{"id":808307,"date":"2026-08-09T21:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/808307\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T21:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:40:09","slug":"washington-couples-850k-dream-home-hid-thousands-of-bats-and-insurance-denied-the-200k-cleanup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/808307\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington couple’s $850K dream home hid thousands of bats \u2014 and insurance denied the $200K cleanup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a> shutterstock.com \/ clarst5 <\/p>\n

Tom Riecken and Mackenzie Powell thought they had found the perfect family home on Washington state’s Whidbey Island. But after moving in, they discovered a homeowners’ nightmare: thousands of bats had been living inside the walls and attic for years. <\/p>\n

According to a recent Washington Post report<\/a>, the infestation cost the family well into six figures to clean up, repair and make the home safe again. <\/p>\n

Must Read <\/p>\n

Riecken told Moneywise they continue to hear from other homeowners who have similar problems. <\/p>\n

“We’re still consistently helping homeowners dealing with bats in their houses,” he said. “We’ve helped dozens of folks with similar issues \u2014 some local and others further afield.” <\/p>\n

While the couple’s experience is extreme, it shows that even a home that seems move-in ready can hide expensive surprises. <\/p>\n

A costly surprise <\/p>\n

After years of saving while living in a trailer, Riecken and Powell finally found a four-bedroom, four-storey house perched atop a hill. Surrounded by towering pines and draped in Spanish moss, nearly every window had picturesque views of the forest or Puget Sound. <\/p>\n

“We’d saved up for years living in [a] trailer,” Powell told The Washington Post, “We just saved and saved.” <\/p>\n

The white-shingled home was dated and the couple could see it needed work, but at roughly $850,000, it seemed like a bargain in one of America’s hottest housing markets. Since 2019, U.S. home prices had surged 54%, and in King County, Washington, the median home price had climbed to US$885,000. <\/p>\n

There was one warning sign, however. The home inspection noted evidence of “rodents.” <\/p>\n

But the problem lurking inside the walls wasn’t rats. <\/p>\n

It was thousands of bats. <\/p>\n

And getting rid of them wasn’t as simple as calling an exterminator. In Washington, every bat species is legally protected, meaning they can’t be trapped or killed. Instead, they must be humanely “excluded” from a home by sealing off entry points, but only after the young bats are old enough to fly. During the summer maternity season, homeowners are often forced to wait. <\/p>\n

Looking back, Riecken told Moneywise the biggest lesson wasn’t that they skipped an inspection, but that they misunderstood what the inspection was actually telling them. <\/p>\n

Story Continues <\/p>\n

“The inspection conveyed it as a ‘possible rodent issue’\u2026 so we thought it was a minor mouse or rat problem,” he said. “That’s how the inspection read and was conveyed.” <\/p>\n

The report advised the buyers to review the seller’s disclosure or consult a pest specialist, but that comment was buried among dozens of pages. <\/p>\n

Another costly surprise came after closing. Because the home was purchased through an estate sale, Washington’s standard seller disclosure form wasn’t required. <\/p>\n

“Even experienced home buyers might not know that,” he said. “This was essentially our first real home purchase so we had no idea.” <\/p>\n

After the bats were discovered, the couple learned previous inspections had documented the infestation years earlier. <\/p>\n

Then came a devastating financial blow: Their homeowners insurance denied coverage because the damage was considered pre-existing, leaving them with remediation estimates that were over $200,000. <\/p>\n

Instead of walking away, they took on the project. <\/p>\n

“We got clever,” he said. “Instead of paying $36,000 to exclude the bats, we waited them out because they were migratory, and we chose to do the work in the winter.” <\/p>\n

Riecken estimates the family has reduced the cost to roughly $60,000 to $70,000 through a combination of DIY work and being selective with contractors, though repairs are still ongoing. <\/p>\n

What Riecken wants every homebuyer to know <\/p>\n

The ordeal has turned Riecken into an advocate for buyer due diligence, and his advice goes beyond bats. <\/p>\n

Don’t rely on your realtor’s inspector. Instead, Riecken recommends you “find one independently.” <\/p>\n

Attend the inspection yourself. Being “present when the inspection happens” is advice he wishes he’d followed. <\/p>\n

Highlight every recommendation in the inspection report. Don’t just skim the summary. Instead, “take a highlighter and identify every single recommendation in that document,” he says. <\/p>\n

Know the disclosure rules before you buy. Estate sales, trust sales and foreclosures can have different legal disclosure requirements depending on where you live, so that means that “the inheritance loopholes are the biggest thing to be aware of.” <\/p>\n

Trust your nose. Touring during warmer months may reveal problems that aren’t obvious in winter. That said, “any attic, basement or outbuilding with diffusers, candles or other scents might be trying to hide something.” <\/p>\n

He also says yellow stains high on ceilings can point to pest urine hidden inside walls, and there’s one simple way to distinguish between mouse and bat droppings if you encounter them: <\/p>\n

“Mouse poop is rock solid; bat poop will crumble.” <\/p>\n

And don’t assume your insurance policy will rescue you after closing. <\/p>\n

As for Riecken, he has increased his deductible to lower premiums, tackles projects himself whenever he can and leaves specialized work to experts. He told Moneywise that his biggest takeaway is, “if you can buy the tools, learn the skills and do the work cheaper than hiring out, do that, but pick your battles.” <\/p>\n

For prospective buyers, Riecken’s experience is a reminder that the biggest financial risk isn’t always the mortgage itself. Sometimes it’s a hidden problem lurking behind the walls, and the best way to protect yourself is to take all the necessary precautions. <\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com<\/a> under the title: Washington couple’s $850K dream home hid thousands of bats \u2014 and insurance denied the $200K cleanup<\/a> <\/p>\n

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"shutterstock.com \/ clarst5 Tom Riecken and Mackenzie Powell thought they had found the perfect family home on Washington…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[155,25313,129120,79,20738,343069,2002,107468,14353,201],"class_list":["post-808307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-dave-ramsey","tag-homeowners","tag-moneywise","tag-science","tag-thousands","tag-tom-riecken","tag-washington","tag-washington-post","tag-washington-state","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}