80,000 Bees, $11,000 and a house in Ontario: it’s a reminder to get a home inspection

Stan DiFruscio of Ontario discovered his house was infested with 80,000 bees back in 2007. He spent $8000 to get rid of them. He had a bee keeper move the queen to a new hive. The rest of the bees were supposed to follow. The problem was moving the wax. The wax broke and crumbled as he moved it, and that left sticky honey behind. So the bees, drawn by the honey which was left behind, have returned to a harder to reach spot. The story doesn’t have an update, but leaves us with a $3000 cleanup as pending. None of these costs were covered by his homeowners insurance.

Read about it at Canadian news outlet Canoe.ca.

Would you want to own this house? Would you want to know about the past bee problem even if they are now gone?

Sellers in Maryland are legally obligated to disclose latent (hidden) defects. If a seller doesn’t disclose a past problem even if they believe it is now fixed, and the problem returns, the seller may be liable for future damages. Buyers want to know a houses history, and most will be accepting of past problems, if the problem was fixed, and they have the details.

I recommend that my buyers should get a home inspection on a house as part of their offer. They should also check with their insurance agent about past claims on a house, and what their own insurance policy will cover. If this sounds like good advice, contact me for suggestions of home inspectors and insurance agents.

Photo credit, Alan Taylor.