So can you sell a house with a bad foundation? It certainly is more difficult to sell a home that needs repairs, but there are solutions to help you sell a home with a bad foundation. That’s what we’re going to talk about in this video.
Hey guys, welcome back. This is Eric Sztanyo from We Buy NKY Houses, where we buy houses for cash in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. And today, this morning, I’m here in Bond Hill, which is just North off of I-71 off the Norwood Lateral here in Cincinnati, Ohio.
I was out to this house earlier, talking to the seller. And the problem with this house is there’s kind of like a bowl effect in the backyard. And the drainage has caused a lot of water to sit in the back. That issue has caused some water to come in the basement, and some cracking and some damage to the foundation.
A lot of people find themselves in the situation where you have a bad foundation, you have some cracking, maybe some shifting, and a lot of questions arise. What can you do? Can you sell a house with a bad foundation? Will a buyer buy a house that needs structural repairs? Are you going to be stuck with the property?
There are a couple of problems that come up when you try to sell a house that has a bad foundation.
Sell For Less Or Pay For The Foundation Repairs
First, you can try to put it on the market with a Realtor, but you have to disclose the fact that there are issues with the foundation. In Ohio, you fill out a Residential Property Disclosure, where you state any known material defects with the hosue. And most buyers are going to be scared off. They’re not going to want to buy a house with a bad foundation. Or if they do, they’re going to want to buy it at a significant discount. So that puts you in a bad spot.
You can try to put it on the market, but now you’re having to list and get the home ready to sell. And you might be on the market for weeks, and months and months, and you continually get bad feedback from buyers and agents. And it’s just a really frustrating emotionally, draining, a situation that you’re in, trying to sell a home that has some foundation issues.
Second, you can pay for the repairs before selling, but it may be VERY expensive. The foundation may very well be able to be fixed. And what I would recommend is if you have foundation issues with the house, get a structural engineer out, and get a quote from… In Cincinnati a great company is Basement Doctor, who does a lot of repairs. They can put in piers potentially and can do different things to adjust and fix the basement. And especially if you can get a lifetime warranty with the repair, that’s even better. But at least get that quote. I mean, a problem that a lot of people have is once they get that quote, the cost to repair that foundation might be $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, $25,000, who knows? It can be really expensive.
Alternative Solutions – Sell Your Home to An Investor
And so what can you do if you don’t have the money for the repair? How can you actually sell the house if it has foundation issues? Well, one thing you can do is contact someone like myself, a cash buyer investor. And what you need to realize is that a cash buyer can help you sell the home and can help you sell it quickly. But, selling to an investor doesn’t make the foundation fixed. They will need to pay for the foundation to be repaired too. Plus, they’re going to want to make a profit on the house. The sale price of the home will have to account for the repair plus the profit desired for the investor’s risk.
It’s a solution to the problem. You can call an investor to get the home sold. You can be DONE with the headache and out from under the house. And then the investor buys it, and goes and fixes the basement. Then they do all the other repairs that might be needed on the house to get it fixed up and sold for the most value possible. That’s a solution as well to try to sell your home with that needs foundation repairs.
So, can you sell a home with a bad foundation? Yes, it’s going to be more difficult for sure, and you might need to take a bigger discount, but it can be done!
You can put it on the market as is and sell for less, or you can call up a cash investor like us at We Buy NKY Houses.
If you’re looking to sell your home, give us a call, (859) 412-1940. I hope this video was helpful. So like, and subscribe. And I appreciate you guys for watching. Have a great day!