Prospectivehomebuyer wrote:
Bruce Nolte N3LSY wrote in message ...


Watch the wording, the report says any repairs made ARE cosmetic,
meaning that serious structural repair is necessary to stabilize it.
Now, while the house probably won't implode, a cracked foundation will
definitely cause other issues i.e. a way for water and insects to get
in. This will limit the usability of the basement. Also, a house will
sag over the settled part of the foundation. This will result in
problems such as doors/windows that won't close properly, cracked
drywall/plaster, etc. even if the floors seem solid and level. If the
house has settled as much as it is going to, then there should not be
too much evidence of new cracks in the plaster.



Bruce,

This is the reason why we walked. The letter from the engineer is
very cleverly worded. At first glance it seemed to me that he was
saying it is ok. But when I thought about it more, it occurred to me
he is giving himself wide allowance. If the house falls apart he can
always say, "see I told you that you can only do cosmetic repairs".
The other thing that gave me pause was that it seemed that a number of
doors had been recently replaced. I have heard that doors/windows
stick on homes with this kind of problem. I am sure there is a buyer
out there who can live with this type of uncertainty. Just not me.

-Prospectivehomebuyer.

In my grandmother's old farmhouse where I currently reside, I constantly
am dealing with water coming in a seam in the foundation where an L was
added for the old well pump, and seepage from some small cracks. I also
have a problem with a "swayback" roof, and the misalignments have pretty
much made every door in the house unclosable without forcing them, or
having to shave them down.

In my old townhouse condo which was built in the late 70's, some of the
units were built on slabs on sandy fill at the edge of a swamp, and the
association had to spend tens of thousands of dollars to shore them up.
That, along with having to replace roofs with FRP after only 12 to 15
years (among other problems) left little money for improvements or
ammenities. Needless to say, all these problems did wonders for property
values there.

The farmhouse has been sold to a new owner and I will be the tenant for
only a couple more months, and I am building a new modular nearby. The
poured reinforced concrete foundation sets on virgin soil on a ridgetop,
so I hope it has a long, stable, and troublefree life.