Should we buy a house with previous foundation repair? (phone, sink, installing)
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We found a house that we really like. But according to the seller's disclosure report, the house had a foundation repair. We asked the seller about the repair, he doesn't know much about it. Because he bought the house 2 years ago and the repair was done by the owner before him. (that's a little red flag to us. If we bought a house 2 years ago, that had foundation repair, we must had found out and remembered every bit about it. But that's just us) The seller is selling the house due to job relocation, so it's not like the house has a hidden problem and he has to get rid of it. The seller provided us a property inspection report which says foundation is inspected, no visible cracks or problems. We don't know what to do now. We like the house, we are purchasing it to live in it for at least 10 years. So as long as we can live in it without problems, we are OK with it. But on the other hand, it's a quite expansive house costing well over 3 times of the average house price in the city. We don't want it to be a bad investment that we couldn't sell down the road. Do you guys have any experience with buying or selling a house that had foundation repair? BTW, the house was built in 1990. Thanks.
It would depend on the extent of the work that was done. How many piers were added? are they still holding? if the current owner doesn't know much about it, it is very likely that he didn't have the warranty transferred to him (within 30 days of purchase) therefore he cannot transfer it to you.
No matter what inspection report he shared with you, you want to do your own inspection too and probably get a structural engineer to evalute the current condition too. The cost is about 350 for mechanical inspection plus about 400 for structural engineer. This is well worth it for peace of mind.
You can negotiate that the seller pay for the structural engineer but YOU choose the engineer to avoid any conflict of interest.
As stated above, have your inspections done but coming from personal experience if the inspections are satisfactory you should feel comfortable that your home will be ok.
I had a sinkhole repair done on my home and always felt that the home was in much better shape than homes in the area that never had problems. I had piers and 300 extra yards of concrete under my house.
Of course make sure your insurance will cover any future problems.
It seems to me that the old owners had the problem and got it fixed. Basements have issues sometimes, and most basement repairs come with a warranty. As long as your inspectors don't see a problem, I'd feel comfortable.
I would look at city records and see if a permit was pulled for the job and did the city sign off on it being to code. If your independent inspection doesn't show any problems, I wouldn't worry about purchasing a house that had foundation repair. Perhaps it's just the way the soil settled.
Almost every house in the Austin area has foundation problems eventually due to the poor soil and the fact that it's a 100% guarantee concrete will eventually crack (almost 100% of houses here are on slabs).
My house had an issue in the garage due to a tree that was way too close. It was fixed. inspection came out fine.
Here anyway, I wouldn't pass on a house that had it fixed promptly. Have the seller pay for an inspection.
Foundation repairs and house leveling should have final engineer's report
Background, house built in 1990, current owner had 2 years and disclosed foundation repair, but said done by prior owner.
This sale concerns me, but sometimes owners just don't pay attention to get all paperwork when they buy a house, so could be perfectly honest, and sometimes a foundation company fails to tell a home owner that about permits, engineer reports, and benefits of keeping all documents related to the repair.
In the Dallas Fort Worth area almost every city (about 40) requires a permit for foundation repair. To close out the permit, the foundation company or owner must get a final engineer's report which states foundation repairs were properly performed.
A reputable foundation repair company will back its work with a transferable warranty for the areas of the house that were underpinned, i.e. repaired.
An owner is not required to do all repairs that an engineer suggests as highlighted on the pre-repair report. The post repair report only states that the repairs performed were in accordance with his plans, and the it is the foundation repair company's responsibility to provide a warranty. Very rarely, the house may be of such sub-standard construction that no company will warrant the repair.
Have the house inspected by an independent foundation engineer that you pick from the phone book before purchasing. Money well spent. Good luck.
We bought a house built in 1997 in Dallas, Tx a year ago. When we bought it, the pervious homeowners installed 7 piers at the back of the house. Now I'm having foundation issues with my front end of the house. Who will be the responsible party for the cost of installing the new piers in the front??
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Foundation repairs and house leveling should have final engineer's report
oundation repairs were properly performed.
