FSBO w/ Foundation Repair

[Jason Kaufman]

Just looked at a FSBO is a very sought after neighborhood in North Dallas. Built 1980 3/2 at about 1900 sqft. Owners have gutted the place and want to fix it up themselves and resell. Contractor quoted 10k but to get the price they want its probably more 15-20k. Another issue is the foundation has been repaired twice. First time was before the current owner moved in and no paperwork. The second repair was done during current ownership and their is paperwork. My question is, does foundation repair diminish value and if so how much? I know if I am going to pay top price for a home I don't want foundation repair. Planning on fix and flipping this house and I am going to have to convince the owner they might struggle to get the asking price they want.

[Dave Carpenter]

The only thing I would add to @J Scott is that the paperwork would be very important for a foundation repair.

Last year when I was looking to buy my own home I saw a few with foundation repairs, and oddly enough the listing agent acted like that was detrimental to the the house. In talking with my agent later, she said that a lot of buyers are scared off because you can see the beams, and know there was something wrong with it.

Having the paperwork, and even better some kind of warranty would help to ally that fear, though some may react negatively out of instinct. Having the listing agent informed about it will certainly help too. The selling agent I dealt with did not explain the benefits of having a foundation repaired, only that it looked scary!