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$40,000 for a Puddle! Is the Seller at Fault for the Septic System? · Short Term Rental Problems and Solutions

• Jeremiah Noll: Admit it, you expected your guests to act like you, but expectations are not always reality. Now you've realized it's not all sunshine and five-star reviews. That means you're in the right place. It seems like I'm always teaching people about septic systems. So today we get to answer a question from Rhett about a $40,000 repair estimate. That's because this is the community where we talk about the gross, the awkward, and the operational messes, as well as the real strategies that help you keep going instead of quitting. because you are not a quitter and this is an industry where you can win. Welcome to short-term rental problems and solutions. Let's get into today's question. Hey Jeremiah, I just bought my rental three months ago and it seems like I've been having issue after issue and none of it was disclosed by the seller. First, we got a foot of water in our crawl space because of a broken shark bite fitting. So that was a thousand dollar repair bill. Next, a guest called in that there was no water pressure and that was a $250 repair bill, but because it was an emergency, it ballooned up to $500. ⁓ Then just last week sewage was backing up from the septic system reported by a guest who was actually checking out at the time The estimate for the septic was forty thousand dollars. I'm about to lose my mind What options do I have and what advice can you offer because everyone is telling me to sue the seller? I asked Rhett to clarify a few questions that I had. The shark bite fitting was hard to access and the crawl space was pumped out and then dried. Second issue was with the well and that was because of a corroded connection at the well cap. The third thing was the symptoms of the septic system included a muddy drain field and a holding tank that had not been pumped in far too long. This is huge, very big deal. ⁓ Septic systems are one of the most costly repairs in rural areas. And to make matters worse, most people buying property in rural areas know nothing about this. At least not if they're short-term rental investors. Usually they buy in a marketplace where they do not live. And the third thing, the damage is like hidden. It's hard to find. So if somebody before you was very negligent, like they weren't doing what they were supposed to do with the property, they weren't maintaining their property, It's difficult to identify that that's actually what happened. So if you do sue this guy, you're still going to have a tough road to prove that this person was being willfully negligent. ⁓ But I'm not your lawyer. So let's, ⁓ talk about some of these things so that our listeners ⁓ don't end up running into these same exact problems. And everybody kind of thinks, well, if I just use some ridex Or if I just have my tank pumped out every year, I should be fine. But there are some definitions I'd like to start with and we can go over to make sure that everybody in the audience is on the same page. The way a septic system works. Now what this is fundamentally, a septic system is a way to deal with sewage without being connected to a public sewer. So all of the liquids and solids and things like that from a house flow down into one drain that goes into a holding tank. That holding tank has baffles that take the water from the center so that it can go into the next chamber. But what happens in the holding tank is that naturally occurring bacteria in waste actually breaks down those solids, the toilet paper and other solid waste into a liquid. Now, anything that's solid either floats or it sinks to the bottom. So the water in the center gets taken by the baffle into the next one. That tank, ⁓ well, in a gravity fed system, There's not a second tank. just goes into some pipes and those pipes are perforated. They have holes in them and the water flows downhill into those pipes and then eventually seeps out into the ground. And then after, you know, a couple hundred feet, it's completely clean. It's filtered by the earth, which is a beautiful thing. if it's not a gravity fed system, then there's a pump in that next tank. So water goes out of this tank into the, into the pump tank. They call it a riser tank. The water goes up. It turns on a float. And then there's a pump that pushes it under pressure uphill into what they call a sand mound. Sometimes people call it a Turkey Hill. ⁓ Not to be confused with the ice cream ⁓ the gas stations. ⁓ Although that sounds like a ⁓ for a good pun. ⁓ Turkey Hill gas stations and ⁓ ⁓ If you think of a good joke, ⁓ please email it in info at galvanizedmanagement.com because I would love some good septic system jokes. ⁓ along though. So ⁓ That's the way a septic system works. Basically the turkey mound is a sand mound. It's got layers of sand, gravel, dirt, clay, all different types of things that are gonna filter that water out before it hits the dirt that was there before this thing was built. So it's basically a gigantic filter. And we also are going to be touching on ⁓ SharkBite fittings and wells. SharkBite fittings are those push connect fittings. If you hire a plumber and you're spending plumber prices and they leave you with these little push connect fittings, ⁓ you may have been overcharged because these are like a DIY solution. They have the pros and cons. I do use SharkBite fittings, but only in places where I can access them and monitor them because sometimes they do start to leak. Sometimes they do have problems. And if you have a line that gets frozen and pressure builds, they are your weakest link in the chain. So a shark bite fittings are sometimes looked down upon in the industry. The other thing is there are certain towns and townships that require licenses for plumbers. Those plumbers are sometimes regulated so that they cannot use shark bite or whatever. ⁓ There's regulations in certain towns, but this gives you an example that there are some places where they will not allow SharkBite fittings to be used. But they're a good like DIY solution and I use them, I trust them. And you can watch a whole bunch of YouTube videos about these types of fittings. ⁓ Generally they're fine and they work as long as they work. But sometimes they are the weakest link in a chain. And it's actually really not that hard to install them wrong. But when you think about soldering pipes and... ⁓ and crimp connections and stuff like that, those are also pretty easy to mess up as well. And I've seen that as well. And then the well, so we were talking about the well head. So ⁓ in rural areas, the well has three main components. So there's the pressure tank, which holds onto the pressure. There's a valve. ⁓ Well, there's a switch that causes it to turn on and off based on pressure. What it is, it's the well. all the way down around two to 300 feet in the ground in this area. That well turns on, pumps water at like a high pressure, like 125 PSI up into the pressure tank, which once it hits like 65 PSI, it shuts off the well. And then the tank itself holds the pressure for the rest of the house to be using. So there are some electrical connections. And when I say the well is down in the ground, like two or 300 feet, I'm talking about like the first, like usually 50 feet is just this casing. It's a steel or cast iron casing that goes down into the ground. And that's supposed to stop water from the surface from getting down into your well and contaminating it. So it's for a good purpose and everything, but basically you've got wires and you've got pipes that run down that well and your wires are actually connected at the cap. anyway, moving on. So those are some definitions to help you understand what we're talking about today. first I would make for you listeners, not necessarily for you, Rhett, because you're already past this. When you buy a property, make sure you do a good inspection, a thorough inspection. Not all inspections are thorough. Some are just very, very basic. There's also a lot of inspectors who don't wanna get on anybody's nerves by being too thorough. Those are not the kind of inspectors that you want to protect you, right? Because they're worried about, you know, bothering someone. So what you're gonna ask when you call inspectors is what kind of testing do you do the septic system? And they'll... probably give you some options. What you're looking for is a hydraulic load test with a pump out. What this means is that they're actually gonna flow the sink. They're probably gonna estimate that it's running at like five gallons a minute or something like that. They're gonna run the sink long enough that 500 gallons of water goes into your septic system. Now they're gonna come the next day and they're gonna run another 500 gallons into your septic system. And they're gonna observe. Does it ever back up? Does it fail? ⁓ the problem? So by running all of this water into their system, they're actually testing its load capacity. Is it able to handle 500 gallons today after it handled 500 yesterday? This is a hydraulic load test. Now, the second thing that they're gonna do is they're gonna pump this thing out. Now you might wonder, what's that cost? Well, in Pennsylvania, generally nothing. And I'll tell you why. It's because in the standard agreement for sale of real estate, when you elect the septic inspection, that actually says that the seller is agreeing to pump out their waste if you request it. But you do have to actually request it. So you actually have to go under contract and then make sure your agent tells their agent, by the way, we need to arrange for this septic system to be pumped out. Now that could be a $300 or $400 expense. And you're gonna wanna make sure that you coordinate those things with your inspector. so that this happens and they're able to inspect the septic system before it's pumped out and after it's pumped. There's two positives to this. One is it's gotta get pumped every now and then anyway. I would say like every two years, maybe three years. So this just gets you like a clean slate when you're buying the house. So perfect opportunity to do this is when somebody else is required to do it and didn't realize that they were required to do it. So. ⁓ Make sure that when you're doing an inspection that you inspect your septic system because it could cost $40,000 if you have to replace it completely. Also, it depends on the size of the house and the hydraulic load as well as the soil. If you don't have very good soil there, you might have to spend a little extra money on a bigger drain field. And the drain field is the expensive part, well, the most expensive part, I should say. So short-term rentals in this area are required to pump their tank every two to three years. and provide that documentation. So if you're buying a property that's like under that requirement, then great. But here's the thing, short-term rentals and long-term rentals are completely different investments. They're completely different properties even. So primary homes and long-term rentals have no requirement. And this is so frustrating. Again, it's the short-term rental owners who are taking care of their property, their community and being good neighbors while the slumlords and the rednecks get a free pass. It's completely ridiculous. agree. Everybody, if short-term rental owners are required to this every two to three years, why isn't everybody required to do this every two to three years? It's completely unfair, but it's not required for everyone, right? So I guess it's just the townships deciding that if we're gonna have regulations for these folks, we should throw this one in as well. We've been wanting to do it to all the people who vote for us. but we're scared that they're gonna get upset. Let's call it what it is, right? Anyhow, so if you had a septic system that wasn't pumped in far too long, you probably didn't buy one of those short-term rentals that had to actually get pumped in order to maintain their permit. Anyway, So this one time, I actually walked into a crawl space that was completely full of water and it was very cold. There's well water up here, like 55 degrees. I was really concerned about potentially getting electric shock. Actually this has happened more than once. Basements and crawl spaces flooding is really not that unusual. It's not a good thing. Don't get me wrong and it is avoidable ⁓ But it's happened more than once and I've walked into them So in one situation there was something plugged in that was now floating in the water. It was a dehumidifier That was no longer doing its job ⁓ Now the GFCI was tripped no, no danger there, but it still had me concerned. So Another time I went into this water ⁓ I started feeling a buzzing once I got close to an appliance that was plugged in. ⁓ but once I was like, maybe then maybe a foot or two away from it, I didn't really getting electric shock. So none of it was hazardous to me and I didn't stay near it. I didn't touch the thing either. I just got to where I needed to unplug the cord and no more electric buzzing. Right. ⁓ so this stuff, it can happen. that specific situation with the, the crawl space. actually was because of a shark bite fitting. And ⁓ it was right as the pipe was coming out of the wall, ⁓ there was a bathroom up there and a wet wall, that's the wall that has the pipes. ⁓ The water supply, it was either hot or cold, I don't remember now, but either one of those two actually came down through the two by fours into the crawl space. And that's where this pipe was cut and a shark bite fitting was pushed up onto it. Well. It wasn't pushed up well enough because that's where it broke. So what I had to do in order to fix this was I actually had to cut around those two by fours on the floor through the subfloor around those two by fours to make enough space to actually reconnect this thing. It happened. It got, it got taken care of, but it was a very difficult spot to work because it was very wet. Right. And, and this was like, I don't know, two months before closing on the house. So like for something like this to happen, it was kind of a big deal, but moving on. ⁓ so that sort of stuff, it happens. It's really unfortunate. You've got to be prepared for it. It probably would not have happened if it wasn't a shark bite fitting. I do not in my homes. I don't put shark bite fittings behind the walls, behind sheetrock, behind drywall, behind wood paneling. I don't put it where I can't access it. If it's in a crawl space where I can access it, not a big deal. What I would have done if I had made that repair is I would have put on. a different type of fitting. know, it was copper up there and they were switching it to PEX in the crawl space. So I would not have put that there. I would have probably cut it all out and made it extended out in copper and then maybe gone to an elbow that's maybe a shark bite or a PEX. I actually prefer PEX. I prefer not to use shark bite whenever possible. And then Rhett, for the other issue that you were talking about with the well and the lack of pressure, I actually just had this problem last week. A cleaner was at a house and they said, hey, I don't have any water. The water pressure is really low. And then eventually they said, there's no water pressure now. So I actually went over and I checked the breaker. The breaker was on. I checked a switch because that house actually has a switch to turn on and off the water for the well to turn off the electricity that goes to the well. that is. And then once I checked those connections and everything was good, we still had 240 volts of electricity. I actually went out into the crawl space where the pressure tank was, and I took the cap off of the pressure switch, and I tested that electrical as well. And it was actually working. Usually the problem is either the breaker is off, which the cleaner had already troubleshot that. The switch might have gone bad. That could have had a bad connection. And truth be told, when I opened up that junction box, I did actually find something that was disconnected. So wasn't done right, but that wasn't what was causing the water to stop. ⁓ So after I had verified the, ⁓ that the pressure switch was Well, ⁓ I tested to see if pump itself still good. So what you have to do is take the wires off and then you can do a resistance test. Now, what you're looking for is a constant number of ohms. ⁓ you're looking for a constant draw on this. And in this case, it was fluctuating. was going from zero and open lead all the way up to like three or four ohms. So I knew that there was a problem somewhere and I was just hoping that it wasn't the well, the well pump because it's very difficult to access. So I left everything in there. Obviously the electricity is off at this point because I wouldn't be testing these things live. Well, I was testing it live but All right, that's complicated. I'm not going to get into it anyway. So then I went out to the well cap. Now this is a casing. It's a steel casing that comes up a couple feet off the ground and there's a cap on top. So I take that cap off. There was a, there was a nut to hold it tight, but it wasn't actually tight. So it was just sitting on there with and rattling a little bit in the wind. Anyway, inside there's some wires. There's a couple of wire nuts. So take that apart and realized we've got a burnt connection here. That's evidence that it had overheated. Electrical connections overheat when it's a loose connection or it's wet or there's some other type of resistance. So I knew from that, at least I found one problem here. So actually snip those wires back, redid the connection, put everything back together. ⁓ But before I put it back together, I actually tested the resistance there. And from that line all the way down to the well, perfectly good. So that told me I probably found my issue here. And so redo those connections and you might be wondering why a property manager is doing this ⁓ when you can just hire a plumber. ⁓ I am the plumber sometimes because that's the kind of property manager I am. I'm a licensed contractor. I'm able to do this kind of stuff. I know how to do it. I know how to do it safely. And we're, I and my team are insured for this. So in that situation, I was able to solve that problem within an hour. You know, I got there, it took an hour to start diagnosing and going all the way down the line to the problems that could be. My last step, if that wasn't the solution, is I could have tested the well, the pump that is, and found that that was bad. If that had been the case, I would have called my well guy and he would have come out there ⁓ probably the following day, but we had a guest checking in later. So... He probably would have come out there the following day to pull that pump out and put another pump in. That would have been probably a $2,500 repair bill. And plus the one hour that I was there as kind of an urgent call. ⁓ Anyway, you guys never have to go through this, but Rhett, I feel you. I see what happened there. ⁓ If your connection was out there, the well cap, this is... probably not because of your previous owner. So if you sue because of that, you're probably not really gonna get anywhere because that's just something that goes bad over time. There are ways to install it like I did, having the, having the wire nuts go up so that they shed water and they don't hold onto it. That's a good practice. In my situation, the ones that I found were actually horizontal or facing down, pointing down, I should say. So that's bad practice, but it's by itself. It's not a cause for failure And you can't even say that it's a cause that the seller had caused right the shark bite fitting It's just sloppy work. It's just somebody DIY or like a handyman instead of a real plumber doing the job and Then with your septic system. Well, that's that's a whole nother topic So with your septic since there was a muddy drain field ⁓ most likely the water's going up into it and then it's not settling down into the earth. If you think through the physics of a drain field, you probably do have gravel, dirt, and things like that that are starting to get clogged up with solids. When I say solids, think of mud, right? So that holding tank that's supposed to be breaking down these solids into liquids, when it gets full of solids, and then it's only solids that are actually gonna go down line into your drain field. So your drain field again is PVC pipes that have holes in them so that water can leak out. Well, if you have trees that are too close to your drain field, then you have roots that want to go to where the water is and they will actually clog your PVC pipes. Now the mud could just be because it's raining or it could actually be because the water's not seeping down into the ground anymore. but it's probably not because of the roots. Now, if there's recently cut down trees, then there's your problem. ⁓ Trees that are alive are actually sucking up water out of that septic system. We're talking about ones that are gravity fed. It's actually sucking up that water and it's just, you know, cleaning the water. It's good for the tree. So that's in some ways okay, but eventually it's gonna lead to a failure. especially when that tree falls down or gets cut down someday, those roots are gonna die and they're now clogging up the holes in your septic system. So those are some things that would actually cause the septic system to fail is if there's roots in the drain field because those roots are eventually going to clog your drain field. So if you have a home and you know where your drain field is in your septic system and there's lots of trees near it, you have a ticking time bomb. You should start budgeting now. for replacement. Sorry to give you that bad news. It's just true. don't cut them down right now. Cause as long as they're up, you're okay. But eventually this is going to be a problem for you. Now this is especially true if it's gravity fed. If it's a sand mound, if it's a turkey mound, the water is only going up into those pipes when it's under pressure. So what you're going to want to do then is you're going to want to time how long it takes for that ⁓ riser tank to pump out. So water, like I said, it goes from the holding tank into the riser tank. This is the tank that has a pump in it. So it goes from one that's like maybe 1500 gallon capacity to one that's like a 500 gallon capacity, 300, something like that. So that pump is pretty strong and it should actually pump that water from top all the way down in like two, three minutes. It really shouldn't take a very long time. but that's how long it should be under pressure in order for you to know that your drain field is working the way it's supposed to, that it's absorbing the water, that the water is able to get out of those pipes. If that thing is running for 15, 20, 30 minutes just to empty back out so the pump can turn off, you're not only wasting electricity, you're also looking at a septic system that is not able to do its job. Another thing that you find a lot is that those pipes that run horizontally through your sand mound, they have little clean outs on the end. Sometimes there's two, sometimes there's one, sometimes there's none. But when there's one, it's really not that hard for somebody to run over that with a lawnmower. It's actually way more common than you might expect. So ask your inspector when you buy a home, does this home, does this septic system have clean outs? And one thing to look for is lush vegetation. Now you can only do this in the summertime. You can't really do it in the winter. In the winter, you look for other things, but you look for lush vegetation because that means that there's water actually being pumped out of there. And the grass in that area is actually getting more water than the other areas. So that would tell you something. You've got a broken clean out. broken pipe or recently broken pipe could also cause it to be really muddy, but you're looking for anything that's not uniform, a little gravel, not a big deal, but like an area worth a completely bare spot or a muddy spot, those are problems. And your inspector should pick up on all these things. But if you are, if you already own the home, if you don't have an inspection or didn't have an inspection, ⁓ then those are some things to look out for. So that reminds me of a septic system that did have a puddle next to it. And it was very concerning. So this is 190 Robin Lane and Pocono Lake. Now this was a listing that was for sale. It's an eight bedroom house and it was a fake log house because it had log siding outside and it had wood paneling inside. So it looked like an actual log home. So this house was for sale for $800,000 and it had a in my estimate, a failing septic system. Now the agent advertised that it had $191,000 of ⁓ rental income as eight bedroom home in Pocono Lake. I walked through this property because I have investors that are able to purchase a property like this. ⁓ And with that kind of rental history, it have been good. However, I remembered this house because of all the different research I do and the different people I talk to. And some of the neighbors had actually complained at township meetings about this specific rental. So when it went up on the market for sale, I really wanted to check it out. I wanted to see what all the drama was about. So it turns out in my estimate, this is a rundown party house. People had made plenty of township complaints. There was lots of issues. There was a septic system for like a four bedroom house and it had eight bedrooms now. So, a couple of things that I noticed while I was there, there was a gutter downspout that was completely missing. And when you've got log siding, that's basically just stained. ⁓ Those downspouts are actually pretty important because what they had was about 30 % of the water that's hitting that roof is going down into that gutter. And that gutter has a downspout that's now missing. So water's coming out on the third floor from the ground and it's going past all these logs that are going back and forth, right? The corner of the log house looks that way. So it's going past all of these things, dry rotting them all, wet rotting, whatever you wanna call it. And it's causing the siding to go bad. And the paint is coming off of these logs because of the water that's flowing down. The ground at the corner of the house, the corner of the foundation, looks all rocky. So had already ⁓ worn away all the soil and now it's just This is a perfect example of the rest of the property. The entire house looked like it was run down, broken up, dirty, ⁓ unkept for ⁓ years and that they just kept it. So I say, that it seemed like it was just a party house. I'm saying I would have to be drunk to be willing to stay there. Because as soon as you walk in and you start noticing the cobwebs and the dirt and the broken couch and the messed up furniture and the, I could keep going on guys. As soon as you notice all those things, you're gonna say, ⁓ no, this is not okay. And you're gonna leave. Or you're gonna get drunk and stay. because that's who he's renting to. It's probably like kids on spring break. And I know spring break doesn't happen all year long. So how did he make $191,000? Because there's almost no competition in the eight bedroom space. So he's renting the house with no permit for this. He's renting his house with no permit and causing all these kinds of problems. The people in the HOA behind him are complaining about it. The people at the township are complaining about it. His neighbors on the same street are complaining about him and nothing significant is being done to my knowledge. And then he puts it up for sale. Maybe the township finally caught up with him. Maybe his permit is being revoked or maybe he never had a permit to begin with. I don't know. But nevertheless, this rundown party house also had a drain field. with a puddle, a puddle next to it. So I'm walking around this house to do my assessment of it. Is this a good investment property or is this something that people should run from? And I'm starting to feel entertained. I'm looking at this elevated sand mound and right next to it is a big puddle of water. Why is that water there? That's a great question. And I can't say necessarily that it's definitely from the septic system, but it did smell. The tax record says that it's sized for a four bedroom house. So when guests are there, when there's eight bedrooms worth of people there, which is we're gonna say 16 to 20 people, they're using a septic system that's really only sized for like eight people. So is it any surprise? So after three months of this being listed by a broker that was from Philadelphia, it was then relisted by a local agent for $745,000. It only took 31 days to sell. And when it did sell, it sold for $715. Now that's not all that surprising in this market. That is only $30,000 lower than asking, which is what? Less than 5%, like 3-4 % below asking price. It's really not that bad. But guess where the buyer's agent was from? I don't know. I wasn't part of this transaction. What I do know for a fact is that buyer's agent did not get the listing when they went up to sell it later on. I'm getting ahead of myself because this is now a story that's getting interesting. Do you know how often people buy and then sell their houses in short order? Yeah, it actually happens quite a bit in this area. But you know when it happens a lot more is when the agent that they used to buy the property wasn't a local agent. So when I see non-MLS member, what that tells me is that they have an agent that probably doesn't understand septic systems, probably doesn't understand the pitfalls with wells, probably doesn't understand a lot of things about this marketplace. It's also very difficult to know if a property is actually worth $800,000 if you're not showing other $800,000 homes in that area, right? So. In my estimate, that buyer would have actually had to invest tens of thousands of dollars into that property just to feel comfortable renting it out after that. So was resold for $652,000. Bought for 715, sold for 652. That is a $63,000 loss. I did the math for you. That was only one year later. So the guy who bought this with an out of the area agent for $715,000 thought that he had negotiated the price down by 30 grand, ended up putting money into it. Again, I don't have any figures to substantiate how much money he put into it, but the listing the second time around looked a lot better than the first one, just saying. Anyway, that buyer put money into it and then sold and lost $63,000. What do you think that buyer was running away from? I've got some ideas, but guess what? The septic system was still not upgraded. They were still using the old septic system that I had evaluated just from my showing was failing. And it was still a septic system that was sized for a four bedroom house. Now that septic system being for a four was disclosed when it was sold for $715,000, probably sold to somebody who doesn't understand how septic systems work, assumed. that this would not be that hard to improve. They probably even got an estimate from somebody of how much it would cost to upgrade the septic system from a four bedroom to a six bedroom. And it said in the listing, there was already a permit on file to improve this into a six bedroom septic. So why did they sell for $63,000 less instead of just improving the septic system and continuing to rent the property and make their money back? Why did this person get so scared? that they had to pull $63,000 of their cash and sell. It's just a terrible, terrible story, but it illustrates perfectly a couple of key points. ⁓ For one, the buyer's agent was not from the area. They probably knew nothing about septic systems. The buyer may have even waived some of those inspections to get that $30,000 price reduction. If you are buying property and you're waiving inspections, you are taking a risk. Just understand that if there's a septic system, you may be waving something, like you may be waving an inspection on a very expensive repair. And I'll tell you, that is why a good agent is worth more than 3%. Pay them. Stop negotiating those fees down. Not every agent is the same. And you really should be listening to an expert before investing $715,000 in a marketplace that's probably two hours away, where you know nobody but you really should be investing in a good agent that knows these systems, that knows this region before waiving any kind of inspections. And also important point, even if you waive an inspection in order to strengthen your offer, you should still do an inspection. You're just waiving the contingency. Your offer is gonna, your sale is gonna happen whether the inspection is good or bad, but. you can still have an inspection. I feel like it's still your right to inspect the property. Anyway, the next thing is that just because a home is a rental doesn't mean that you can rent it. It may have had a history like the slumlord created where person after person after person was paying high dollar figures to rent it and they were unhappy with it or they were just completely drunk the entire time. or they could have left a five-star review because they were paid to. You know, that actually happens in this industry. You can look at the rental reviews, the reviews on the Airbnb listing, if it is even still active. But you can look at those reviews and what you can see are all these five-star, four-star reviews. You don't know if they were bribed to leave a five-star review. I've seen that in this industry where ⁓ a guest, gets a phone call near the end of the stay, says, hey, how was everything? Oh, you were a little upset that, oh my. What if we provided you with a $60 credit? No, that's not enough. What if it was $600? Would that be enough for you to leave a five-star review? Guys. Don't be naive. This stuff actually does happen in this industry. So remember, just because a home is a rental doesn't mean that you can rent it. And just because the seller is obligated to disclose information doesn't mean that they're disclosing it truthfully. That's why a good local inspector is worth it. Make sure you pay them. And that's why you have to contact the township to see if there's any pending action on that property. Typically, you can call the zoning office while they're open. And you can tell them the address and say any pending issues with this property. Because I can tell you right now, knowing Tobyhanna Township, knowing the ladies that work in the office, knowing that property and how prominent and well known it was as being a problem, you would have gotten an earful. And if you had made that call, I can almost guarantee you would have not bought this property or you would have negotiated a much better price. So Rhett, sorry you're going through this. Some of these issues are nearly not all that rare. Hopefully you stop having plumbing issues, but it sounds like you bought a house that was not really that well taken care of. It sounds like there were some red flags that you might've been able to watch out for. Your inspector, if they were good, they pointed out that the septic tank wasn't pumped and needed to be. Your inspector, if they are good, pointed out that there's a lot of... know, shark bite fittings in this crawl space and that you're going from one type of pipe to another type of pipe over and over again. Those are all things that if your inspector pointed them out, you could have researched them and you might've been able to get ahead of these problems. Nevertheless, I think it's terrible what you're going through, but it could be worse. It actually could be much worse. You could have been tricked into buying 190 Robin Lane, Pocono Lake. And ⁓ fortunately you were not. Unless that was you. Unless that's, just kidding. I know where Rhett owns his property and it's not that house. ⁓ Anyway, you know, we talk about septic systems around here. If you guys want more information on them, you know where to find it. ⁓ But if you want to ask me about specific situations that you found yourself in, then I want you to send me emails. because we'll talk about stuff like that on this podcast. These are the challenges no one talks about when they sell the dream of easy passive income, but they're exactly the problems that make or break your operation. If you've got a situation you want to share, then please email me. info at galvanizedmanagement.com. Your problem might be the next one that we break down and chances are you'll help a lot of other hosts in the process too. If this episode helped you share it with another host who's in the trenches, like and subscribe too, so we can organically reach more people. That's how we make the industry better. I'd also love to see you follow on TikTok at Galvanize Investments and Facebook and YouTube at Galvanize Management. Until next time, stay steady, keep learning and keep building something real. This is short-term rental problems and solutions.