By Robert Freedman, senior editor, REALTOR® Magazine
You might have read in your newspaper that bed bugs are back. Yes, they returned a few years ago. Thanks to increased global travel and increased mobility in general as well as changes in pesticide use the bugs of “don’t let the bed bugs bite” fame have returned to the spotlight. The difference now is that they don’t just migrate to beds; they migrate to any place where they can be close to human contact so they can feed. Remember, the definition of bed bug is “blood-feeding parasite.”
Earlier this year NAR and the Institute for Real Estate Management (IREM) hosted a bed bug specialist at the NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington for a primer on how to detect bed bugs, what to do to get rid of them, and how to prevent them in the first place.
To help as many NAR members as possible get the benefit of that session, we’re hosting the speaker, Lyn Garling of the Integrated Pest Management Program at Penn State University, in an hour-long webinar that will cover the same material as her conference presentation. The webinar is free and will include links to brochures and other resources that can be printed out as reference material.
For property managers, particularly those handling multifamily properties, the importance of knowing about bed bugs is clear. But sales associates could benefit as well, because bed-bug migrations aren’t limited to apartment buildings; they can be a problem in for-sale single-family houses. If one of your listings has them, you’ll want to know what to do. The fact is, a bed bug infestation won’t necessarily leave when the bed leaves; infestations can be found in carpets, cracks in walls, and crevices in floors. When the bugs move in, they move in for the long-term.
Register for the webinar today.
Bed Bugs: Know Them, Eliminate Them
When: Thursday, July 28, 3 p.m., Eastern Time
Where: Your desktop
Length: one hour
Who: Lyn Garling, Penn State University Integrated Pest Management Program
Cost: Free
