.or.us/publichealth/druglab/methlab.cfm. ***Note- published link is broken.  Try this: http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/druglab/. Under Oregon law, neither the seller nor their agent is allowed to disclose that an owner or occupant of the real property has or had human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

It’s a question of what is important to the buyer?  If you know that one of the scenarios would alter your decision to buy you should investigate.  We’ve seem tragedy in homes over the years; some natural, some accidental and some criminal but none of the events were considered something that the seller had to disclose as they are not material to the property.  In some cases, the seller did disclose simply because you really can’t get in trouble for over-disclosing.

The yellow pipe is a natural gas line.

If you are a regular reader of the Portland Real Estate Blog then you should see a theme developing: scope your sewer! We’ve come across yet another sewer issue that would have been discovered with a $95 scope: the sewer line is not connected to city sewer but to a (now very full) septic tank, which is under the garage (we were not involved in the transaction).

The scope we had done this week on a new construction revealed a large belly (low spot) in the pipe so that it does not drain properly.  Another clearly shows tree roots blocking most of the flow.  We’ve also seen failed connections between new and old lines, the neighbor’s new gas line burst through the sewer line (picture above), offset pipes, crumbled pipes, crushed pipes, party sewers, and nearly flawless pipes.  Problem is if you don’t look, you won’t know.

There’s a long list of possible inspections when you buyer a house, in fact, the Oregon Real Estate agency publishes the Oregon Property Buyer Advisory.  The section on sewers:

Whether the property is connected to a city sewer, septic system or other on-site wastewater treatment system is important information. Even if the MLS data sheet or Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement indicate that the home is connected to the city sewer, the buyer should have their home inspector, or a licensed plumber, verify the connection and its condition. Real estate licensees are not licensed to do plumbing or septic inspections. If the property has a septic system or other on-site wastewater treatment system, the system should be inspected by a licensed septic system installer or other on-site wastewater treatment system professional hired by the buyer. Information about on-site wastewater treatment systems, and licensed installers and pumpers, can be found on the website for the Oregon Department of  Environmental Quality (DEQ) at: http://www.deq.state.or.us/wq/onsite/onsite.htm. Buyers should check with the appropriate county department for specific information on a particular property.

You have a long list of inspection options but please don’t consider a sewer scope as optional when you are buying Portland real estate.

The home inspection is a standard part of most Oregon real estate transactions.  The buyer has the right to waive the contingency but it is highly recommended that the home inspection takes place as soon as practical so that other inspections can be scheduled if there are areas of concern.  The Oregon Real Estate Agency publishes the Oregon Property Buyer Advisory which describes the inspections a buyer might want to have during the inspection period.

The results of a few of our recent inspections:

• An oil tank found under a driveway
• An oil tank found on the opposite side of the house from the existing furnace
• What was believed to be a public sewer actually connected to a septic system (cracks and party sewers are also common discoveries)
• Radon at 7.1pCi/l- “acceptable” is below 4.0pCi/l (radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer behind smoking)

The Professional Inspection Addendum describes what inspections the buyer wants to have and who will pay for them (typically the buyer pays).  The form gives the buyer permission to conduct test where samples may have to be taken that could be considered invasive (such as stucco &  soil sampling).

Oregon DEQ records are the most solid evidence that an oil tank has been removed and decommissioned.  Buyers of any Oregon real estate become the responsible party for soil contamination at closing which makes finding out if there is/was an oil tank an important part of buyer due diligence during the inspection period.

I attended an oil tank locate that came up inconclusive today done by Alpha Environmental.  There are supply lines in the basement which “proves” that once upon a time there was a tank but it could have been above ground in the basement our outside or buried.  Portlandmaps shows a permit for an underground tank in this case (under historic permits tab).  There is a concrete driveway up the side of the house that the furnace is on and the back yard is also impervious near the house.

The first step is a metal detector sweep around the property:

The next step was to hook this machine up to the actual supply line in the basement.  There may be rebar touching the line as the machine pings all around the basement!  Normally the trace of the pipe’s directionality would be clear.

Though inconclusive, the buyer is now possesses all the available information regarding the tank.

The Oregon Senate passed “Heat Smart” Bill 102 last year in an effort help clean up the environment by exorcising over 300,000 non-certified wood burning stoves  from Oregon homes. The latest revisions to the Oregon Property Disclosures look like this regarding wood burning stoves:

Stoves that are not certified or installed without a permit must be removed from the property prior to closing.

The Oregon DEQ website states:

Selling your Home – Removal of an Non-certified Woodstove

Beginning August 1, 2010, if you are selling a home with an uncertified woodstove in it, you will be required to remove this device. The 2009 Oregon Legislature signed Senate Bill 102 into law requiring the removal of any non-certified woodstove from a home when it is sold. This bill is part of a program to help protect Oregonians from uncontrolled wood smoke. Oregon DEQ will be proposing rules in the next few months to establish the removal notification requirements for homeowners. If you would like to be informed of these rules as they are being developed, please click here.

The implication for sales after August 1, 2010 is fairly clear but it start now.  A buyer today would have to remove the stove that was legally included today.

• Is your stove certified?
• Wood stove certification lables.
• DEQ wood stove FAQs

January is National Radon Action Month.  Don’t get me wrong, radon wasn’t discovered last year.  But over the last few years, it has become on of the most common Portland real estate inspections buyers have and one that often yields results that need attention.  Radon is not isolated to one part of town.  We had results over 4.0pCi/l in every quadrant of Portland last year.  Ideally the test runs for about 72 hours in an undisturbed environment.  You can see in the chart where doors may have been opened while the test was running.  The test and system were done by Alpha Environmental.

We typically see mitigation systems cost between $1800 and $2200.   I wrote this post back in September:

The general recommendation is that any home testing over 4.0 pCi/l should have radon mitigated as it is the second leading cause of lung cancer behind smoking.

I added more photos to an album on our Facebook fan page.

The Oregon Health Division has a spreadsheet of radon levels tested around Portland. I created the graphs below using their data.  The general recommendation is that any home testing over 4.0 pCi/l should have radon mitigated as it is the second leading cause of lung cancer behind smoking.  It is important to take both graph into consideration.  In 97268, 100% of homes test high but it was one of one.  In other zip codes there were over 100 tests so the data is more meaningful.  The link above has data for all of Oregon but I only used Portland.

The EPA rates radon as the number two cause of lung cancer.  This is the PSA video they published regarding radon.  It’s a little long at 13 minutes but it has some serious information presented in a lighthearted way.  Radon has been around longer that real estate but only recently has radon become one of the requisite tests a buyer should perform when buying residential real estate (it is and has been on the Oregon Property Buyer Advisory (pdf or web). I think that’s largely because of the improvements in the testing equipment. Watch the video and tomorrow we’ll look at some radon levels measured around Portland.