pier and beam foundation

pier and beam foundation

Rental Property Investor · New Braunfels, TX · Member since 2015 · 58 posts · 5 votes

We have a contract on a house built in 1962 with a pier and beam foundation.  The piers are wooden and have some decay.  There is previous termite activity on the wood.  We are meeting with our real estate agent tomorrow to discuss negotiating the price based on repair estimates.  We have bought other "as is" properties and never negotiated the price. We basically knew what we were buying and, in the past, it was properties needing lots of work but the price reflected it.  Given the age of the house and the foundation construction type, I would expect some decay.  The market where this house is over prices all properties IMHO so we'd be shelling out a lot more but it's the exact location we've been looking into for most of 2018.  Few houses show up in this location.  So, I expect to pay more but don't want to make a bad decision.  We have the inspection which pointed out the problems but my plan is to get a foundation repair company out to give me their assessment and a bid for repairs which we would use to negotiate a price reduction.  Given the above, does this sound like a reason approach?  Any experience with pier and beam purchases that went unaddressed?

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  • Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    7y

    I work a fair bit with pier and beam on my flips, it is not a major deterrent and usually a very simple repair. Your approach to negotiate on the price is logical regardless of the type of work required. Your decision to over pay is not logical however I will assume there is a major upside on the back end to warrant your decision. Being the "exact location" you require hopefully is not your only motivation. That reason alone is not a investors motivation and I would seriously question your decision to invest. 

  • Real Estate Broker · Bay Area · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7y

    Hi Brad,

    I suggest you get 2 bids from different foundation companies.  I think getting a structural engineer to look at it and write up a report will be much stronger in your negotiation process. 

    As for paying a little more to get the property in the "exact location, you have been looking for" I say go for it.  Life is short buy what you want.  Especially in the case of real estate. Location matters.  Don't settle for a different location or wait another year for a property to pop up in your exact location.  Buyer remorse is worse than spending a little more than what you want in my opinion. 

  • Rental Property Investor · New Braunfels, TX · Member since 2015 · 58 posts · 5 votes
    7y

    Thanks for responses! We're not "in business" in the same sense that most people are. We have saved a good nest egg in 403B accounts over the years and retired this year. As much as anything, I view this as a place to stash cash instead of putting even more in the stock market. This would be the 4th property we've purchased with cash. We've had zero debt for over 10 years now. I did create an LLC to hold the properties in. So, maybe it's not sound investment strategy but this is a good fixer upper for us to work on, which we enjoy, and my wife loved this area 60 years ago when she first came here so we view this differently than someone focused solely on ROI.

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