# First Time Home Buyer Woes



## Jdelles (Jul 26, 2005)

I am buying my first home. Needless to save I don't want to get jerked. Its a 95 Brick, happy with most of it...but there are ants (carpenter I think) infesting the walls of the garage. Eliminating seems easy enough but do I have to worry about any structural damage?


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## BigA (Jul 18, 2005)

Did you have a home inspection done?


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## Jdelles (Jul 26, 2005)

I did have a inspection done, but I was left...alittle unsure about their assesment. There was what look like brick dust along the west wall of the garage. Alarms went off for me but they (there was one in training) said that maybe the previous owners had stacked bricks along the wall. Not fully convinced I began looking around the inside perimeter, noticing the red dust along the east wall I saw what I felt was the culprit. Ants. Some winged some regular, but all coming out off the base of the wall.


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 7, 2004)

Winged ants are in breeding stage, sounds as if the house is infested, time to call in the exterminator. The HI could have missed it earlier, a good one shouldn't have. You are going to have to work this out between the exterminator and the HI. If the home was inspected during cold weather, the HI may not have been able to discover the nest.


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## peggy (Jul 25, 2005)

I used to be in the real estate business...and if you were my buyer, I'd suggest that you call in a professional...a licensed exterminator. He/she will know what to look for and once they have inspected it and given it a "clean bill of health", they are on the hook for any damage that they may have missed. Bells are sounding off in my head...beware. I'm not trying to be an alarmist, but carpenter ants can do major damage...and termites love to eat them....good luck.


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## Neil_K (Oct 30, 2004)

Depending on the type of mortgage obtained, some lenders won't approve the loan if there are signs of structural damage. They require termite inspections, not sure if that includes carpenter ants.


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## pipeguy (Nov 22, 2004)

Carpenter ants EXTREMELY destructive - often times more so than termites.








If you have evidence of a substantial infestation you are well advised to inspect the interior of the wall.


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## Jim F (Mar 4, 2010)

It is worth while to check out the home inspector's qualifications. A good one will have experience in the building trades. An inspector in training sounds like someone who may miss something. As previously posted, get an exterminator to inspect before committing to buy.


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## WirelessG (Mar 22, 2009)

Where are you located? In the South a termite inspection is needed in order to sell a house. I agree with the other in this thread in that you need to call an inspector. They have sound and imaging equipment that they can use on the walls to determine the extent of the infestation. Good luck.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

This thread is over 5 years old


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