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Old 08-29-2009, 01:15 PM
 
Location: Somewhere, out there in Zone7B
5,015 posts, read 8,146,186 times
Reputation: 4663

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We have a contract on a short sale home and are having the inspections done this week. Was there yesterday and noticed that the chimney is leaning / pulling away from the house - hadn't noticed this before and pointed it out to the realtor.

Trying to educate myself before the inspection about what could cause this problem, looking on the web, I read that this could be do to a faulty foundation. That the way to fix it properly is to drive steel piers/pylons in to the earth until adequate soil density is reached. Also mentioned on the web was about water getting in to the home from the gap between the house and chimney.

We noticed the mold and musty smell in the basement from the first time we saw the house, which is where the fireplace is located. We thought maybe it was from the window pane that was broken in that room, or possibly from the carpet getting wet when the prior owners/tenants ripped out the washing machine from the laundry room down there, or maybe a leaking toilet in the bathroom down there worsened by the home being closed up, and it was the end of June.

I'm trying to find out if anyone locally has had this issue with their chimney and what steps they took to fix the problem and what the cost was to fix it. Did anyone fix it as mentioned above? Did you use a foundation contractor?

We like the house but I can't put out more money than we already anticipate it will take to bring this house to a habitable condition, it really needs a LOT of work.

Being it's a short sale it's being bought AS IS, but if this is a major problem and major cost, I don't know if the bank will go down on the price already agreed upon. If not, I won't be purchasing it, nor can I see anyone else doing so, at least not at the current price I am purchasing it for - I had the highest offer, so I was told.

Thanks for any help!
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Old 08-29-2009, 02:54 PM
 
Location: Simpsonville
288 posts, read 946,693 times
Reputation: 155
I'd probably get it inspected by a licensed foundation contractor, as well as a regular home inspector. The regular home inspector can look at it and then recommend some reliable contractors. There are a few things that a bank must repair before they can sell a home, or at least this was the case with the foreclosure home I purchased. The house had a leaky roof, which the bank paid to have repaired before closing. I'd assume things like foundation problems would fall in the same category. It's in the bank's best interest to take care of things like that because once the house belongs to them, it's their liability. There should be a disclosure statement, even with short sells and foreclosures. Once major issues are discovered, they have to be disclosed. The seller can fix the problems or lower the cost for you, a ready buyer, or re-list the house and hope somebody else comes along willing to buy it with known issues. These opinions are based on two similar home purchases I've negotiated. Perhaps the realtors out there can verify.
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Old 08-29-2009, 04:34 PM
 
Location: Somewhere, out there in Zone7B
5,015 posts, read 8,146,186 times
Reputation: 4663
No bank involved in this sale.

Surprised the foreclosure you bought that the bank made a repair,normally they dont, foreclosures I've seen as always sold AS IS. That being said, I had looked at a foreclosure that had a bad roof. When we went to look at the property they had roofers there looking at it. They ended up putting a new roof on the house and the property price went up $10K.

Another thing we noticed before was dirty walls in the MB. We just figured these people were just so dirty, maybe the walls were never cleaned? We hadn't noticed the other bedrooms had the same "soot" looking stuff on it until today. It's really odd, never saw anything like it before. You can see lines on the ceiling like the beams are outlined with soot. Looked this up on the web today as well and found this is a problem far more serious than just dirty walls. No idea what the fix for this would be, will have to continue searching for answers. Whatever the cost would be to fix the problems mentioned were not a factor in my costs.

Will see what happens after inspections.

Still would like to know what the cost to fix the chimney would be.

Thanks for your input
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Old 08-29-2009, 08:05 PM
 
Location: home state of Myrtle Beach!
6,894 posts, read 22,472,778 times
Reputation: 4560
Not sure but this house sounds like a nightmare you should walk away from and start counting your blessings as soon as you do.
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Old 08-30-2009, 09:56 AM
 
Location: Somewhere, out there in Zone7B
5,015 posts, read 8,146,186 times
Reputation: 4663
That will probably be what happens. Would have been the perfect house once we fixed it up. Been looking for so long, but guess it's going to be longer than I thought.

Thanks!
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Old 08-30-2009, 12:03 PM
 
Location: home state of Myrtle Beach!
6,894 posts, read 22,472,778 times
Reputation: 4560
I hope you do. We bought a nightmare house many years ago. it was our first house and we did a number of things wrong including not hiring an inspector. When we moved in we found little pieces of blue plastic all over the yard and neighbors told us that the previous owners would put a tarp over the decayed roof every winter. We had water leaks that were not disclosed; but this was before disclosure was law. We had no recourse against anyone without spending more money that we didn't have an no option but to live in the house. We did eventually fix the roof and some of the damage that we knew about; but I'm sure there was more than we just couldn't afford to know about.

I wish you luck in finding something suitable and safe. But don't mislead yourselves into something you can't possibly afford down the road.
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Old 09-02-2009, 03:31 PM
 
Location: Somewhere, out there in Zone7B
5,015 posts, read 8,146,186 times
Reputation: 4663
Thanks for the input. I knew going in to this house it would need some work but it's what I don't know that I need to find out and then make a decision upon. The inspection was delayed until tomorrow, and from there I'll make a decision on what to do. It's a bit overwhelming of all that needs to be done but this house could be beautiful.

Thanks again!
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