Property #13
Oh boy did I dodge a BIG bullet. Thank God the Sellers did not accept my offer on this property last week. They are going to be wishing they had signed quickly - I cannot believe how lucky I got. I am usually very diligent, do a lot of research and am very conservative with my offers to cover risk. I guess I got cocky on what I thought were the foundation issues. Big lesson learned.
Foundation Repair company explained that there are three different areas of the big house, one addition in the front that is on concrete slab and an addition of two bedrooms in the back that were built with concrete block, un reinforced stem walls. The entire back left of the house has sunk down and the front family room was built on the old garage slab without pouring a deeper concrete slab. The slab is not repairable because he believes it is too thin - but of course we cannot really see anything because there is carpeting covering the concrete floor. Listing agent insists he has all of the permit history that shows all this stuff was permitted.
Whooa… the house has to be jacked up in many ways, new concrete slab poured, etc. I won’t go into the gory details. Let me just say that my estimate was way too low for this work and it is nothing that my carpenter and I are going to try to fix with our shovels I need to let the experts fix this, with some kind of piece of paper guaranteeing the work for any future buyers.
The thing that really pisses me off is that the foundation guy says someone has been under the house trying to shim up the piers and the stem walls in the back of the house. And, for heavens sake, you can feel the cracks in slab walking around the front family room addition. The listing agent told me that the Sellers did not ‘disclose’ any foundation issues and they were only discovered when a prior buyer did their home inspection. Are you kidding me??? These people have lived in the house for 19 years - they are absolute liars.
I called the Listing Agent and explained every detail. We are going to wait for the full report with the total cost and then I will submit a new offer. He understands that it is going to be much lower than my current offer. He plans to take the report and my offer directly to the lawyers for husband and wife and let them work with the Sellers to see if we can get an acceptance. At some point they will be under Court Order to sell the house so it might work out.
Wow, rats yesterday, crawling in the mud today, it just can’t get any better!
“Wow, rats yesterday, crawling in the mud today, it just can’t get any better!”
Sounds like an exotic safari!
Gosh, phew, wow! Your sixth sense about that foundation did not let you down, cb. As one actor who later became a president used to say, “Trust but verify!” Phew.
I’m definitely too much of a pessimist to ever be in that business. My first question to the foundation people would be, “What’s the very most that these repairs could cost, given all possible scenarios that you might find once you get to work?” The answer would probably be some ridiculously outrageous number, which I would mentally assume the cost to be. I would never be able to make the numbers work out, given my generally risk averse nature. Yay for the optimists in the world who can actually get things done!!
Wow those foundation issues sound like a mess. So glad you dodged that bullet. As for the house with the pool, you might want to check with the local water company. I know in our area, there are proposed restrictions on future pools, how much you can add to a pool on any day. That’s on top of the requirements for pool enclosures, alarms on all doors that led out to a pool, etc. I’m all for pool safety, I’m just suggesting you look into ALL the pool related regulations. When our neighbors did a big remodel, the pool requirements were never ending. And we live in an unincorporated area, with significantly fewer rules than some nearby cities.
How much the foundation company charges you to do this analysis? If the foundation had been sinking, you may need a soil report as well, I believe that will cost you few pennies.
If the foundation company came out free of charge, shouldn’t you take their words with a grain of salt?
I am planning to do a detailed analysis of the report they will send me early next week. I’m going to take the report to two experienced contractors I know to get a gut feel if they feel the proposed scope of work is correct to address the issues found.
The foundation repair company usually charges a fee for the full inspection, but they did it as a favor to my listing agent who brings them a lot of work.
The garage conversion slab is a known issue - it’s not sinking, just too thin for the weight that was built onto it and the normal soil movement. I don’t feel there will be surprises in that area of the home. The gentleman explained what the issues with the back room that settled… poor quality of ‘addition’ stem wall, built into expansive clay soil and we have had huge weather changes in the last 10 years. Our City experienced the ‘100 year’ rains in 2005 that drenched everything and expanded the soil. Now we are experiencing a severe drought that is contracting the soil a lot. It’s all fixable and can be fixed to be very strong against any future issues. There is not a severe slope in the back yard, it’s just a drainage issue that needs to get fixed with some new drainage along that side of the house.
Yes, I believe that pulling a permit for a new pool has onerous requirements and water restrictions. But there are no requirements for repairs to existing pools. I bought a foreclosure from a bank several years ago with a pool that looked fine and then found leaking problems. I swore I would never deal with a pool again, avoid them. But I called two agents in the local area and they both swear pools are common and expected in the area. I looked at aerial view and pools are everywhere. So I will have to deal with the pool.
The issue for the neighbors was not putting in a new pool. It was requirements for the way the new doors (replacements) and windows (replacements) had to have alarms and other safety devices for the existing pool. It all happened the year after we had a number of children drown in the area, so that may be why some of the requirements were written. The doors and windows had to have alarms of some kind, and the pool has to be fenced or have a rolling cover (which was there when they bought they house–great safety feature and it saved water). Just an FYI. It’s not that any of this is a bad idea, it just costs money.
Luckily the pool is not directly outside the back of the house where I am planning to put French doors, etc. It is on the side of the house so it can easily be fenced in a bit for safety - without being an eyesore.
ON VACATION
I am leaving for vacation on Monday. I have one written offer out to the bank (not holding my breath on that one!) and a pending offer I will work on for #13 while I am out of town.
So, we’re not going to get any new properties until I return at the end of the month. Of course I will probably not be able to ‘turn it off’ and will be checking all the new listings all day!
I will definitely post updates as these two offers progress, with all the challenges of trying to go into escrow while out of town. I think I have everything covered if something does happen while I am away. I have left a large deposit check with my agent in case she has to rush something into an escrow office while I am gone. She’s definitely willing to go in anonymously and help me out.
Wow, so glad I found this thread! It’s like missing the first episodes of Downton Abbey and having them all there to catch up on.
This go-round, I’m learning to open everyone’s cool decorating links in an incognito window. It took me a while with the last thread to figure out why I kept having lighting advertisements and faucets popping up everywhere.
Oh boy…the foundation company put their inspection in a letter format. I received it yesterday. They listed their findings but were very clear that they could not give a firm "quote " without visibility to the concrete floor which is covered by the carpet. They said "$50,000 to $60,000 based on their experience with the issues. This does not include cost to remove a large tree where they feel there might be root issues and drainage installation.
Plus, the City of La Mesa will require an engineering report and permits.
I need to let the experts fix this, with some kind of piece of paper guaranteeing the work for any future buyers.