So you are finally looking at homes for sale on the Outer Banks and as you are wandering around the yard of what looks like your dream beach house you notice what looks like a small trash can buried in the yard. You ask your buyer’s agent what this is and they say they will look into it. This is your cue to run away from this house and this so called buyer’s agent.

What you are looking at is a sump pump. Typically, sump pumps are installed in the basement floors of homes and are used to keep water out of the basement during periods of heavy rain. Here on the Outer Banks you will not find many basements. The water table here is too high to be able to keep a basement dry. But you will find sump pumps. In the OBX, sump pumps are usually installed in the low spots in the outside yard or under the house. What you will see is the lid, which looks like a trash can lid, and pipes protruding from the lid and/or sides. Additionally, there will be a pipe located somewhere where they want the water to go.

If your buyer’s agent does not know what a sump pump is or looks like then there is a good chance they will not know what other signs of flooding to look for. A sump pump is one of the more obvious signs of an owner trying to mitigate the reoccurring flooding the property receives. If you want to know what other evidence of flooding you can look for read this article, it explains it all.   8 Ways To Avoid A Flood Prone House On The OBX