You have decided to sell your home and you are doing all of the preparation. You trim the bushes, repair the fence, paint the outside and inside, repair the faucets and maybe even update the flooring. But what about the most important item, have you done anything with the septic system?

About 25% of the homes in the US have a septic system. The reason I say that the septic system is the most important item of your property is that without it functioning properly you cannot sell your home. First and foremost, without a properly functioning septic system your house can be condemned for habitation. Secondarily, with the new government rules on lending, the prospective buyer will not be able to get a mortgage for your property without a septic tank inspection.

Unfortunately, most Realtors and sellers don’t give much thought to the septic system until they have an offer to purchase. A typical contingency of every offer to purchase is a well and septic inspection. So, now you have the written offer to purchase from a prospective buyer. You’ve gone through the agony of negotiating on the price and settled on a price lower than you had hoped. To satisfy the contingency you have the well and septic tank inspection completed. To your disbelief the septic report comes back with big red stamp “FAILED”. Now what? Not only do you have this huge problem but the inspector is required to report the inspection results to the local government and the report becomes an open record attached to your property. Now your property has a humongous red flag attached to it for every prospective buyer to see!

So now you have a decision to make about what to do to resolve the issue of the failed septic system. You call several contractors to get an estimate on replacing the septic system. To you disbelief the estimates range from $12,000 to $23,000 … for the same job! The question is, is the guy with the low bid competent or is the guy with the high bid gouging you because he knows that you need a new system to sell your home. Armed with the facts, you again begin negotiating with the prospective buyer. They tell you that they are backing out of the deal unless the septic system is repaired. So you must decide to take the $15,000 hit by repairing the septic system or let the buyer walk away. Neither is a good solution.

This scenario happens everyday across the US. We receive calls everyday from homeowners with this dilemma. They are shocked to learn that all of this agony could have been avoided with some planning and preparation. The first thing every homeowner with a septic system must do is become educated about their system. The fact is that in the US, the average septic system life is 15 – 20 years. The conventional wisdom is to wait for the system to fail and then replace it.

There now is an alternative solution that costs less than 10% of the replacement; and that is aerobic remediation developed and patented by Aero-Stream. This process will restore a septic system of any age to full functionality typically within weeks. The system can be installed in about an hour using small hand tools by the average home owner.

The time to consider your septic system is when you begin preparation to put your home on the market. Installing the Aero-Stream septic remediation system before or when your home is listed will ensure your septic system gets a big “PASS” stamped on the report!