Buying a home with a basement that flooded????? PLease HeLP?

Question

My husband and I found a really great deal on a house that we absolutely love the only problem is the basement flooded last july and were not sure what kind of problems we could run into listing says basement needs waterproofed but what about mold in the walls and how much do you think this would all cost the house sold in 2003 for 120,000 and is now on the market for 84,900 is a 5 bedroom full partially finished basement and 2 car garage with 2 bathrooms please help are we digging ourselves a hole or should we go for it? also if we were approved for a loan for 110,000 and the house is going for 84,900 could we take out more of a loan to fix problems?
PLeAsE HeLp????

Answer 1

I rehab homes and my advise is if you are not fully capable of addressing that problem; ie fix it or understand it , don't buy the property. Flooding in the basement can cause the obvious health problems, if its not properly cleaned up and fixed. Your insurance cost will most likely be a lot higher and you could be on a flood plain. A good rule in real estate is if there is a problem and you do not know how to fix it or you question it. Pass it up. Remember that they have disclosed to you that the basement may flood, or they may say out right say the basement floods. This action will cover them with any liability. You can get a home inspection and that will tell you a lot, but not the full picture. If in doubt, do without!! And you will probably not be able to use the money to improve the property. It is illegal to say a house is priced at a different and attempt to pocket the rest of the money. That problem can run you anywhere from $5000-$25000. With water in a basement you can also have shifting in your foundation which could cause more issues. Mold is a pricey clean up also. I would move on from this one, your dream home is still out there.

Answer 2

You could do a HUD rehab loan. Im not sure it will work without knowing everything. It will place money aside for you to fix the property. You might have 1 or 2 options. The mold can be taken care of, it might cost you a few thousand dollars to fix.

Here is your issue, maybe 50% of mortgage brokers are not approved to do FHA loans. And the ones that are approved 80% of the loan officers have never done an FHA loan. I only take that from Utahs numbers but I think they are pretty much nationwide.

You need a loan officer that knows FHA better then FHA. Call around and ask loan officers how many FHA loans did you do this year? If the answer is less then 10 keep calling. If your loan officer is trying to talk you into something else its because he doesnt know how to do it.

Its a HUD program, it will be easy for somebody that knows FHA and HUD programs.

Good luck to you.

Answer 3

Just because you where approved for 110K does not mean you will get that amount for this house depends on the appraisal. Question is what caused the flooding? Is it in a flood zone? or was this one of those once in every 500 year things? Either way would get flood insurance. In the basement if it is finished would strip everything out, carpet walls etc. Cover the brick or poured concrete and floor with Drylock to water proof it, next check the drainage of the property if not near a river which may have caused the flooding

Answer 4

Honestly, it sounds like something you don't want to mess with. The house has been known to flood, and correcting the basement may be a costly and incomplete way to temporarily fix the problem.

Answer 5

Your interior of reach construction branch can refer you to an inspector that could come across the presence (or lack thereof) of mould. Waterproofing is a controversy of coating the exterior of the basement, could be a horrifically costly challenge. i could get 2 or 3 estimates and bypass from there.

Answer 6

Make your offer contingent on the inspection and get your own independent inspector, not one suggested by the real estate agent. Only when you know exactly what you are dealing with can you determine if you want to move forward or not.