Termite Terry’s Insider Information March 2009 Phone (949) 631-7348 Fax (949) 722-6190 www.termiteterry.com
Ready for some warmer weather? I sure am! It’s good that we finally got some rain in Orange County and to be fair, I shouldn’t complain about it being cold around here. That’s especially true when you read about all of the record cold weather that the rest of the country had to endure.
One of my favorite winter stories happened back on January 16th of this year. If you would have been at Big Black River in North Maine, you would know first hand what it feels like when it is 50 degrees below zero. That’s the statewide coldest recorded temperature in history! The old record of, 48 degrees below zero, was set in Van Buren back on January 25th 1925.
Ham Weather Service reports that for the week of December 25th 2008, alone, we recorded 1,537 new record low temperatures. They also reported 1,110 new record snowfalls.
Folks, it really was a cold winter. Aren’t you glad that you live in California! We’ve got a lot to cover this month, so let’s get to work.
Unless you just arrived from another planet in the last week, you know that the real estate market in Southern California has changed dramatically from what it was like four or five years ago.
Gee, I remember when houses were sold before the realtor could post their sign in the front yard! Or, do you remember when home buyers would hold an “impromptu home auction” right there at the house they wanted to buy. One potential buyer would offer the home seller $10,000 more than what they were asking for the house. Then, the other potential buyer would offer $20,000 more and then another would raise the ante to $30,000! And, if you didn’t make a deal before you left the property, if would be long gone before you got back later that same day. It was insane!
Back then, we had a housing shortage. Today, due to the large number of bank foreclosures, we have a glut of homes. It’s a buyers market and if you’ve got cash, you can really get yourself a great deal. However, not all is “wine and roses” because;
There Is A Disturbing Trend In Today’s Market
Whenever a bank has to repossess a home, it almost always means that the bank has lost a lot of money. And, it appears today that they are “sore losers”. They have lost tons of money on these repos, don’t want to spend another cent on them and many banks are selling these homes in “as is” condition. Many banks are doing no termite damage & dryrot repairs or treatments at all. Or, if they do anything at all, the repairs and treatments are at best only “superficial”. When I say “superficial”, I mean it’s so bad that some buyers are having a hard time finding anything that has been fixed right. It’s almost like some of these “so called” repair guys are going in there and just putting big globs of Bazooka Bubble Gum over the problem areas and saying that everything is OK!. I’ve been getting a lot of calls from potential home buyers about these problems. If these buyers have already purchased the home, they are going to have to pay to have these problems fixed, themselves. However, if they haven’t already paid for the home, there may be substantial room for negotiation with the bank. That’s why I always say, “Don’t even think about buying a house until you’ve had a thorough termite inspection!”
If You Don’t Ask, The Answer Is Always No!
You heard me say earlier that the banks want to do little or no termite work on these homes. But, if that home has been on the market for a long time, it may be in your banker’s best interest to get those termite problems fixed right so that you will buy the home and make his problems go away. Before you buy, have the home inspected, find out what’s needed, show your banker an inspection report and then ask him to fix it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no!
Thinking about buying one of these bank repos? Call us at (949) 631-7348 and we’ll set up an appointment at your convenience. You’ll receive a complete report and you’ll have the necessary information that you’ll need to negotiate a winning deal!
Those Flying Ants May Not Be Ants After All!
During the months of February, March and April, we always get a lot of calls from homeowners who are screaming and upset about seeing thousands of “flying ants” inside their home. These folks want service FAST so we always try and rush right out there to help. But, what we find when we get there is not a bunch of “flying ants” – They are almost always “Subterranean Termites”.
Springtime is when the subterranean termites mate and it is very common to see them swarming on a sunny afternoon, usually after rain. After a short flight, they will land and shed their wings. The females will start looking for a potential nesting sight, such as a moist crevice in wood and the males will be following close behind. The pair will form their “royal chamber” in a moist site near wood and start laying eggs. That’s how a new colony is started.
Did you know that it may take five to ten years for a single pair of termites to form a mature colony that produces “swarming termites?” So, what that means to you is that if you do see subterranean termites swarming around your home, you know that they’ve been there for quite a while and they may have already caused some pretty serious damage.
The swarming season only last a few months and many homeowners make the mistake of thinking that once the swarming stops, the termites must be gone. But, that is far from being true. The subterranean termite swarmers are the young kings and queens and they only make up a very small percentage of the colony. The vast majority of the colony are the “workers”. Subterranean termite “workers” are blind and they don’t fly. All they really do is work hard at eating away at your home’s wood – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year!
Subterranean termites are often very hard to spot. Many homeowners never even suspect that they’ve got a problem until it’s too late and they’ve got thousands of dollars in damage. So, when you do see swarmers, you should consider that to be your “wake up call” and that it’s time for you to take action. Call (949) 631-7348 to schedule an appointment for a thorough inspection. You’ll receive valuable info and you’ll know exactly what is needed to solve your problem. You’ll also get tips on how to prevent future termite infestations, too!
I want you to know how much we appreciated your great service and competitive pricing. Being in the real estate business for 30 years has given me the opportunity to see the workings and pricing of your competitors and made me realize what a great work ethic that you have made for your company. Your crew worked non stop until they got all of our work done, not only the wood replaced but painted. I don’t need to tell you how rare that is in our real estate business world. As an agent I am usually sitting around the last few days before an escrow closes praying that the termite work will be done in time for escrow to close. The crew works through Saturday if they have to finish on time. That is a great work ethic in this day and age.
-Frank & Pat Pizzata
Century-21 Beachside
Huntington Beach, Calif.
Debbie and I want to thank you and your crew for all your efforts relating to the fumigation at our home in Huntington Beach. You’re very competitive bid not only won on price, content and quality, but it also won the “TRUST FACTOR.” Eighteen months ago we completed the first phase of our home remodeling efforts, which was an extremely unpleasant experience for us since the contractor and subcontractors constantly lied to us and failed to meet their commitments. It was truly a pleasure to work with someone who kept his word and met all project expectations.
-Larry & Debbie Morgan
Huntington Beach, Calif.
Saint Patrick was born in Wales about 385AD. As a youth, he was far from being a saint and considered himself a pagan. At the age of 16, he was sold into slavery. While in captivity, he became closer to God. After six years, he managed to escape. He joined a monastery to study for the next twelve years. During this training, he felt called by God to convert pagans to Christianity.
Patrick was very successful in his efforts and established monasteries across Ireland. Schools and churches were also set up to help support his ministry. Patrick retired after serving his mission for thirty years. He died on March 17th in 461AD. That is the day that has been commemorated as St. Patrick’s Day.
The shamrock is a traditional icon of the day. They say that Patrick used the three leafed shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity during his sermons. The three leaves represent the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Custom of St. Patrick’s day came to America in 1737 and was first celebrated in Boston.
Bruce Lemar of Laguna Hills got a 25.00 Home Depot gift card for recommending our services to his neighbors, Jim and Gail Rich.
Sweat Pea of Sweat Pea’s Hair Salon got a 25.00 Home Depot gift card for recommending our services to Amy Nahn of Garden Grove.
Marc Cole of Huntington Beach got TWO 25.00 Home Depot gift cards for recommending our services to Larry Morgan of Huntington Beach and Kent Shipley of Huntington Beach.
A lot of companies offer guarantees on their services. Some are good, some are bad. A lot of guarantees are complicated and come with a bunch of fine print, too. That’s why I decided to make our guarantees so amazingly simple and so powerful that no body else in Orange County would have the guts to try and match them. Take our fumigation guarantee for instance where it says, “If I fumigate your home and you still have drywood termites, not only will I fumigate your home again for FREE , I’ll also give all of your money back! How can I afford to offer a guarantee like that? It’s easy because we do the job the right way. Hey, if we install the tent correctly, seal it up like we’re supposed to and put in a FULL tank of gas – There’s no way that termites could live through that. Ask my competition if they’ll give your money back if their jobs fail and they’ll tell you that they can’t do that. Why not? Don’t they believe in their own work? My goal is to take out all the risk and make choosing our company easy to do – Hiring “Termite” Terry to take care of your home or business is a “No Brainer”.
“Termite” Terry’s Insider Information is Published by:
“Termite” Terry Pest Control, Inc.
785 W. 17th St. #G, Costa Mesa, CA 92627
(949)631-7348 www.termiteterry.com
