TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — One pest control company is offering homeowners $2,000 to let them release dozens of cockroaches into their homes as part of a study to test the latest treatments in pest control.

The Pest Informer said it’s looking for five to seven households to release approximately 100 American cockroaches into their homes to test specific pest control techniques and gauge their effectiveness.

The company provided a strict list of rules for the study, including that the trial period would last approximately 30 days.

Strawberry supermoon to rise over Tampa this week
Participants must also own the home or have written approval from the homeowner, be 21 years or older, and must be located in the continental United States.

The company said all cockroach treatments will be family and pet safe, but homeowners will be barred from using additional cockroach treatments during the duration of the study.

If the roaches persist, the company claimed it will use traditional treatment options at no cost to the homeowner.

If you’re looking for 100 creepy, crawly new roommates – or just a way to make $2,000 – you can fill out an online application form.

LINKhttps://wgntv.com/news/:

You'd have to pay me 100 times that to get me to agree to the cockroaches.

Hell no.


But it sounds like a great opportunity for someone who already has roaches... Free roach treatments plus a $2000 profit.

Wow, with this offer below and turning my house into a roach motel I could be on easy street!

Jun. 12—TRAVERSE CITY — Local realtor Camille Campbell said the specifics of a new kind of right-to-list contract a Florida broker is offering some homeowners in northern Michigan has her feeling uneasy.

"My concern isn't about getting a listing or not, it is about the choices people may be giving up when they sign one of these agreements," Campbell said.

MV Realty of Delray Beach is offering contracts — called the Homeowner Benefit Program — that pay up front money to homeowners whether or not they have plans to sell their home, information on the company's website states.

"MV spends substantial time and resources to ensure that it always operates in a way that is consistent with the law," the company said in a statement provided Thursday.

"With regard to Grand Traverse County, MV has only entered into five Homeowner Benefit Agreements in the county, all of which were signed by the homeowners knowingly and voluntarily before a notary, and after those individuals had spoken to a licensed agent about the program."

The contracts are not listing agreements, but rather a contract between two parties — a homeowner who makes a promise and MV Realty which pays the homeowner a set amount of money in exchange for that promise, the statement said.

The specifics are this: In exchange for between $300 and $5,000, homeowners sign an agreement stating if they decide to sell, MV Realty has the exclusive right to list their home on commission, generally six percent, as spelled out in the agreement.

Campbell and other local real estate professionals say what they find problematic is not the up-front money, but the length of the agreement, which company documents show lasts 40 years.

In contrast, a standard listing agreement from a licensed realtor in Michigan typically lasts three, six or 12 months, said Chris Lambert, co-owner of Northern Title Agency.

Additionally, the Homeowner Benefit Program agreement states if the homeowner defaults on the agreement during that 40 years, whether by losing the home through foreclosure, listing the home with another realtor or listing it for sale by owner, the homeowner would owe MV Realty an early termination fee equal to three percent of the property's fair market value.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Hell no.


But it sounds like a great opportunity for someone who already has roaches... Free roach treatments plus a $2000 profit.

Okay, now that's a thought. I didn't think of that angle. Although, I suspect that may be a requirement in the contract - no current infestation.

No way. We had them when I was a kid in Tampa…the great big ones. It was literally a shotgun house that had one room added to it.

Short of tenting the house and flooding it with gas, there’s no way to get rid of all of them.

So about those tenants who wont pay..........

I have lived in Florida for more than 40 years. On the job I was in houses that had them crawling on the walls and ceilings and furniture and they are known to crawl into sleeping people's ears. Cockroaches are a fact of life, but we don't need any more of them

I come from South America, where the roaches are meal-sized.

I would not have 100 of them released in my house for $2,000, $20,000 or $200,000. Screw that.

Oops - sorry you were in the control group!

I wonder if I should sign up my neighbor??

quote:

Originally posted by JimmyRayBob:

I wonder if I should sign up my neighbor??

No, not your neighbor, but maybe David Truong's neighbor.

Sure, I'll take the 2k. I'm also going to need a $100 dollar bonus for every roach found in my house after the 30 days is up from now until the end of time. Those bastids are impossible to get rid of.