WDI Reports for Delaware Real Estate Closings

What you are actually ordering

The NPMA-33 is a single standard form published by the National Pest Management Association, and it is the form required for HUD and VA guaranteed transactions. Your file may call it a termite letter, a termite inspection or a WDO report. In Delaware practice those all mean the same piece of paper.

It records what a visual inspection found in the accessible areas of the structure on a particular day. That is the whole scope, and the distinction matters more than most parties to a sale expect.

What it is not

It is not a warranty, a guarantee, or a statement that the property is free of wood-destroying insects. It is not a structural or damage assessment — the form records evidence of insects, not the engineering consequences of it, and a report noting damage is not a repair estimate. It does not cover areas that could not be reached.

That last one causes the most friction. Finished basements, stored belongings against foundation walls, insulation, crawlspaces with no access hatch and locked outbuildings are all recorded as obstructed or inaccessible rather than inspected. A file that needs those areas covered needs them made accessible before the visit, not after the report lands.

Active infestation against previous evidence

This is the line that decides whether a settlement proceeds smoothly, and it is worth understanding before you read the form rather than after.

Previous evidence means old damage, abandoned tubes, or a treatment recorded some years ago. It is common in older Delaware housing stock and is not by itself a problem, but it goes on the form and a lender may ask what was done about it.

Active infestation means live insects or evidence of current activity. That is what changes the conversation, because the parties then have to decide who handles it and by when, usually against a date that is already set. Where that work is needed it is subterranean termite treatment, and it is a separate job from the inspection.

Either way the report says what was seen. It does not decide who pays for what. That is between the buyer, the seller and the lender.

What the inspector is looking for

Wood-destroying insects, not pests generally. In Delaware that means subterranean termites above all, along with carpenter ants, powderpost beetles and other wood-boring beetles. A mouse in the garage or wasps in the soffit is not a WDI finding, however much it bothers the buyer at the walkthrough.

Scheduling, and what to send us

Four things move an inspection along: the property address, how access is being arranged and with whom, the settlement date, and who should receive the completed form. The settlement date is the one most often left out of the first email and the one that decides how the visit is scheduled.

Tell us early if the property is vacant, tenant-occupied, on a crawlspace, or has outbuildings that need to be included — each of those changes what has to be arranged before anyone arrives.

Where we cover

All three counties: New Castle, Kent and Sussex. The service areas pages list the towns we work regularly, and if a property sits just outside one, call and ask rather than assuming.

Repeat business

Most of the WDI work we do is for the same handful of agents, lenders and title companies, because the second one is always easier than the first — you know what we need, we know how you like the report delivered. If you write a lot of Delaware contracts and want a straightforward answer on whether a property needs one, ask us.