Most realtors in Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas have a guy. He quotes an Arkansas termite treatment over the phone, sight unseen, for a few hundred dollars. Sellers love him, because in our state the seller pays that bill. Extermco is not that guy, and we never will be. Here is why we made that choice. It matters most if you are the one buying the house.
Who Pays for an Arkansas Termite Treatment at Closing
An Arkansas termite treatment at closing is the seller’s bill. Most purchase agreements across the River Valley and NWA put it there by long tradition. Additionally, it is a full treatment here, not a quick look. Across the line in Oklahoma and Missouri, the buyer pays. The job there is usually just an inspection with no treatment attached.
That one difference creates an incentive nobody at the closing table talks about. The seller is leaving. That termite company will never hear from them again. Therefore, the seller wants the lowest number on the page and nothing else. Meanwhile, the buyer inherits the company, the warranty, and every corner the seller’s guy cut. We covered the question of who should pay in our earlier post on the Arkansas termite letter. This post is about the phone call that happens after we hand a seller our quote.
The Phone Call That Kills a Fair Quote
Here is how it plays out. A seller calls us for a termite quote before closing. We walk the property, measure the foundation, and note the slab or crawlspace. Then we price the job at what the job requires. Say it comes back at $850. The seller sends that number to their realtor, and the realtor says the words we have heard hundreds of times. “That’s too high. I have a guy who will do it a lot cheaper.”
The guy quotes $250 over the phone. He has never seen the house. Consequently, he has no idea how many linear feet he is treating or what the slab looks like. Nevertheless, the paperwork lands at the title company with a limited warranty attached, the sale closes, and everyone shakes hands. The seller saved $600. Meanwhile, the buyer just lost a lot more than that.
What the Cheap Arkansas Termite Treatment Leaves Out
A limited warranty in Arkansas usually means retreat only. If termites show up, the company sprays again. However, it pays nothing toward the joists, sills, and studs those termites ate. Compare that to a full warranty. Extermco puts $50,000 in damage repair coverage on every home our termite control crews treat. Rarely, the structure makes that impossible, and we tell you up front when it does.
It gets worse. Sometimes the cheap guy does nothing at all. He fills out the form and sends it to the title company with a limited warranty. Then he never puts a drill bit or a shovel in the ground. When termites show up two years later, he owes nothing for the damage, because his contract never promised that. Under the state Pest Control Law, the Arkansas Department of Agriculture caps how many of these thin contracts a company can issue each year. It also calls an unapproved one misrepresentation. Even so, that cap leaves plenty of room for an outfit that lives on realtor referrals.
How to Tell Whether Your Arkansas Termite Treatment Actually Happened
You do not need a license to check. Walk the property before you close, because a real treatment leaves evidence. On a slab home, look for patched drill holes every 12 to 18 inches along porches, patios, and garage slabs. A slab always needs drilling. On a crawlspace home, look for a trench around the foundation and around every pier underneath. Bait stations in the yard are another sign of a real program. Furthermore, ask for the treatment graph. Arkansas requires a diagram with every clearance letter, and it should show exactly where the company drilled and trenched. No drill marks, no trench, and no graph add up to no treatment.
That evidence matters because subterranean termites never stop working. The University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service notes that these native termites stay hidden in the soil and feed on a house from below. Consequently, a home can carry damage for years before anyone notices. A skipped treatment does not show itself at closing. It shows itself in a repair bill later.
Why You Can’t Just Switch After Closing
Buyers ask us this every week. “Can I move my termite warranty to Extermco?” You can hire us, but we will charge full price for a new Arkansas termite treatment. That is not a sales tactic. If the previous company never physically treated the house, we cannot warranty work that does not exist. Therefore, we treat it ourselves so we know exactly what went into the ground and where. We only trust our own work. Consequently, a seller’s $250 shortcut becomes the buyer’s bill at full price a year later. That comes on top of whatever the termites already chewed through.
What Extermco Does Instead
We do not advertise to realtors, and we do not price jobs to keep them happy. We price every Arkansas termite treatment by what the house needs. That means linear footage, slab versus crawlspace, and the construction details that decide how much product goes in the ground. A typical full treatment in Fort Smith or NWA runs between $650 and $1,100. That number does not drop because someone is selling. The buyer is the one who will live with our work, so the buyer is the one we protect.
To be fair, the listing agent is doing what the rules ask. The Arkansas Real Estate Commission requires a licensee to protect and promote the client’s interests. For a listing agent, that client is the seller. Saving the seller money is the job. However, that is exactly the problem. The realtor thinks they are saving the seller $600. In reality, they are not protecting the buyer at all. Nobody in that transaction is watching this one line item for the buyer, and the cheap guy knows it. In plain terms, the buyer is getting screwed, and everyone else walks away from the table.
Buyer’s Agents, We Would Love to Hear From You
Our policy is about the selling side. If you represent buyers in Fayetteville, Rogers, or Van Buren, we are happy to work with you. Write the termite company into the purchase agreement. Alternatively, have your buyer pay for the treatment and choose the company themselves. Either way, your client ends up with a treatment that actually happened and a warranty that actually pays.
What Fort Smith and NWA Buyers Should Do Before Closing
First, ask for the name of the termite company before you sign. Second, ask two questions: does the warranty repair damage or only retreat, and does it transfer to you? Third, walk the house and look for the drill marks and trench described above. If the answers come up short, push back through your agent. You have more leverage than you think, especially in a competitive market.
Extermco has protected homes across the River Valley and Northwest Arkansas since 1991, from Greenwood and Barling to Springdale. We treat termites the same way whether the house closes next week or stays in the family for thirty years. The same goes for our residential pest control plans. If you are buying a home and want to know what your Arkansas termite treatment actually covers, call us at (479) 783-1822. You can also reach us through our contact page. We will tell you the truth about the treatment, even when it is not the cheap answer.
