Oct 11, 2024
When yoga and wellness influencer Laureise Livingston bought a beautiful home in the woods with her fiance, it was a dream come true, until something started to eat at their slice of heaven.
Norway rats the size of squirrels were eating away at Livingston’s HVAC piping, which was wrapped in asbestos in her 100-year-old home. It ended up costing $10,000 to remove the rats and asbestos and reinstall the HVAC piping, a process that took six months.
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“It has been rodents, and bugs and beetles that have just been eating us alive financially,” Livingston said in her third TikTok video on the issue that now has more than 130,000 views.
Livingston advised would-be home buyers to avoid wooded areas in general.
These rats were living in the surrounding oak trees, Livingston explained in an earlier TikTok video, where they feed off the acorns.
“Don’t move by oak trees, they’re a trick, a scam,” Livingston said in her first TikTok video on the ordeal.
However, Livingston’s buyer beware story didn’t end there. Her dream home among the oaks became the gift that kept on giving.
Beetles boring in
After Livingston’s neighbor discovered a termite infestation in their home, the same company that cleared their nests approached her and offered a free inspection.
While there were no termites to be found, something just as bad was lurking in the walls.
“You have wood-boring beetles,” Livingston was told by the termite inspector, an insect she had never heard of before. And they’re just as bad as termites, the inspection company informed her, since they eat through the wood in homes.
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Livingston and her fiance were given two options: fumigate the home for seven days for $7,000 or tent up the house and heat treat the building for $4,500.
The couple opted for the cheaper option, removing anything combustible from the premises, and lost a beloved house plant to the extermination.
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Are you buying a home or an infestation?
Since Norway rats can spread many diseases, you might expect a home inspector to tell you if the house you’re about to purchase is crawling with these icky vermin.
But some pest inspection companies don’t cover rodents, and won’t tell the home buyer even if they see droppings or traps, according to The Real Estate Inspection Company. Getting a Level 2 pest inspection, however, specifically orders professionals to look out for rats in your dream home.
The Sarah Bernard Realty Team has some advice for critter-cautious home buyers.
Signs of wood-destroying infestation can be spotted when you do a walk-through of a home, including small holes in wood, baseboards or doors, which are the most obvious signs of invasion by boring insects.
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Termites will leave discarded wings and mud tunnels packed onto the outside of small holes. You can also knock on wood to see if it sounds hollow and look out for wood shavings or sawdust on the ground.
After you’ve moved into your new home, you’ll want to take some pest preventative measures as well. Trees, bushes or plants touching your home act as “pest highways,” so you’ll want to trim or remove any adjacent foliage.
These insects prefer untreated wood, so painting or staining exposed wood (like a fence) is an easy way to prevent your house’s beams from becoming a meal.
Modest damage or deal breaker?
Depending on where you live, state law may require sellers to disclose a home’s previous termite treatments before buyers accept an offer, but previous homeowners may not have been aware of what lived in their walls.
KY-KO Pest Prevention explains that the legal disclosure’s loophole may leave you with unwanted guests.
“The current homeowner is only required to disclose what they actually know about their own property, and are not held responsible for what they should know,” says the company.
Termite infestations should only be a deal breaker if there’s an active infestation or if there’s significant structural damage from a previous one, argues KY-KO. And unfortunately, your homeowners insurance likely won’t cover termite damage.
Home inspectors may miss a termite infestation, but hiring a termite inspector is a safer bet to avoid a costly surprise.
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William Koblensky Varela is a Staff Reporter at Wise who has worked as a journalist for seven years covering finance, local news, politics, legal issues and the environment.
