On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:19:14 -0700 (PDT), papa smurf
wrote:

Hello all. I'm a fairly new homeowner. I purchased a ranch that sits
on about 3 acres of land... This house has had its fair share of

Hard to read your one fat paragraph. Snipped.

You should ask your neighbors how their basements are doing. It's a
good way to get to know your neighbors and they will probably know a
lot. Start with one and he may introduce you to others who know the
most about a certain problem.

I guess in this case if you can find someone whose property is about
the same height, that would be good, but otoh, I've heard that water
table will go up and down sort of parallel to the ground surface
sometimes. And you can find someone whose house is lower.