Structural Issues in Brick Rowhouse - Idea of Repair Costs

[Will Johnston]

So, fairly new investor here.  I see a lot of end unit brick rowhouses on sloped lots that have some kind of structural issues.  Some minor stair-step cracking in the mortar, some slight sloping in the floors and out of square doorframes, a bit of bowing in the exterior wall.

I'm pretty good at finding these issues, but I have no idea what it costs to repair.  I could be looking at $5k or $50k.  Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing that could give me some kind of ballpark?

For reference, here's a place I'm currently looking at.  Not the best picture, but might hopefully give you an idea of what I'm talking about.  It's not so bad that you look at it and cringe at first glance, just enough that I'd definitely want to make sure to stop it from getting worse and fix what's there (if necessary).

[Troy Sheets]

Originally posted by @Will Johnston:

Yeah, unfortunately that's tough to do in DC.  It's a hot reno market, so it can be difficult to get contractors to call back.  Getting estimates on a property I don't own in a time-frame short enough to allow me to buy it (will probably have a contract on it by the time the weekend is over) isn't very workable.

 You want to learn to estimate this stuff, you gots to pay your dues. Bring them by anyway even if you missed out or passed on the deal. Offer them $50 to walk down a block and throw numbers at you as you point problems out. Stop at brick work-type jobs you see underway and ask the scope of work and roughly what its costing the owner to have done. If it's important to you you'll figure it out. You need rough numbers, not exact.