Buying a bank owned SFH with foundation issues

[Asa Ifill]

Hello BP! I have almost made my first offer on a foreclosed property!

Needless to say the property has foundation issues..the home is on a hill in Huntsville, AL and was built in 1971 - 1,860 Sqft (Tri-level home)

It has cracks throughout the home. On the top of the window seals there is cracking on the corners on almost every entry way.

There is also a big crack going up the stairway on the ceiling, almost looking like the house is separating apart.

There is another foundation issue that scares me is near the fire place, it looks like the fireplace (wall) and the connecting wall to it is coming apart....

Has anyone dealt with foundation issues like this? I know some of this issue could be because of settling issues but I think it is far more than that.

They want 95k for the bank owned property and the comparable properties average $176k so if the foundation issue isn’t so expensive shouldn’t this be a good deal??

Has anyone dealt with foundation issues that can spare some knowledge?

Please and thank you,

Asa

[Michael S.]

@Peter McDonough - I believe I walked that house too a while back.  Every room had the worst cracks I had ever seen in my life.  It looked like the house had sustained earthquake damage.

@Asa Ifill - this is not a simple repair, if it is the house I walked before it went to foreclosure. Sure, you can put piers in. But I think the issue with that property is actually the soil it was built on. There is a realistic chance that the piers will slide down in the soil as well with time. It would be worth your time and money to meet with a structural engineer and do soil testing before you close on it. Its possible the reason the bank owns it is because the owners realized how underwater they would have been on the house performing the repairs. This is the type of property that can end someone's REI endeavor very quickly.