A couple who bought a Pennsylvania farmhouse at auction for $460K found it crawling with 7-foot black snakes. Could a home inspection have caught it?

The rustic farmhouse, built in 1830, is surrounded by wilderness, but Bouldin said in an interview with People that, inside, the “main level had no floors, the grand staircase was falling down and the kitchen was gone entirely.” Realtor.com added that the couple had to replumb and rewire the house.

But the real fright came after the couple officially took ownership and discovered that the previous tenants — of the cold-blooded, scaly type — hadn’t actually moved out.

Black snakes, copperheads and water snakes had overtaken the property, with Bouldin’s TikTok videos showing them crawling up walls and into the roof. In one video, he estimates that some of the slithery squatters were up to seven feet long.

“I’m naturally terrified of snakes,” Bouldin told People. “So it was genuinely unsettling for the first year or so while I got used to life out in the woods.”

What your home inspection might miss — and how it could cost you

Bouldin explained to People that the proliferation of frogs, mice and rabbits on the long-abandoned property made it “an excellent hunting ground” for snakes.

He added that he and his wife cleared debris and overgrowth, removed a dangerous in-ground pool and otherwise made the property less welcoming to snakes — renos that have “had the impact that we hoped they would,” reducing the snake population on their property.

Bouldin didn’t return Moneywise’s interview request and it’s not clear if he was able to commission an inspection on the home before purchase — though auction homes often don’t allow for them.

Yet the question remains: would a routine home inspection catch a snake infestation?

Nick Gromicko, founder of the Colorado-based International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI), told Moneywise that “If they find signs of snakes, such as a musty snake smell, snake droppings, winding slither tracks, or snake skins that have been shed, inspectors include such observations in their reports.”

That said, he noted that a homebuyer “shouldn’t rely on a home inspector” for that because, technically, sussing out snakes or other infestations isn’t part of the job.

“Standard inspections are strictly visual and non-invasive,” Benjamin Clark, president of the non-profit National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA), told Moneywise. “If an inspector cannot see it, access it, or turn it on, it may not be included in the inspection.

According to both InterNACHI and American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) guidelines, rodents, insects, other animals, mold and many environmental hazards are not part of the home inspection requirements.

Clark noted that some home inspectors have tools like scanners that use “infrared thermography to identify temperature differentials” in walls and ceilings that could potentially detect water leaks or missing insulation. But costly problems can easily fly under the radar.

“Undetected major issues can cost anywhere between a few thousand dollars to over $100,000,” Clark added.

That may include anything from damaged sewer lines to roofing, window or electrical issues.

So what can homebuyers do to protect against costly problems home inspections may miss?

Don’t stop at the home inspection. How to dig deeper before buying

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) told Moneywise that buyers should work closely with their realtor to “address any concerns they may have, identify potential issues that are common in their marketplace, carefully review seller disclosures, consider the benefits of a home warranty, and better understand remediation costs.”

Clark echoed a similar sentiment about sharing concerns with your realtor, adding that it “leads to a more thorough inspection, in my experience.”

And that’s important, as Gromicko noted, because unless the homebuyer can make a failure-to-disclose claim against the previous owner for an issue, “The buyer is pretty much always on the hook for everything, once closing occurs.”