Hole in basement

[JMIL20]

Hey Guys, I'm new here, and new to housing in general. What my question is, is in a house my wife and I are considering buying, there is a large hole in the basement, something like 10ft by 6ft, the rest of the house seems to be in good condition to my untrained eyes. Is this something to be worried about, or something that will be very expensive to fix? Don't know if it matters or not, but the house is an older 1 1/2 story farmhouse, main floor is 1092sqft. Thanks

 

[oldognewtrick]

Could it be where an old oil tank was? How deep is the hole and what is the bottom of the hole, dirt, gravel, moss bog?

 

[JMIL20]

what the owner has told us is that they had a room built there where they used to store firewood, it looks like mostly just dirt in the hole, and is about 5 inches below the level of the rest of the basement floor where it starts

 

[nealtw]

Was the floor broken, cut or poored like that. I would want more info. Septic tank come to mind.

 

[JMIL20]

certainly was not broken, but whether cut or poured i'll have to ask

 

[joecaption]

Only a fool would ever buy any house without a certified licened home inspector looking the house over.
It's not normal to have that big a hole anywhere in a homes foundation for any reason.