foundation issues very common in LA?

[Mario F.]

Hello, I keep confronting foundation issues with properties I'm interested in throughout Los Angeles.  My agent said that it's a common problem here in socal so I was wondering what your thoughts were on this. Should I consider fixing it? Or would I be better off moving on?  I am a first time home buyer. I've always heard that faulty foundations are something that are not worth the hassle.  With that said, given how difficult it is to get into the market, it seems almost unavoidable.

thanks

mario

[David Faulkner]

You occasionally run into foundation issues with hillside homes on raised foundations ... either the soil shifts over time or after a heavy rain, or the piers don't go down far enough to properly support or the foundation, or the wood posts above the foundation gets rotted or eaten away by termites. I don't think this specific to CA as much as buildings on a hillside. When we had historical rains and flooding several years ago, ironically it was the older homes on a hillside that stood strong while some of the newer construction slid down the hill. If this is a concern of yours, then get a foundation specialist out to inspect during escrow. However if the house has a few decades of age and the floors are fairly flat and level and the walls fairly plumb (not perfect, just not way out), and there are no horizontal cracks visible in the walls or concrete, then you don't likely have a foundation problem.