It appears bed bugs are now becoming a serious issue in the multi-family investment community. According to this Palm Beach Post bed bug article, a group of investors who bought an apartment community where blindsided when 25% of the units were infested with bedbugs. Apparently, the bedbug issue was never mentioned at the time of purchase. As well, a recorded complaint was never handed over to the prospective buyer while doing their due diligence of the property. Luckily for the purchasers, the deal has not closed and their attorney was able to ask for relief from the sellers. Seeing as the cost to heat treat for bed bugs was $63,000, they are lucky they caught the problem before the deal closed.
From experience, I can tell you that lower-end properties are starting to face a real problem with bedbug infestations. As well, I highly doubt that the seller did not know that they had a bed bug problem in the apartment community. We are talking 1 in 4 units infested. More likely, they did not release the information because they did not want to lose the deal and probably could not afford the bed bug heat treatment costs themselves.
Moving forward, I think anyone making an investment in multi-family real estate or hotels should take the extra step of having a certified bed bug dog inspect the property. That way, if an infestation is found, it can be negotiated into the purchase price. A little prevention upfront can save you a lot of time and money later.
For more information regarding bed bug detection and eradication, call The Bed Bug Answer at 404-724-8999. You can also visit our Google+ page for more bed bug details.