I spent most of yesterday afternoon attending three inspections on a property located in the Russian River area. There you will find a huge redwood forest with the Russian River running through it. Once a popular Summer vacation destination, most of these Summer cabins have turned into permanent homes.
The MLS print-out said that this property was on STANDARD septic. The listing agent chose this option among the other choices which are Cesspool, Holding Tank, Septic Engineered, Sewer Private, Sewer Public, Other and None. So what does a STANDARD septic look like?
Well, it didn't look like what I was expecting even though I didn't know what to expect. Our septic inspector found a cesspool lined with redwood, otherwise known as a redwood box. The buyer was a little freaked about this at first and I don't blame her. She said I don't know what a cesspool is but it sure doesn't sound good.
When I mentioned the description of the septic system per the MLS, the inspector said Well, this is a STANDARD septic system for this area since there is no room for leach lines.
So my question is, should the word STANDARD be used in Real Estate? We don't say STANDARD house, we wouldn't know how many bedrooms and bathrooms it had. We don't say STANDARD lot even though it may be the same cookie-cutter size as everyone else's in the neighborhood. We don't say STANDARD fireplace, are we going to have to start buying firewood or not? And what does a STANDARD roof tell you?
Since septic systems are below ground, we don't always know what we are going to find. Instead of calling something we can't see STANDARD, maybe we need an option called DON'T KNOW.
© 2010 Cynthia Larsen, Should The Word STANDARD Be Used In Real Estate?
Comments(26)