Check your house thoroughly before buying

[Hugh Ayles]

We looked at a house that is for sale this weekend.

First sign of impending doom: on the listing, the Realtor indicated not to ask for 1/2 of asking price.  That got us curious as to what is wrong with this house.

We open the front door and there is a big crack running through the middle of the room and up a wall.

I tell my wife I do not think this slab has reinforcing.  She asks how can I tell?  I say  I will lift up a piece of concrete and let her know (she thought I was kidding).  There was no reinforcing that I could see, just hollow space under the slab.

The current owner (an investor I believe), had already installed a new entry door.  The house had settled even more after the door was installed causing the metal door to bow.  At least is was stuck in the closed position.

I think an investor bought the property and did not get any inspections, did not understand this part of town, or pay attention to the condition of the slab.  I do not think the slab is salvageable.  I have heard second hand that the listing agent does not think the slab is salvageable, meaning this is a tear down.

Now an investor is out at least $80-100k, if not more, if he can even get an offer for the land.  The current asking price is $160k which is what habitable homes with serious need of rehab are going for in this area.  This is only worth the cost of the land.

I have seen many people in my short time on BP post about being new and looking for easy ways to determine rehab budgets.  They also ask questions that indicate they do not know what to look for in a property.

I am only posting this story in hopes that people will learn from this person's mistake.

If you are not completely comfortable with knowing what you are looking at and you are not completely comfortable with losing a large sum of money, please do not go rushing into  a purchase without serious professional assistance.

It took my wife and I just a couple of minutes to realize this house was bad.

I assume the investor saw the house with flooring.  Cracked walls, wrinkled flooring, stuck doors, and a sloping carport structure should have been an indicator that this house had issues.