Selling a home with a bad foundation
Q: We want to sell our home but the house has major problems. The foundation is settling, and the brick chimney is pulling away from the building. We need to know if the foundation has to be fixed before we sell or if it’s better to leave the repairs for the new homeowners. If we pay the high cost of foundation repairs, how do we know there won’t be further settlement? Should we fix the chimney problem or just remove the fireplace entirely? If we have all this work done, what kinds of contractors should we hire? In short, what is our safest and most cost-effective course?
A: The first step in this dilemma is to determine the true extent of these problems. To do this, you need a full evaluation of the foundation system by a licensed structural engineer, to discover the cause of the settlement problems, as well as the means and cost of remediation. A geotechnical engineer may also be needed if ground stability is a problem.
Once you have a detailed engineering report, you can obtain repair bids from licensed general building contractors, based upon the specific recommendations set forth in the engineering report. With these bids in hand, you’ll be in a better position to decide whether to make repairs prior to selling the property or simply to sell the home in as-is condition, but with complete disclosure in the form of the engineer's report and the contractors' bids. The sales price of the home can be adjusted in accordance with those bids.
Q: Before we bought our home, we noticed water stains on the bathroom baseboards. The seller said this was from a bathtub overflow. After moving in, we noticed continual wetness on the bathroom floor. The plumber we called said we have old polybutylene water pipes that are leaking. But the seller’s home inspector said the water lines were “copper, PVC, and other plumbing materials.” Now we’ve learned that the home inspector told our Realtor there was polybutylene, but he chose not to disclose this because it might kill the sale. How could a professional home inspector do this?
A: If the home inspector knew there was polybutylene pipe and deliberately withheld that information to keep from killing the deal, then that inspector is inexcusably unethical and needs to face some serious consequences. Polybutylene water pipe is commonly recognized by home inspectors as a substandard material that is subject to recurrent leakage.
If the sellers’ home inspector is a member of any recognized home inspection association, such as the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) or an equivalent state association, then he has violated their Standards of Practice and Codes and Ethics. If you can prove that he knew about the polybutylene pipe, you've got a good chance of winning a judgment against him for the cost of repiping your home.
If you didn’t hire your own home inspector, it is now time to do so. In all likelihood, a competent an inspector with years of experience and a reputation for thoroughness will discover additional defects not disclosed by the sellers’ inspector.
• Distributed by Action Coast Publishing. Questions to Barry Stone can be emailed to barry@housedetective.com.