Old Foundation (1938 Crawlspace) and New House built in 2018

[Sandra Miciel Go]

Hello! This is my first post on this website but I've read plenty of advice and recommendations that I've found very helpful from the members here. I'm new to real estate investing, we bought our first single family home and rented it out last month with the 1% rule guide. I'm currently in the market for another property. I found this house that was listed as built in 2018. Everything looks new and modern but the foundation is from 1938 and a crawlspace. The builder mentioned that the

foundation had "all new insulation and pea gravel with vapor lock put down to code." I'm inclined to buy this property but reluctant at the same time due to a very old Foundation. From a rental standpoint, I can possibly rent it out close to the 1% rule. Please let me know what are your thoughts on this? I am concerned about the house crumbling. Thank you in advance!

[Timothy McKinney]

Hi Sandra, I am a GC and work on old houses all the time and have flipped several that are pre WW2. I always look in the crawlspace to check out the foundation. But just because the foundation is old, doesnt mean it is bad. After all, its been there 80 years already.

So, signs to look for in a problem foundation.

1st, stand back and look at the entire house. Does it lean to one side, or have a corner that droops, is there a sag in the ridge of the roof? A sinking foundation will usually show up in this manor. If you have sags in the ridge of your roof line, you likely have problems with piers in the crawlspace.

2nd, walk around the perimeter of the foundation. Are the walls seperating or are there large gaps(over 3/4") in width in the mortar joints, is it leaning?

On the other hand, don't expect it to be perfect. After all, they did not have building codes then.

Hope this helps.