I purchased in HI and equity has appreciated to a healthy level, however, I have only owned this house and lived in it for 18 months.  

HiThis question is for anyone with experience or knowledge in the area of soil testing/geological surveying.I am looking at purchasing a home thats built on the side of a hill where they cutout a notch in the hill to build a home in the 60s.

@Patrick Boutin, if you become pre-approved for $400k (per your example), @Chris Mason was implying that you should aim for your PURCHASE price to be about half of that (so as to give you LOTS of "wiggle room" for the rehab costs that you're asking about).A healthy rehab budget can be your best ticket to (cleverly) add a LOT more value to a distressed property than the rehab actually costs.

I want to post the sign on the concrete drive way, my idea is to put a pot with soil on drive way then stick the sing on it.

The market is healthy in the entire nation if you are looking in good neighborhoods.

Get a soil test and see where you stand.  

@Jonathan Malnati@Joel Snipes This is starting to look like a healthy first-time group when you set the time and location don't forget to include @Sterling Cox in that message. 

Of course this soaked the soil in and around the foundation on that side of the house, and when the holes were left open, water then trickled into the holes.  

Go look at soil vapor extracting costs/ sparging/ lawsuits... 

Right now, looks pretty healthy,  so banks  will  continue to lend.In many expensive markets, the real estate market is already "soft."