I need opinions. We are in the process of buying a home but the inspection worries us...?

Question

We are in the process of buying a forclosure ( as is, no sellers disclosure and no repairs) Its an affordable newer home (5 yrs old) and it looked to only have cosmetic problems.But this is what the inpection tunred up...
1. We thought it was hardie board but it turned ut to be a composite wood siding which is a big minus! There is HUGE ant infestation problem up and down the whole house inside the siding so who knows what they have done to the siding.
2. The foundation has many cracks and appears to have been filled in some spots with apoxy in some spots. There are big spaces from the ground to the foundation where the dirt is totally gone. There is a small slope that maybe due to foundation in the kitchen but its so slight theres no way fo knowing.
3. There is a crack along a outside joint from ground up to the roof where the siding is pulling away from the house.
4. Many other issues like no drainage for the hot water heater and ac, garbage disposal is not working...etc.

The interior of the home has recently been painted with thick coats of paint so we do not know if it did have crazks in the walls or not. To get our earnest money back the repairs would have to equal $5,000 or more. Does it sound like we are worried about these things for nothing? The inspector we had couldn't conclusively determine if these were indicators for things to come or nothing to worry about. He did say the home was not made with much care and we do not have the money to fix major issues and worry about selling it later on. I also do not want to spend alot of money bringing in numerous people just to get our $500 back because we may end up in the negative anyway. We know nothing about construction so I need opinions on this. Its one of the only affordable homes in this town so it'd be a shame to let it go if these are in fact not big issues.

sorry for all the misspellings, I keep forgetting to spell check.

Answer 1

This house is riddled with problems. It will require shoring the foundation, among other things. Typically when the foundation of a slab on grade house is shored, the plumbing hangers under the slab break. This leads to tunneling under the slab to fix leaks.
It also sounds as if there may be water issues as well. It has been my experience that any insect infestation is a sign of a leak in the exterior of the house, probably in the gap you described. The damage caused by ants is nothing compared to what termites can do, but can not be over looked.
I would Pass...

Answer 2

If this home is in a location where many homes have foundation problems stay away from that area entirely

Foundation repairs cost anywhere from 10 thousand to 30 thousand and this house has a good one.

Concrete will develop cracks from its natural process of expansion and contraction. However if there are serious cracks on the floor doors and windows wont close right or are jammed this is another sign of foundation problems

If i was you i would RUN AWAY FROM THIS HOME NOW

Secondly if you know nothing about home construction stay away from Foreclosure's you only make money on those when you can do things to SAVE yourself money

Answer 3

ahammondtx,
Folks you need to RUN from this property as fast as you can unless you want to put sweat equity and money into this place over the next five years or the price is incredibly LOW.
Here in TX what you have described sounds like foundation problems - ( repairable $1000 - 10000$):
insect infestation ( $750 -3000$) other repairs easy over $1000. You need to get serious bids from repair companies (money well spent) at least 3 in each area.Bring those bids to the company and get out of it.
After the bids , decide if the escrow money is worth the house and aggravations.

Go with L.U.C.K.

Answer 4

Sounds like a money pit. On a for closure you usually get it a lot cheaper than a house in a normal situation, which would give you some extra money to fix it, but if you do not have the money or expertise to fix it, then I would not buy it. It sounds like it has structural problems, considering it is fairly new, and the ant issue could be bad especially if they are carpenter ants. So lose your $500 and walk away. Too many issues.

Answer 5

Never buy someone else's misery. A foreclosure is the bank taking away a home from some family. You are assisting the bank by helping them wash their hands of the matter and handing it over to you "as is". You paid enough to cover their loss, I'm sure.

Remember Pontius Pilate? He washed his hands too. No good will ever come of buying a foreclosure.

Answer 6

I used to have a construction company and the problems you have mentioned are not little, the only easily fixable one would be the ants. Id stay away from buying that house if you can. Gl

Answer 7

sounds like a money pit...get some free estimates on the repair work up to the $5000 then get your earnest money back and keep looking...sometimes it does not take much to get to $5000 with the price of labor and price of lumber with the demand in Louisiana and Mississippi

Answer 8

If the home inspector couldn't give you definite answers to the problems,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,RUN!!!!!!!!For sure it sounds like foundation troubles to start with. That alone is enough to warrant the "running away."

Answer 9

I am just a home owner--but I would not want to "buy" any of these problems. Just an honest opinion.

Answer 10

no time to appologise for your spelling my friend... run, run for your life!

this house was doomed at construction, find somewhere else, hell live in your car rather than there!