WDO reports for Fresno escrows, without the scramble
Built for buyers and sellers with a closing date, and for the agents who order these reports every month.
Who orders an escrow termite inspection in Fresno
Two kinds of people order an escrow termite inspection in Fresno. The first is a buyer or seller in the middle of one sale. The escrow clock is already running. They want the report handled and no surprises. The second is a real-estate agent who orders WDO reports every month. Agents want an inspector who never becomes the reason a file stalls.
The service is the same for both. A WDO inspection, short for wood-destroying organisms, gets scheduled around the closing date. The report is written so everyone in the deal can act on it. The deadline is the whole point.
That makes timing the thing to get right. Order the report in the first week of escrow and there is room for everything that follows. The two sides can negotiate who pays for what. The work can get done. The paperwork can reach the lender. Order the same report ten days before closing and every finding becomes a crisis. No inspector controls the calendar. The habit that works is simple: get the report into the file early and let the deadline breathe.
Sellers often have a different first question. Do you need a termite clearance at all? California law does not require one for every sale. Lenders and the purchase contract are what put it on the table. The clearance guide for sellers walks through who actually requires what.
What a WDO report covers
A WDO report covers more than termites. The inspector looks for anything that eats or rots the wood in a house. That includes termites, wood-boring beetles, and fungus. Dry rot, which is wood broken down by a moisture-loving fungus, shows up in these reports all the time. The inspector also notes the conditions that invite these problems.
In California, findings land in two buckets. Section 1 covers active problems: live termites, live fungus, and the damage they have already done. Section 2 covers conditions likely to cause problems later. Think wood touching soil, a shower leaking into the subfloor, or dirt piled against the siding. The split sounds like paperwork, but it is the most useful part of the report. Section 1 means the house is being damaged right now. Section 2 means the house is set up to be damaged later. Lenders treat the two very differently.
The split also maps onto the negotiation. Lenders who require a termite clearance, which is common with FHA and VA loans, generally want Section 1 items fixed. A clearance is the paperwork showing the active problems were corrected. Section 2 items become a conversation between buyer and seller. Sometimes they get fixed. Sometimes they turn into a credit. Sometimes they are simply disclosed and accepted.
When corrective work is done, a completion certificate documents it for the lender and escrow. In California, these reports are filed with the Structural Pest Control Board. None of this is exotic. It is a standard document moving through a standard process. That is exactly why a late or sloppy report stands out so badly in a transaction.
How an escrow termite inspection usually runs
- 1
Order the inspection
Most agents order it in the first week of escrow. An early order leaves room for repairs if the report finds something.
- 2
On-site inspection
An inspector checks the home for termites, dry rot, and the conditions that invite them.
- 3
Report goes out
The WDO report reaches every party in the sale. Findings are split into Section 1 (active problems) and Section 2 (conditions that can lead to them).
- 4
Treatment or repairs
If the lender requires a clearance, Section 1 items get treated or repaired before closing.
- 5
Completion certificate
The finished work is documented in a completion certificate for the lender and escrow.
- 6
Close
With the report and certificate in the file, escrow can move to closing on schedule.
When the report finds something
In the Central Valley, it usually does. Subterranean termites have worked this soil for decades. Much of the housing stock is fifty years old or more. So most WDO reports come back with at least a Section 2 note, and plenty carry Section 1 items. Agents know this. First-time buyers often don’t, and the panic is worth heading off. Findings do not kill deals. Late findings kill deals. A Section 1 item found in week one is a work order with weeks of calendar to absorb it. The same item found at the final walkthrough means a delayed closing and a rate-lock extension. It leaves two sides looking for someone to blame.
Resolving findings usually means treatment matched to the species, repair of the damaged wood, or both. However the work gets handled, two things have to be true. The finished work has to match the report, item for item. And it has to be documented as it is completed. Escrow runs on paper. A repair with no paper trail might as well not have happened, as far as the lender is concerned. Keep the documentation tight and the completion certificate follows without drama.
For agents: the vendor test
Agents don’t grade termite companies on inspections. They grade them on files that close. The test is practical. Does the scheduling work backward from the closing date? Does the report reach every party at once, instead of trickling out on request? Are the findings written in words a first-time buyer can follow? No agent should spend an evening translating Section 1 into plain English for a nervous client. And is finished work documented the first time? A missing certificate discovered on signing day is the most expensive piece of paper in real estate.
That is a fair standard, and agents who order WDO reports every month should enforce it. Hold every inspector to it, this one included. The vendors worth keeping are the ones you stop thinking about. Their reports show up complete, and their paperwork never needs chasing twice.
Closing date on the calendar? Order the inspection early, not the week of.
Selling? Whether you need a termite clearance at all is its own question.
California law doesn't require one for every sale. The lender and the buyer are usually the ones asking.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is an escrow inspection free like a homeowner inspection?
No. A homeowner inspection answers your own question about your own house, and companies often offer it free. An escrow or WDO inspection produces a formal report that buyers, lenders, and escrow all rely on. It carries real documentation duties, so it is priced as a professional service.
What's the difference between a regular termite inspection and an escrow (WDO) inspection?
An escrow inspection produces a formal wood-destroying organism (WDO) report for a home sale. Buyers, agents, lenders, and escrow all rely on that document. In California, its findings are split into active problems (Section 1) and conditions that invite them (Section 2). A regular homeowner inspection checks the same things, but it exists to answer your question, not a lender's.
How long is a WDO report good for?
There is no single expiration date. Most transactions expect a recent report, usually from within the last few months. Lenders can set their own recency rules on top of that. If a deal has dragged past the report's shelf life, a re-inspection updates the file.
The report found something. Is the deal in trouble?
Usually not. Findings are common in termite country, and home sales handle them all the time. The usual path is simple. Treat, repair, document, close. What actually threatens a closing is time, meaning findings that surface late or finished work that never got documented.