When is P&B foundation too far gone?

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first post here, so forgive me if this is a rookie question, i'm learning as i go!

i'm looking for my 1st home, and found one that is absolutely PERFECT for what i want, but it might need to be re-leveled.

what should i look for as far as the condition of the foundation?

the driveway is buckled very badly and the concrete walkway leading up to the front door has recently been replaced so i'm assuming there is/was some sort of drainage issue. how much if any has it affected the house i'm not sure. the house was built in '55 on whatever soil we have here in dallas, tx. i am going to look at it up close with a realtor in the morning, i didn't want to snoop around with the owners present. the house itself is way undervalue for the area although i know it needs a ton of work.

any advise would be greatly appreciated.

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If the house was in perfect condition you wouldn't need us. I'd say buy it. :D

But kidding aside, it looks to me like something really heavy did that drive way damage. Possible the cement truck from when they redid the walk way. But I can't see a drainage issue causing that kind of damage. That's just my inexperienced observation. The others will be along probably tomorrow with a lot more to say about it.

Welcome to the forums. ;)
 
Welcome Spin Doctor:
When you go to look at the house, look underneath it and see if there is a mimimum of 2' ground clearance and at least 1 square inch of ventilation for each square foot of living space, plus a ground cover of 6mil black polyethelyne that is stuck to the foundation with roof cement and has all joints sealed.
Tool Guy has a good theory on the driveway. It was probably poured 4" thick or less and has no reinforcing in it. There was a time when builders in Florida and Texas (where the soil was sandy) would simply spread portland cement on the ground and disk it in with a tractor, then they would put a lawn sprinkler on it for a while and bull-float the surface. It made a quick driveway but the saying goes, 'easy come, easy go'.
Glenn
 
I like glenn's stories.

Just make sure you get a home inspection
 
well, the realtor never showed up and i guess the owner noticed me sitting outside. he is a foreigner that spoke very little english. i explained that i was coming to look at the house and he just walked off and shut the garage door behind him. i sat there a few minutes and he came out again and said his wife wanted to sell, but he didn't. i asked about the foundation and he said something about a lifetime warranty, but they wouldn't call him back. i'm assuming it was "fixed" before he bought it by some fly by night place. i only saw the one corner by the garage up close and it looked bad. the brick is cracked and separating from the lower concrete part and the front porch is leaning towards the street. the roof looks good and fairly new, but one of the windows near the front door looks like its leaning to the left. click the link below and go to full screen and you'll see what i mean.

maps


i didn't even get to look in the garage or under the house, but from the way the rest of the place looks i think it has moved some over time and nobody ever cared to fix it. other houses in the area have stairstep cracks in the brick, but none that i noticed as visibly being "off". the brick on this house was painted, probably to hide stuff.

you guys might be right on the driveway, they easily could have had a big motorhome in there, or a backhoe if the old owner was into that sort of business.

other homes in the area are going for 130k, this is listed at 88k. i'm guessing it needs 8-10k in cement work, whatever to fix the foundation, all new eaves, landscaping, and who knows what all inside. and thats considering it doesn't buckle the roof/drywall getting leveled.

i'm so conflicted on this one. maybe i should just lowball them at like 50k and see what happens. its been on the market for 5 weeks. i can't see many people being interested in it, except to flip it and the market really sucks right now for that sort of thing.
 
For the 300 bucks...get a home inspection. This is coming from an unbiased source of course.:D
Best money you could spend, it will tell you of the other issues you may not even begin to think about.
www.ashi.com ;)

There is a reason it is so inexpensive, find out what it is. Maybe get a new realtor also.:D
 
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