My husband says he trusts me and supports me (knowing that I am the financially savvy one in the family), but he is a quite pessimistic given that he is a police officer and only sees the worst in people (think tenants pouring cement down the toilet, taking the water heater with them when they leave, or landlord/tenant eviction calls).

The high density polyurethane as mentioned in the other posts is much lighter than a cement/mud mixture making it less likely to cause additional settlement due to the weight, another benefit is that it expands and compresses the soil underneath it to a certain degree.

They will fail a home for peeling paint, wobbly handrails, cracked glass, crumbly cement steps and that sort of thing. 

If the cement walk way goes all the way up to the house, plant low growing evergreens along the front walkway. 

maybe if it has a cement pad. 

It needs flooring (some rooms were partially floored and the rest was cement, it needed paint interior and exterior, and had lots of items that went to the curb (including a spinet piano).

The frames are rotted, the lintels look like they've popped the stones/masonry and letting water through, and there's some sagging of the front porch (above these windows) causing a few cracks in the cement and more leaking into basement room below.

I thought the case studies were useful exercises in cementing the ideas that Gallinelli taught in the book.

The typica test includes a magnometer (super duper metal detector) as well as looking for signs of a tank (vent or fill pipes, cemented over holes in the foundation wall where the lines came in, etc).

I recently looked at a duplex and wanted to get some thoughts on if these items should be factored into the offer price:The water heaters were over 10 years old, both gas furnaces were over 10 years old, the water was not separately metered, the front porch (cement) had some cracks in it, and both units would need some paint and new carpeting.