All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Thanks for the additional info, Chris. I'm definitely noting your point about it potentially being a "unicorn". It's actually two duplexes that sit across the street from each other on unrelated lots.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Wayne, that makes a lot more sense now. I had no idea they lumped multiple-parcel purchases under the same price.

259 and 258 N Villas Court, Tallahassee, FL 32303. It's actually two houses with the same inflated price; same purchaser. 

Here's the county appraiser if it saves you time:

http://www.leonpa.org/pt/maps/mapadv.aspx

Thank you.

Thanks again, Josue. I really do appreciate you taking the time to write up a detailed response. I have one more question if you wouldn't mind:

Would your opinion change at all if the concrete blocks had been "filled" at some point? As you might have noticed, there are drill holes all the way around the house, which I'm guessing might be from them filling in the blocks with concrete at some point. 

Thank you!

Hey everyone,

Quick question I was hoping some of you could give me input on:

I'm looking at buying in a neighborhood and noticed a comp price on a similar home that was way out of the ballpark of being realistic. Most comps on the street are hovering around 200k, and this almost identical house recently went for 350k. I don't think a kitchen and bath remodel can explain the discrepancy, so why might this be the case? Inflating purchase price for tax benefits? 

Would love to hear your ideas.

Thanks ahead

Hey Josue, thank you for replying with such a detailed response! I'm really happy an engineer came across my post. 

1) There doesn't appear to be any later addition to the floor plan. Although, that would make a lot of sense about the different settling. I didn't notice any visible damage to the floor or slab inside the house. In one of the back corners, the floor above the exterior cracks is covered with carpet so I will have to take a closer look with my inspector next week. However, on the other back corner, the area above the exterior cracking is an exposed porch so you can actually see the slab. From what I can tell, there isn't any significant damage to the slab. I will attach more pictures here of that area.

2) Noted. Thanks for the tip about it being a "competitive" bid.

3) That's a great point about how old the house is and how much time other foundation issues have had to surface (if they exist). It's probably worth noting here that the area that was reinforced 10 years ago is covered by a transferable warranty. So if there's any sinking on the back wall where it previously occurred, contractor will have to come out for free. On the other hand, any new areas of concern will come out of my pocket book. Based on your analysis, it doesn't seem like new issues are likely to pop up after 40 years though.

4) Would you mind expanding a little bit more on the point about the new buttresses not being tied in to the structure. I was under the (likely false) assumption that the back wall was a component of the foundation structure. I will attach more pictures of the engineer's report/plans if you wouldn't mind taking a look.

Thanks again!

Hey everyone,

I'm a second-time home-buyer/investor and have some foundation questions I was hoping you could help with. 

I currently have a duplex under contract in north Florida that might have some foundation issues. The house was built in 1978 and sits on a roughly 5% grade that drops off in the back yard at about 30% farther away from the house. There is cracking in the stem-wall masonry in the rear of the house where the property slopes down hill. The owner must have noticed this about 10 years ago because they had some foundation repairs done (~$26,000). Apparently clayey soil is the root of the issue and the downward pressure of the house caused the rear stem wall to rotate laterally 1/2 inch and sink 3/4 inch. For context, the house has a concrete slab foundation, but it was never tied to the rear stem wall.

The contractor who did the repair work is a company like RamJack and has a good reputation in town. They installed 16 helictal piles and 10 concrete butreses in the rear of the house. However, it appears that the owner cut cost and failed to pull a permit for the work done.

I had a rep from RamJack come out today and review the old plans and take a look at the foundation. He said the contractor did a good job and did the same repairs that RamJack would have done. However, he couldn't tell whether the cracks in the masonry are new (ie - the issue hasn't been solved), or whether they are from before the repair and the owner never had them patched. However, he did say that they appeared "weathered" and were probably old. Regardless, he said it will be $700 to get the old work permitted and $1500-2000 to have the cracked masonry patched.

With all that being said, I have the following questions:

1) could anyone give me an opinion on the pictures of the cracks? Old/new? Kill the deal?

2) regardless of whether the cracks are from before the repair, steer clear of this deal?

3) how much would you discount the purchase price given this information (assuming FMV = 200K)?

4) any other advice?

Thank you!