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re:PDX is presented by Claire Widmark, broker affiliated with M Realty LLC in Portland, Oregon.
Phone: 971-275-3691
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Toeing the Party Sewer Line
The city of Portland has stepped in to provide relief to homeowners dismayed to find themselves on the hook for unforseen, major sewer repairs.
But for a prospective home buyer, a $100 video will help you avoid such shock.
Hopefully, by now it is commonly understood that an inspection of the sewer connection is an integral part of a homebuyer’s inspection procedure. For the uninitiated, a sewer inspection consists of running a fiber-optic camera down the home’s sewer connection all the way out to where it meets the city’s main sewer. The cameras are calibrated to show their distance down the sewer line, so if a crack, tree root intrusion, broken joint, or other obstruction (rats!) is found, it can easily be located in the yard. When it’s done, the potential homebuyer usually gets a DVD or tape of the inspection–their own ‘dirty movie’.
If damage is visible, then repairs become a negotiable item between the seller and buyer. Most of the simple line replacements I’ve seen have run in the $3,000 to $4,000 range. But it can be a lot more–particularly when it comes to the dreaded party sewer line. These are sewer lines that collect from multiple homes, sometimes traverse over several private property lots, and eventually find their way to the city main.
On January 2nd, the Portland city council unanimously approved a subsidy to share the cost with homeowners of replacing party sewer lines with individual connections to the city’s main lines. Over 3,000 properties in the city of Portland are still affected by party lines, particularly those on large lots in older neighborhoods that were subsequently divided to build new homes. The inner SE is especially affected.
From The Oregonian:
The plan…guarantees homeowners a rate of $2.98 per square foot of lot to run city sewer lines near their home. That’s nearly $15,000 for a typical 5,000-square-foot lot. The city will pay the rest of the cost for the work. Homeowners must also pay a plumber to connect their house to that city line, which often costs $1,000 to $2,000, Danaher (city sewer manager) said. That’s still much cheaper than the $25,000 to $60,000 bills homeowners typically face, she said.
So, potential homebuyers, while the city subsidy might be viewed as relief to the existing owners who were staring down a $50,000 estimate, your $100 inspection lets you see the filthy truth with your eyes wide open–and watch it over and over.
Photo: Mark from City Sewer, getting some footage on a 1993 property in Tualatin. Yes, it is advisable to check newer lines, especially if they are long runs out to the city main.
[tags] Portland, Oregon, real estate, sewer, inspection, scope, disclosure, repairs, party line [/tags]
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2 Responses to “Toeing the Party Sewer Line”
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I had a sewer scope done for $250 in Salem in fall 2007 and it showed blockage beyond the property line. My agent proposed rerouting it directly to the main (I have a fairly deep front yard) but it was rejected by the seller.
I was provided only with photo documentation of the seller having a replacement trench and pipe running a northwest “L” from the house but only up to the north property line. My agent played up the shallow angle of the new “L” line, not once mentioning that the blockage beyond the property line was not being addressed. I asked my agent if this was “kosher” and she said yes.
I then had slow drains from the start and then raw sewage after a few months. I ended up paying for the originally proposed but rejected rerouting at a cost of $6500.
Neither a bar-referred lawyer nor the state real estate agency could either help or acknowledge that the agent’s actions were either fraudulent or negligent.
Thanks for your time — if you have any thoughts or ideas that might help, I’d very much appreciate it.
Fantastic article Ron!
More and more realtors are realizing the benefit of providing there clients with this information. As a former estimator for a national plumbing company I can tell you first hand that roughly 80% of my sewer line replacement sales were with homeowners that had been in the house less than two years.
Vincent Smith
http://www.scimaryland.com