Tuesday, June 4, 2013

U is for UNDERCOVER

What does it take to sell a house?... Well for one thing it means going undercover!  For my British friends this may seem very strange.  No the circus has not come to town.

Termites are the scourge of Southern California.  Before you can sell a house you must have a termite inspection and termite riddled wood must be replaced.  We were fortunate not to have much termite damage.  Our neighbor has just spent a fortune replacing termite damaged parts on his house and he is not even selling it.  We decided to have our house tented as most people do, because we didn't want inspectors going through the attic and crawl spaces and perhaps doing further damage. 

So here it is from the front and back.  The house is tented and then a poisonous gas is infused.  You would think that in this very environmentally conscious area (Southern California) there would be someone out there protesting, but I think this has to be done, by law, if you are selling a house.

The tenting is up for 24 hours and then it is OK.  Since it is completely empty no other precautions have to be taken  --  thank goodness.


The house was listed for sale last weekend and already we have had two written offers.  I think after this weekend, since no one has been able to view it for two days this past week, we will hopefully be able to accept one of the offers and then --  whatever will we do with all our time and attention that has been so focused on selling the house?!

So now that we are out from being UNDERCOVER we are really on the final step.

This post is my contribution to ABC Wednesday for the letter U, a project founded by Mrs. Nesbitt and continued by Roger Owen Green.  I f you would like to see more contributions illustrating the letter U please click HERE

13 comments:

photowannabe said...

Happy to see you are coming to the end of the "House Saga" and are back to posting again.
It's wonderful that you have had offers and everything is going so well.
You will find it so wonderful to not have to have all that "stuff" to think about.

Ann said...

What a hurdle that will be done with and you can just enjoy the new house.
Ann

Joy said...

Wow I didn't know that is how you deal with termites. Now when I see Californian houses on TV I'll be wondering about those termites.
Joy - ABC Team

Roger Owen Green said...

Not fond of bug spray, but less fond of the bugs!

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Carver said...

Good luck with the sale and termites.

Martha said...

I have never heard of such a thing! I wonder if it works on mice and spiders. :)

Leslie: said...

I have a question, well two. First, is there an odour left after they've finished? And second, did you have furniture in there or was the house totally empty?

Leslie
abcw team

ChrisJ said...

LESLIE, our house was actually totally empty when it was fumigated, but it is often done while the house is still being lived in. I think dishes and food have to be dealt with in special ways. Also there is only a slight odor for a very short time after the tent is taken down. The house is very quickly aired out by opening doors and windows.
MARTHA: Yes it works on mice and spiders -- humans and pets too!

Wanda said...

Glad this saga is coming to an end. When I was working we had to have this done to a complete office complex. They did it over the weekend, and on Monday morning there was a huge cut in the tent. Someone using gas masked went in and destroyed computers, printers, and many other items... Never caught the culprits, but think it must have been a unhappy renter, perhaps someone we had evicted. Hadn't thought of that incident till I saw your "tent".

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

a house nearby is undercover. I think they do it for weather protection when they renovate the house.

Reader Wil said...

This is something new. I know there are problems with termites in Australia. I mysef hate cockroaches as well, but they cannot be avoided. Houses are very open.
Well I wish you good luck with moving house and selling it.
Good choice for U.
Wil, ABCW Team.

kaybee said...

Showed this to Wendy and she was in awe...had never seen or heard of such a thing! I, of course, had seen it before on my visits down there. I am thinking now that it could be a solution to our ant problem!

Patty said...

I would think you would have to wait so many days before going back in the house, for fear there might still be some of the poison in the air in the house. Thanks goodness, I don;t believe I have ever seen anyone in our area have to do that.

Good luck in selling, hope you get the price you're asking.