Any Horror Stories about Sloping Floors?

Question

Hi all. I've been searching for a rental property in Akron, Ohio and I found a short sale that looks like a good BRRRR. The main issue? The floors are noticeably sloping on the main floor and the walls are cracked all over the place. There is a report from a structural engineer stating the house is sound, but it's an old house on a hill and has settled significantly.

There is evidence they tried to fix it at some point- steel beams and footers in the basement and a newer wall along one side of the basement.

I've made an offer and got a counter from the bank. I'm getting a quote to jack up the main floor before responding, but I'm wondering if this is something I should just steer clear of?

Thanks for any help, BP!

Kayla V. · Answer

@Michael Wentzel I lowered the offer by $26,000. The house is in an A/B class neighborhood (670 Mentor Ave if you're interested), but needed updates in addition to the leveling (kitchen, baths, paint, landscaping, new furnace, etc). The walls were already cracking and the leveling likely would have caused more cosmetic issues that would need to be fixed. The numbers are:

ARV: ~$150K

Listed: $75K

Original offer: $62K

Bank counter: $65K.

Original rehab budget: $38K, including $5K to level the house (structural engineer said $1200-$4000 so I thought $5000 was safe)

New offer with $33K leveling quote attached: $36K

They responded with "And we're done". I figured the odds were low of them accepting but it didn't hurt to try. With a $66K rehab budget, a purchase price of $62K-$65K didn't make sense.

@Ericka Grant From what I learned through this, the price can vary widely. It cost me $250 to send someone out there and I would recommend you do the same before closing. I'm grateful I spent the money now rather than buying the home and finding out later. I only got one quote, so maybe they were just high, but I called about 6 places and they were the only ones I found that were willing to quote it before I owned it (although for a fee).

The quote was $10.9K to permanently stabilize the walls (using a brace system), $14.5K to permanently stabilize the upstairs floors (new steel beams and footers) and $11K to waterproof the basement (new vapor barrier and sump). They then gave me a "preferred customer discount" (no idea why) of $2700 to bring the total down to $33.7K. The quote included all materials, permits and engineering.

Kayla V. · Answer

Update: I paid for a company that specializes in jacking up and leveling houses to go out there yesterday and give me a quote to fix the problem. The off the cuff numbers I'd heard from various contractors were between $1200 and $20,000 and the quote came in at $33,000.

Needless to say, I resubmitted a considerably lower offer and it was rejected. On to the next one!

Russell Brazil · Answer

The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe

Ronda R. · Answer

I've been running into houses with foundations issues lately. I think they are going to be a winner and the viola, cracks in the basement walls. I guess that is why they were priced so reasonably. The last one I was considering, my realtor off-the-cuff said that the foundation alone would be around 30k. I had no idea it would be that much. Lines up with your quote. She also said that buyers are scared of houses that have had foundation issues and 9 times out of 10 will pass even if they love the house.

It does seem that the waterproofing portion of your quote was high though.

Michael Wentzel · Answer

Yikes. Sloping floors are sometimes an easy fix. I run away when I see cracks in walls or bulging walls.

Did you lower your offer by $33,000?

Mike

Zach Zimmer · Answer

I made some good money on a flip that had foundation issues.  It scares a lot of folks away but if you can get the work done reasonably you can make good money.  We jacked the house up, dug and tore out about 30ft of wall, and re-blocked it.

James Masotti · Answer

I had a pretty major issue with sloping floors because I didn't know what I was doing and didn't have an engineers report. If you have a signed and stamped structural approval from a state licensed professional engineer (PE) that the structure is sound...then you should be all clear because you'd be able to hold the engineer liable if something did come up as being wrong. Double check there's nothing in the fine print that says otherwise, but even if there is I think it's worth a quick call to an attorney to see if it would stand up in court...because that's kind of the whole reason you hire a PE to do a structural analysis in the first place. They cost so much for so "little" work because of the huge risk and insurance those guys take on.

Any Horror Stories about Sloping Floors?

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