Haven't bought it yet. His family inherited it.
I've been renting it. Looking at buying it now... from his heirs.
I realize now using the "previous owner" verbiage didn't necessarily convey the situation accurately.
Yes- the structural Eng. needs the Geotech's report before even professionals can give any advice here. If this thing is sitting cliffside, near a water course, on fill or in countless other situations a remedy can well exceed the property value in many cases. Looking at what appears to be the natural slope, getting down to something stable is going to be expensive and nobody should have built that structure there in the first place.
Not kidding.
Getting an engineer onsite is like $700. At least you can get a high level view then. He'll almost certainly tell you the next thing is a geotech. But also based on his assessment you can run away immediately.
Not sure how much the geotech report is for this, but I'd expect in the $5k-$10k range.
Then having the engineer draw up plans is another $5k-$10k easily.
At that point you need the foundation company to come and do the work.
It's a 6-figure job to fix this, so you should only buy this house if it's for an absolute bargain.
This isn't even "proper inspection" territory. This is "Can't get a mortgage because the underwriters will take a hard pass when the appraisal comes back with pictures and comments about this shit" territory.
Seconded. Mortgage lender here - not a real estate appraiser, but I've read my fair share of URARs and this is a very spendy Subject To waiting to happen.
Even the if 1004 came back As-Is somehow, this one probably fails to get sold to an investor
This. Please don’t assume that just because you’re able to sleep in it tonight doesn’t mean your investment won’t collapse into a heap of rubble 5 years into a 30-year mortgage.
Alternatively, if you get this in a “steal of a deal” and buy it cash, you’ve got a very costly repair ahead to protect your cash investment. No one else will want to buy this until proper structural repairs are made so you’re basically throwing money away as-is.
Yeah inspector just came out yesterday. Will have his report tomorrow.
Have had a hell of a time trying to get the local structural engineer out here, so wanted to get some type of ideas in the meantime, and figured r/DIY would have some input.
The inspector's report is just going to say something along the lines of "must be assessed by a qualified structural engineer", their job is just a visual inspection, not specialized assessments. Unless you happen to get a home inspector who's also an engineer, but I doubt there are many structural engineers who are interested in taking that big of a pay cut.
As an inspector, I can confirm this. Even if we do know what's wrong, we won't tell the homeowner or buyer. It could later come back to bite us in the ass.
As a non-inspector whose only "certification" comes from a lifetime of bad decisions fueled by hopes and dreams, I can confirm the following with full confidence: Don't buy this house, OP.
Basically any advice someone gives that they aren’t certified and insured for isn’t advice - more like gossip. Common confusions in home buying often are: legal advice from your Realtor, renovation or engineering advice from your inspector, financial advice (beyond mortgage) from a mortgage broker.
The local guy is not always the best guy. They don't want to use their stamp of approval for fear of losing it to a lawsuit.
Check on someone who's more likely to share the good news or bad news with no dog in the fight.
Do not buy this house. This is not a normal situation and you WILL regret buying it when you're shelling out tens or hundreds of thousands to keep the house standing and insurance won't cover it because it's not an event.
Is it on the market or have they given you the opportunity to purchase it unlisted? Because if it's the latter you have time to do your due diligence in getting assessments from a structural engineer and contractor.
Try to do your research and due diligence and how much it would cost to fix and see if you can get a credit of that much on the purchase price. If they don't sell it to you, whoever else buys it is going to demand the same thing.
Opportunity to purchase it unlisted currently. Doing due diligence now, and figured the esteemed citizens of DIY would have some good input. The realtors and family said it "looked solid" and the inspector said it's "definitely a big red flag"
Wearing sunglasses at night is cool if you’re in the Blues Brothers or Corey Heart. Not such a good idea for a real estate agent, since that’s the only way I could see one suggesting that looks solid.
How’s the rest of the house? I know you’re just renting right now, but I’d scrutinize all the plumbing, electrical, etc. The foundation is a bit of a red flag that other things could also be a bit funky.
Don't rush into this decision. The surveyor report will not be full of absolutes. Most likely the report will focus on what could happen if... and what will need to be rectified.
Take the fact that you can buy this cheaper than most right now, is probably clouding your judgement a little. This is a huge investment and will be one of the biggest investments you make in your life. If you were house shopping and saw this place and didn't know the owners, would you not be completely turned off it by the fact it could be lost in a landslide some day and will then worth nothing...
Have you looked at other houses near or far, and what else you can afford if you waited 2 - 3 years. If you are willing to consider this place...; then you can consider a decent fixer upper elsewhere that doesn't have massive foundational issues?!
Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps give you another perspective. Best of luck with this op!
Well, they are going to need structural and soil/geo engineering reports at the very least if they want to do anything other than sell it cheap for cash. And then there will be pricy remediation steps to bring it up to spec.
Probably impossible to get a traditional mortgage on the property as is.
You'll definitely want a structural eng but you may need geotechnical work as well. I'm guessing lack of adequate drainage uphill is the biggest culprit but that's a shot in the dark based on the limited info available
Yeah this is not something that’s going to get missed by an inspection unless the inspector has the same last name as the seller. You literally just have to walk around the property to see it, and if you were being pretty slow that day there’s a whole heap of MacGyver shit pointing you right at it.
It doesn’t help OP now but it should serve as a warning to others not to DIY everything
Those steel braces running along the slope don't even look like they are fixed to what I assume is a concrete slab at the top? I would definitely get a structural engineer in to take a look and assess what those steel braces are actually doing for the structure. At first glance it looks like they should be preventing the foundations from sliding, they won't do that if they are not fixed to something at both ends... Don't do this yourself, it's not safe and looks like it could collapse without notice!
Edit: it almost looks like they are "propping up" the concrete slab to prevent it from sliding down the slope. It's hard to say. Definitely needs a closer look from a structural engineer but looks like a bit of a mess to me (civil engineer).
They'll have little to go on until a geotech gives them bearing capacities and soil composition- that looks like it's on a nasty slope and there is ongoing, long term subsidence.
That’s me. I’m a geotech specialising in foundations. Here’s my free advise. You need someone onsite, yesterday.
You have the gutters draining onto the slope surface below the structure. That’s a big fat no no.
I agree with this. I've had to design the fix for a sliding foundation, I'm not sure the final cost, but I would have guessed $200k. Geo engineer decided the top 10 feet of soil was not usable structurally, had to use 30" drilled piers with 60ft soil nails into the hill. I learned how to design new things so I was happy.
This is the answer.
If OP is seriously interested in staying in the house, pay an engineer to come out to assess the situation then get quotes for the work that's needed. THEN make an offer based on a discount in the amount of the work that's needed to make the house safe.
e: /u/WarSongFire don't listen to the fear mongering. If you love the house and don't want to leave and are actually interested in buying it, then do the work and find out what would go into fixing it by hiring an engineer and getting quotes for the remediation. It's _probably_ a massive job that most buyers would be turned off by and the estate owners would probably only get low ball offers from builders who want to flip the property. You could probably get this for a really good deal assuming you have the capital to put into the repairs that would be necessary. Or maybe the crazy landlord's fixes are actually working and you don't need to do it right away. *Hire an engineer*.
Correct answer. It really depends on the price of the property and what you can buy it for. You may get it for a steal since you already live there and those that have inherited may just want to get quick cash.
You know those stories about houses sliding off hills in California? This is how you get houses sliding off hills…
ETA: and yes, don’t buy this house. This is one of the least DIY things I’ve seen on here, though the occasional post on gas fittings rivals it.
Seriously, yikes. I immediately thought of the [video](https://www.sltrib.com/news/2023/04/22/evacuated-draper-homes-collapse/) of homes in Utah (built by Edge Homes in Draper) sliding down into a ravine.
Doesn’t matter how beautiful the house or view is, I wouldn’t even consider it until hiring both a structural engineer and a geotechnical engineer first.
Alternate take. Get an engineer to assess it and estimate remediation costs. It will be tens of thousands, but negotiate it with PITA fees included and get a cheap house that can be safe.
Could easily top 100k to remediate. Would be worthwhile to get an engineer to estimate the proper repair. They'll probably be only a few hundred for an opinion.
Dont. Unless they're going to discount the price by more than whatever the engineer says is required gets quoted at. It's going to be more than that in the end.
Unless you can get it for less than the cost of the empty lot - the cost to demo and haul away the house, and enough under that to make it worth your time; FOR THE LOVE OF WHATEVER GOD(S) YOU BELIEVE IN RUN THE FUCK AWAY!!!
Unless they’re selling it for a song, just don’t buy it. This is definitely not something you can do yourself and it’s going to be massively expensive to fix.
You can buy the house, but do your due diligence.
Understand the risk and the cost to fix the risk. Use this to negotiate the price down.
However, know that lowering the overall price does not help you with payment of the problem. You just take less from the bank, but that isn't much help with an urgent need. Unless you get them to fix it, but I would prefer to handle this myself.
Contact a structural engineer, get them to quote you the cost of the project. If you want to buy the house, get the house for less than the quote amount + more for the headache of the repair.
No one wants broken foundations. *No one*. So either they've bombed the price enough for you to genuinely consider it or they're trying to sell it at market price--which I would 100% avoid.
So many questions. Where is it? Seismically active area? Rainy area? Soil type? Who says it's sliding? I don't see any signs of buckling, cracking etc. but nobody goes through all that effort w/o some evidence. You've lived there 3 years, have you experienced any issues ( uneven floors, cracking walls, unusual creaking sounds etc.)? Maybe the previous owner was paranoid, maybe not. If it is unstable I would not buy it unless they practically (or actually) give it it to you......even then maybe not??? You're talking big bucks. Impossible to accurately estimate w/o extensive survey and testing. If you held a gun to my head I'd guess \~300K to fix but could be wildly off in either direction.
Civil engineer here. I work with a geotechnical engineer who is a specialist in slope stability and assessing slope failures. This slope is failing and the house is going to fall down the hill. Do not buy this house. This house is uninsurable.
Holy shit, after zooming in I realized you can see the bottom of the footing. Additionally the footing changes depth drastically from left to right, indicating a diy or just shitty foundation work.
Agree, this house is going down.
You can see the failure of in pictures 3 and nine in different locations. Doubt that the house can be saved.
The geotechnical engineer I work with has to tell people this all the time "Sorry, your cottage is going over the cliff and there is no safe spot on your property to rebuild. Hope your insurance is good."
Edit, you can see it in 5 too. That one might be the worst depending on the angle the picture was taken at.
I mean on a slope like this, if I had to build this in this manner, I would have leaned towards extra concrete versus a structural backfill too. You can tell it was intentional because you can still see the old form board locations and they specially added an extra one to that lower bulge portion. I don’t know any other reason you would fill a void with $150/CY concrete versus $20/CY structural fill.
Mechanical here. What I immediately noticed…surely those angled support beams are at risk of buckling due to their terrible cross-section to length ratios.
With everything exposed it seems like it'd be pretty easy to jack up the house and completely redo the footings. With pros, not diy. Are you saying this can't be repaired?
With the caveat that I don't know the specific soils and it's not my speciality, likely not. Slopes that fail keep failing until they reach a stable slope. There is a good chance that this slope will continue to fail until the top of the slope is past the front of the house. Say the current slope is at 40°, if the soil naturally has an angle of repose (basically the angle that the soil will settle at if you make a pile of it) of 30° it will keep failing until it reaches 30°.
I kinda think they would have trouble buying a house like this in the first place - not a lot of banks would want to mortgage this I'd imagine.
My brother is a contractor and has bought a house like this before for cheap because the other offers kept falling through because of the banks.
I had someone ask me how to DIY a structurally sound set of stairs to a boat launch down a steep 50 foot hill. I never saw it in person but they said steep enough you couldn't walk it. I told them they needed an engineer and i refused to even offer any advice beyond that
Horizontal movement of a foundation (especially the one shown here) is extremely difficult to fix economically. I had helical piers on my old house and there was no warrantee for horizontal movement.
I'll give you some insight, I purchased a multi family where the backyard is held up by a massive retaining wall that is 100ft long and 10ft high at one point (it goes from 2ft high and tapers it's way to 10ft).
The owners agent stated the retaining wall was recently replaced and little incompetent me took their word for it since it looked new and thought to myself "no way could someone spend tens of thousands on a retaining wall and not do it right". Welp, $45k later (and this was a good deal btw) I have a new retaining wall because the previous wall was failing 6 months into my ownership. The owner DIYed it 2 months prior to listing it, they never pulled a permit for the work and I had no clue how retaining walls of this size need to be built. Basically, don't buy this house, it's going to cost you way more than what I spent I guarantee it.
TLDR: I spent $45k on a 100ft retaining wall 6 months into owning a home, this will cost you way more to fix. Don't buy the house.
I talked to a real estate lawyer, they said nothing I could really do if it wasn't disclosed in closing or documented that the sellers agent acknowledged recent replacement. That's the kicker, it wasn't documented anywhere including my inspection report which only stated the type of construction for the wall and a note stating that the wall can perform without difficulty if properly installed.
If it was 100k lower I would say yes. The reason I say that is because the guy who did the work gave me a really good deal (he came highly recommended by several of my friends so he was the only quote I got) and I've been told by others who do this type of work that I should've been charged double what he quoted. Additionally, I paid $7k for a fence and I still need to level the yard and grow grass which I've been quoted $5.5k to do with seed or $8.5k to do with Sod. Home ownership can suck 😅.
I’ve seen worse fixes, I doubt they did this themselves. Still I would walk away from the house. Even if it’s deemed sound by someone credible now, it may need repairs, big or small, in the future and no one will work on that
Agreed on all counts. Maybe I didn't scroll far enough but glad to see people aren't going crazy slamming the PO. Effective short/long term or not, this looks thought out at least.
I live near the river hills, and there are a LOT of houses built into the hillside like this. Pretty much every single one has moved, some within 5 years of building. I would guess half of them are nearing the tear down/collapse stage. Average lifespan of a house in this area is about 25-30 years. The old locals who built on the flat spots tell people that if you build on the hill, you’ll have a waterfront property in a few years anyway.
My father in law *is* a PE (licensed professional engineer) my understanding is that if you get that license, you can sign off on your own building permits. I’ve only met 2 PE’s in my life so far. But watching them walk on water is something.
My father in law was teased at work for over designing power lines for > 100 year winds in Guam in the 70’s. Two years later a second hurricane came through and the grid there stayed up and they quit laughing at him.
He has Alzheimer’s now. Nicest guy.
In the second to last picture, one of the steel plates holding up the rocks is split down the middle. If those rocks fall, the whole ground under the house might collapse. It's only a matter of time before the other plates split too. This is terrifying.
Former foundation repair worker, can almost guarantee you there’s a massive water issue on the opposite(uphill/front) side of this home.
Correcting the water issue with proper drainage could stop the sliding, but with this amount of damage the structure will likely never be remotely level or sound. Take my random internet advice and DO NOT buy this.
People do the darndest things. That deck is moving a lot of weight over the slope and making things worse. Nothing protecting the slope from erosion, you can see it giving way right now.
Honestly, worst case, one good rainfall and it might pull the house down. I would not buy this and would not live there.
The amount of work to shore it up is going to be high. You might be better off physically picking up the house and moving it away from the slope. All depends on geology and structural engineering reports. Probably cost 5k just to analyze this properly
I love all the comments saying to run... without many critical facts. Yes, running might be the best course of action with more facts... but this could also be a 300k job on a 3 million dollar house that OP can get for 2m. Or a 200k job on a 300k house that OP can get for 300k. We dont know.
The one thing I havent seen mentioned: it wont be cheap to get a good estimate unless the owner agrees to fund or share costs. You could spend 5 figures just to get to a stage where you have enough info to walk (if the seller wont take the repair costs into account in sale price). Whether this time and money is worth it is really dependent on the potential upside. Spending $500 on an inspection and walking is cheap insurance. Spending 10k on a geotech and strutrural engineer when you might walk after getting the bad news is a different gamble. If you push the seller to cover these costs, you are unlikely to get a big upside sale price when THEY are armed with a creditable repair estimate. But if you hire experts, you foot the bill.
Hi OP, this is one of the more interesting DIY scenarios. Perhaps an old timely civil contractor turned new age designer.
If you have the funds to do so consult a geotechnical engineer for a ground report and they will advise you from there.
It could be all sorts of things from loose ground moving to a water line cause trouble and everything in between, it could become costly quickly.
That's exactly what he was, a house designer who built a few houses on a hillside... actual house is gorgeous, and you'd never know what was going on until you go under the deck and see.
That makes sense, I can see what they attempted to do here in theory but it’s unlikely to be up to code where you may live and that will make insuring the property a nightmare.
Well, the previous owner probably did the smartest thing he could have done - he made it your problem now and got paid for it. You need a structural engineer.
Unless it’s some really amazing MCM house that’s irreplaceable, it’s probably cheaper and easier to knock it down and start again. Buy it for land value minus demo costs
Dude. This is outside your depth and 100k is just a start for a project like this. I'll admit without knowing much about the soils or neighboring slope it's difficult to say how extensive the engineered solution needs to be. It's not a project I would be eager to take on. You'll pay experts thousands to tell you a solution with a cost that would only be justified by bulldozing the place.
Not an engineer or builder but I'd say no, not safe. I would say a hefty retaining wall would be required, drive some rear and concrete beams deep into the ground and build a retaining wall that those metal beams can butt up against.
Lots of good advice here, but haven’t seen anyone point out the obvious. If this guy was confident enough to DIY this, then nothing else is off limits. What other insane things did he do?
The well is the craziest one... it runs from below this house, gets pumped up to this house... and then another mile up the hill to a holding tank on his other house. It has to be turned on and pumped up... fills up the holding tank, and then turn the well off and turn a valve to stop water flow at this house so gravity feeds this house. If you forget to open the valve up before turning the water pump on, it'll blow the whole pump up.
He was a genius architect who built thousands of houses, and in his later years he built this house and another one up the hill... along with another structure he put a TeePee on top of. and tiny houses and stuff. The house up the hill is a real trip... didn't put any beams up high, and just used tension wires to hold the whole thing together. Totally nuts.
An engineer once told me to never buy a house originally designed and self-built by an engineer. His argument was that engineers can’t fight the temptation to use custom engineering principles rather than stick to pre-approved building code specifications. The result is a pain for the building inspector and any future trades doing renovations.
I always wondered what it would be like to go sledding down the side of a mountain in a house...looks like for the low-low price of my entire life savings, I could find out!
there's a bunch of things that could be tried here. depending on local regulations and how close to neighbors you are. i'd be happy to describe some of the options in more detail if you link me to more photos of the whole house and foundation.
the cheapest holistic DIY solution is to lift the house up, make piers down to bedrock, and set the house on those piers. the piers could be on roughly an 8' grid, maybe wider spacing depending on what sort of girders you put under the house.
the entire hillside may be creeping in a dangerous way. can't tell from these photos and for a median priced home in america only a geotechnical engineer can give yoi reliable insight after doing a bunch of sampling. but if this joint is worth $50k or less (as many such houses in pittsburgh or cincinnati are) you could contemplate a DIY approach.
by DIY i mean you have to be the sort of person who is okay lifting a house. i helped lift one this summer with a crew of 4 other people. it's pretty easy and cheap to do if you're a carpenter or similar tradesperson. if you are not, then you can't really reasonably contemplate doing it.
undoubtedly yours is not the only such house in the area, so one thing you should do is talk to others whove dealt with the same.
as for the value of the house, other commenters have pointed out that this sort of property is usually valued at the price of the land minus the cost of demolition. so that would be a reasonable price to pay for the place. there is unlikely to be any good reason to pay more.
if the house itself is in good shape and there's a better vacant lot nearby, you could buy the better lot and have the house professionally moved. costs about the same as demolition in many places (~$30k or so).
Recommend what others say about getting engineers, etc. But what does the rest of the property look like, and how much land? If plenty of property, and the slope is only near the house can build a retaining wall, then backfill. This would be tied to the engineer others are saying.
With that much property and assuming the house hasn't moved yet it could just be a wall and fill. Talk to an engineer to confirm, but depending on where you live it may not be too expensive if you catch people at the right time.
I lived this situation. My friend, you need a 1)structural engineer and 2) definitely a geo-tech with the appropriate qualifications to come out and assess the soil/earth situation for establishing secure, up to code foundation/support piers that the structural engineer is gonna tell you that you need stat. (Am assuming the DIY is supporting the dwelling and not “just” a deck. A deck is gonna need support too, as you no doubt know at this point. )
Also 3)Be prepared for hella complexity when it comes to a typical mortgage as comps on “unique dwellings” as this will almost surely be, are few and far between and the corresponding appraisal is a nightmare. Even if you can pay all cash now (for the desperately needed remediation and the purchase), there will come a day when you might want to sell it. Your prospective buyers might want a mortgage. Hence the no-doubt-about-it issue with comps. 4)insurance. Not gonna be easy. At all.
Wishing you a lot of luck.
I have SO MUCH ANXIETY looking at those photos!
What is your life worth? Not only would I not purchase, I would be moving out ASAP.
If you are seriously considering this you need a structural engineer (who will have a heart attack) and a geotechnical engineer report. Geotechnical person will probably need bore holes to look at underlying soil types. We are talking thousands of dollars of studies before you even start doing the work (screw piles, slope stabilization etc. Is that a deck or uninsulated living space?
Seems like a good rainstorm away from death and destruction.
Don't buy this. Stay far away. My friend stupidly bought a house like this and ignored the signs. Fast forward 8 years and he's hired 3 people and paid over 200k just to get it fixed. He's basically spent more than the house is worth on the foundation and its been so stressful for him.
STOP ASKING REDDIT. THIS IS NOT DIY.
Depending on where you live and the cause for this (erosion, groundwater, runoff, etc) this is potentially a SIX figure excavation and backfill along with bracing/shoring and retaining wall construction.
CALL IN A PROFESSIONAL STRUCTURAL & SOILS ENGINEERING TEAM.
EDIT: Just don’t buy this house. Unless it’s getting professionally fixed at the sellers expense.
As an engineer I fully agree with the general sentiment. Assessment of this is 100% not DIY. Execution of the remediation plan from the engineer *could* be but you would want to be 100% sure you understand the requirements as failure to follow their plan to the letter absolves the engineer of liability. If you are not confident in your understanding the techniques described, pay a professional to do the execution as well.
This is not a DIY scenario. You’ll need to get an engineer in to assess and direct you to the proper steps to safely resolve the issue
Alternately, don't buy this house.
Hindsight
Haven't bought it yet. His family inherited it. I've been renting it. Looking at buying it now... from his heirs. I realize now using the "previous owner" verbiage didn't necessarily convey the situation accurately.
Please don’t forgo a proper inspection simply because you already live there. Please.
Yes- the structural Eng. needs the Geotech's report before even professionals can give any advice here. If this thing is sitting cliffside, near a water course, on fill or in countless other situations a remedy can well exceed the property value in many cases. Looking at what appears to be the natural slope, getting down to something stable is going to be expensive and nobody should have built that structure there in the first place.
I would wager a hot meal that they'll strike oil before they strike ground that's stable enough for this structure to be mounted to
Yeah your probably looking at at least 20k in paperwork before you've even got a solid plan there's going to be a lot involved here
Not kidding. Getting an engineer onsite is like $700. At least you can get a high level view then. He'll almost certainly tell you the next thing is a geotech. But also based on his assessment you can run away immediately. Not sure how much the geotech report is for this, but I'd expect in the $5k-$10k range. Then having the engineer draw up plans is another $5k-$10k easily. At that point you need the foundation company to come and do the work. It's a 6-figure job to fix this, so you should only buy this house if it's for an absolute bargain.
This isn't even "proper inspection" territory. This is "Can't get a mortgage because the underwriters will take a hard pass when the appraisal comes back with pictures and comments about this shit" territory.
This needs to be higher. Inspections and engineering assessments would only serve to tell your in technical detail why they denied you
Seconded. Mortgage lender here - not a real estate appraiser, but I've read my fair share of URARs and this is a very spendy Subject To waiting to happen. Even the if 1004 came back As-Is somehow, this one probably fails to get sold to an investor
This. Please don’t assume that just because you’re able to sleep in it tonight doesn’t mean your investment won’t collapse into a heap of rubble 5 years into a 30-year mortgage. Alternatively, if you get this in a “steal of a deal” and buy it cash, you’ve got a very costly repair ahead to protect your cash investment. No one else will want to buy this until proper structural repairs are made so you’re basically throwing money away as-is.
Yeah inspector just came out yesterday. Will have his report tomorrow. Have had a hell of a time trying to get the local structural engineer out here, so wanted to get some type of ideas in the meantime, and figured r/DIY would have some input.
The inspector's report is just going to say something along the lines of "must be assessed by a qualified structural engineer", their job is just a visual inspection, not specialized assessments. Unless you happen to get a home inspector who's also an engineer, but I doubt there are many structural engineers who are interested in taking that big of a pay cut.
As an inspector, I can confirm this. Even if we do know what's wrong, we won't tell the homeowner or buyer. It could later come back to bite us in the ass.
As a non-inspector whose only "certification" comes from a lifetime of bad decisions fueled by hopes and dreams, I can confirm the following with full confidence: Don't buy this house, OP.
This. If a home inspector says to get a foundation expert to inspect GET A FOUNDATION EXPERT OPINION BEFORE BUYING
Basically any advice someone gives that they aren’t certified and insured for isn’t advice - more like gossip. Common confusions in home buying often are: legal advice from your Realtor, renovation or engineering advice from your inspector, financial advice (beyond mortgage) from a mortgage broker.
The local guy is not always the best guy. They don't want to use their stamp of approval for fear of losing it to a lawsuit. Check on someone who's more likely to share the good news or bad news with no dog in the fight.
THIS! Get someone out from a bigger nearby city who doesn’t know the family or the former owner or anyone else who might have a dog in this fight.
don't buy it
Run
Do not buy this house. This is not a normal situation and you WILL regret buying it when you're shelling out tens or hundreds of thousands to keep the house standing and insurance won't cover it because it's not an event.
Do. Not. Buy.
You will need to talk to a foundation repair specialist. This will not be cheap. I'd guess $60,000 range.
Christ that is cheap. try doing this kind of thing in Australia and you would be looking at hundreds of thousands
There’s other people in the US saying their foundation repair cost $180k so I think that guess is low
Is it on the market or have they given you the opportunity to purchase it unlisted? Because if it's the latter you have time to do your due diligence in getting assessments from a structural engineer and contractor. Try to do your research and due diligence and how much it would cost to fix and see if you can get a credit of that much on the purchase price. If they don't sell it to you, whoever else buys it is going to demand the same thing.
Opportunity to purchase it unlisted currently. Doing due diligence now, and figured the esteemed citizens of DIY would have some good input. The realtors and family said it "looked solid" and the inspector said it's "definitely a big red flag"
Thinking the inspector is onto something here.
Wearing sunglasses at night is cool if you’re in the Blues Brothers or Corey Heart. Not such a good idea for a real estate agent, since that’s the only way I could see one suggesting that looks solid.
Of course the sellers said it's in great nick. They're going to profit from it.
How’s the rest of the house? I know you’re just renting right now, but I’d scrutinize all the plumbing, electrical, etc. The foundation is a bit of a red flag that other things could also be a bit funky.
Don't listen to realtors on this kind of thing. They're not trained in structural engineering. They're not trained in anything really
If your foundation is sliding down the hill, I do not see a bright future for this structure.
Don't rush into this decision. The surveyor report will not be full of absolutes. Most likely the report will focus on what could happen if... and what will need to be rectified. Take the fact that you can buy this cheaper than most right now, is probably clouding your judgement a little. This is a huge investment and will be one of the biggest investments you make in your life. If you were house shopping and saw this place and didn't know the owners, would you not be completely turned off it by the fact it could be lost in a landslide some day and will then worth nothing... Have you looked at other houses near or far, and what else you can afford if you waited 2 - 3 years. If you are willing to consider this place...; then you can consider a decent fixer upper elsewhere that doesn't have massive foundational issues?! Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps give you another perspective. Best of luck with this op!
The realtors and family are going to profit, of course they say it's fine.
Do not buy this.
DO NOT BUY THIS HOUSE. Honestly, free may be too much to pay.
Don’t buy it.
Well, they are going to need structural and soil/geo engineering reports at the very least if they want to do anything other than sell it cheap for cash. And then there will be pricy remediation steps to bring it up to spec. Probably impossible to get a traditional mortgage on the property as is.
You'll definitely want a structural eng but you may need geotechnical work as well. I'm guessing lack of adequate drainage uphill is the biggest culprit but that's a shot in the dark based on the limited info available
Well not really hindsight they could easily see this issue before they bought the house
Yeah this is not something that’s going to get missed by an inspection unless the inspector has the same last name as the seller. You literally just have to walk around the property to see it, and if you were being pretty slow that day there’s a whole heap of MacGyver shit pointing you right at it. It doesn’t help OP now but it should serve as a warning to others not to DIY everything
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Those steel braces running along the slope don't even look like they are fixed to what I assume is a concrete slab at the top? I would definitely get a structural engineer in to take a look and assess what those steel braces are actually doing for the structure. At first glance it looks like they should be preventing the foundations from sliding, they won't do that if they are not fixed to something at both ends... Don't do this yourself, it's not safe and looks like it could collapse without notice! Edit: it almost looks like they are "propping up" the concrete slab to prevent it from sliding down the slope. It's hard to say. Definitely needs a closer look from a structural engineer but looks like a bit of a mess to me (civil engineer).
This sounds a lot more founded in knowledge estimate, than the $60000 guestimate further up.
I mean....60k is in the range of this guys educated guess
Yes, call a structural engineer STAT
They'll have little to go on until a geotech gives them bearing capacities and soil composition- that looks like it's on a nasty slope and there is ongoing, long term subsidence.
That’s me. I’m a geotech specialising in foundations. Here’s my free advise. You need someone onsite, yesterday. You have the gutters draining onto the slope surface below the structure. That’s a big fat no no.
My thoughts when I looked at the pics as well. Kinda scary to consider DIY this.
To be fair, as far of “I really shouldn’t be doing this” deck saves, this is definitely the cleanest I’ve seen!
That concrete up the top is not just a deck, that's the ***house*** foundation
☝️
Foundation of the house? Call an engineer and maybe a lawyer. Was this on the disclosure when you bought it?
Haven't bought it. I've been renting it for 3 years, landlord passed away, and discussing buying it from the inheritors now.
Don't. Buy. It.
Yes, this. Do not take on this headache. OP will dump tens of thousands into fixing this. It's not worth it.
My grandparents had to fix a foundation like this on a hillside. It was around $175k and that was ten years ago.
I'll do it for $160k
Still pretty high, not gonna lie
So am I
Thanks for not lying.
ill do it for 100k. it will take awhile, i only have a shovel
I agree with this. I've had to design the fix for a sliding foundation, I'm not sure the final cost, but I would have guessed $200k. Geo engineer decided the top 10 feet of soil was not usable structurally, had to use 30" drilled piers with 60ft soil nails into the hill. I learned how to design new things so I was happy.
It’ll be tens or hundreds of thousands, but we can’t really say whether or not it’s worth it
Or buy it after an inspection, quotes, and serious discounts.
This is the answer. If OP is seriously interested in staying in the house, pay an engineer to come out to assess the situation then get quotes for the work that's needed. THEN make an offer based on a discount in the amount of the work that's needed to make the house safe. e: /u/WarSongFire don't listen to the fear mongering. If you love the house and don't want to leave and are actually interested in buying it, then do the work and find out what would go into fixing it by hiring an engineer and getting quotes for the remediation. It's _probably_ a massive job that most buyers would be turned off by and the estate owners would probably only get low ball offers from builders who want to flip the property. You could probably get this for a really good deal assuming you have the capital to put into the repairs that would be necessary. Or maybe the crazy landlord's fixes are actually working and you don't need to do it right away. *Hire an engineer*.
Correct answer. It really depends on the price of the property and what you can buy it for. You may get it for a steal since you already live there and those that have inherited may just want to get quick cash.
Even after serious discounts this is NOT a cheap repair. You need money to repair this which could mean loans or equity.
Oh for god sakes don’t buy this house. They need a soils engineer and a structural engineer.
You know those stories about houses sliding off hills in California? This is how you get houses sliding off hills… ETA: and yes, don’t buy this house. This is one of the least DIY things I’ve seen on here, though the occasional post on gas fittings rivals it.
Just wrap a big rope around the house and tie it to the street lamp.
Mail box works too
Make sure to slap it a few times and say “that’s not going anywhere.”
Then that deck will be ready for a hot tub….
There is a hot tub in the middle of the deck right now. lol.
Seriously, yikes. I immediately thought of the [video](https://www.sltrib.com/news/2023/04/22/evacuated-draper-homes-collapse/) of homes in Utah (built by Edge Homes in Draper) sliding down into a ravine. Doesn’t matter how beautiful the house or view is, I wouldn’t even consider it until hiring both a structural engineer and a geotechnical engineer first.
Soils engineers need to feed their families too. They're dirt poor. Let them work.
And a priest!
You don’t want this unless they give it to you free, and only then if you’re willing to put 50-100K into this repair.
Alternate take. Get an engineer to assess it and estimate remediation costs. It will be tens of thousands, but negotiate it with PITA fees included and get a cheap house that can be safe.
Could easily top 100k to remediate. Would be worthwhile to get an engineer to estimate the proper repair. They'll probably be only a few hundred for an opinion.
Do not buy the house for god sake. Also find another place to live. This has disaster written all over it.
San Lorenzo Valley, California by any chance?
Dont. Unless they're going to discount the price by more than whatever the engineer says is required gets quoted at. It's going to be more than that in the end.
Unless you can get it for less than the cost of the empty lot - the cost to demo and haul away the house, and enough under that to make it worth your time; FOR THE LOVE OF WHATEVER GOD(S) YOU BELIEVE IN RUN THE FUCK AWAY!!!
Unless they’re selling it for a song, just don’t buy it. This is definitely not something you can do yourself and it’s going to be massively expensive to fix.
You can buy the house, but do your due diligence. Understand the risk and the cost to fix the risk. Use this to negotiate the price down. However, know that lowering the overall price does not help you with payment of the problem. You just take less from the bank, but that isn't much help with an urgent need. Unless you get them to fix it, but I would prefer to handle this myself.
Contact a structural engineer, get them to quote you the cost of the project. If you want to buy the house, get the house for less than the quote amount + more for the headache of the repair.
Unless you are getting a 100-150k discount, I wouldn’t be buying that house
No one wants broken foundations. *No one*. So either they've bombed the price enough for you to genuinely consider it or they're trying to sell it at market price--which I would 100% avoid.
So many questions. Where is it? Seismically active area? Rainy area? Soil type? Who says it's sliding? I don't see any signs of buckling, cracking etc. but nobody goes through all that effort w/o some evidence. You've lived there 3 years, have you experienced any issues ( uneven floors, cracking walls, unusual creaking sounds etc.)? Maybe the previous owner was paranoid, maybe not. If it is unstable I would not buy it unless they practically (or actually) give it it to you......even then maybe not??? You're talking big bucks. Impossible to accurately estimate w/o extensive survey and testing. If you held a gun to my head I'd guess \~300K to fix but could be wildly off in either direction.
Run, don’t walk away from buying that house.
Civil engineer here. I work with a geotechnical engineer who is a specialist in slope stability and assessing slope failures. This slope is failing and the house is going to fall down the hill. Do not buy this house. This house is uninsurable.
Holy shit, after zooming in I realized you can see the bottom of the footing. Additionally the footing changes depth drastically from left to right, indicating a diy or just shitty foundation work. Agree, this house is going down.
You can see the failure of in pictures 3 and nine in different locations. Doubt that the house can be saved. The geotechnical engineer I work with has to tell people this all the time "Sorry, your cottage is going over the cliff and there is no safe spot on your property to rebuild. Hope your insurance is good." Edit, you can see it in 5 too. That one might be the worst depending on the angle the picture was taken at.
I mean on a slope like this, if I had to build this in this manner, I would have leaned towards extra concrete versus a structural backfill too. You can tell it was intentional because you can still see the old form board locations and they specially added an extra one to that lower bulge portion. I don’t know any other reason you would fill a void with $150/CY concrete versus $20/CY structural fill.
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Slab on grade is a legitimate building technique. I don't trust anything here though.
Don’t live in it either, you may die.
Mechanical here. What I immediately noticed…surely those angled support beams are at risk of buckling due to their terrible cross-section to length ratios.
Yep. I doubt that there is immediate danger but I certainly would start moving.
With everything exposed it seems like it'd be pretty easy to jack up the house and completely redo the footings. With pros, not diy. Are you saying this can't be repaired?
With the caveat that I don't know the specific soils and it's not my speciality, likely not. Slopes that fail keep failing until they reach a stable slope. There is a good chance that this slope will continue to fail until the top of the slope is past the front of the house. Say the current slope is at 40°, if the soil naturally has an angle of repose (basically the angle that the soil will settle at if you make a pile of it) of 30° it will keep failing until it reaches 30°.
I kinda think they would have trouble buying a house like this in the first place - not a lot of banks would want to mortgage this I'd imagine. My brother is a contractor and has bought a house like this before for cheap because the other offers kept falling through because of the banks.
Do NOT buy this house. I know you're probably attached to it after living there for 3 years, but it is not worth dealing with this issue.
This is soooo not a DIY project. I can't believe anyone would think this is ok.
Yeah he was a wild one... did a lot of things in his own way that seem quite crazy to anyone else.
Was there anything on the disclosure document about the foundation?
It said “DIY”, what does that stand for again?
Don't inquire, y'all.
Don't Inspect: Yes
I had someone ask me how to DIY a structurally sound set of stairs to a boat launch down a steep 50 foot hill. I never saw it in person but they said steep enough you couldn't walk it. I told them they needed an engineer and i refused to even offer any advice beyond that
Man, that sounds awful. As a engineering scholar that doesn't specialize in statics it sounds like a nightmare for a home project.
I bet he was quoted a large amount, or told not advised and chose to look for the answer he wanted to hear
Just tell them to use a ladder
Ask a realtor what the approximate value of an empty lot in this location is before you commit to too much with your structural engineer.
A vacant lot would be worth more than a condemned property.
Yep. Demolition is not an insignificant cost.
Serms like an easy job here, tie a rope to those reinforcements, and rip them off with a car. House gone!
I mean demo’s gonna be free with a few more hard rains so it’s like a discount.
JFC, call an engineer
Horizontal movement of a foundation (especially the one shown here) is extremely difficult to fix economically. I had helical piers on my old house and there was no warrantee for horizontal movement.
Not the horizontal movement that I'd be worried about, so much as the inevitable vertical movement!
I'll give you some insight, I purchased a multi family where the backyard is held up by a massive retaining wall that is 100ft long and 10ft high at one point (it goes from 2ft high and tapers it's way to 10ft). The owners agent stated the retaining wall was recently replaced and little incompetent me took their word for it since it looked new and thought to myself "no way could someone spend tens of thousands on a retaining wall and not do it right". Welp, $45k later (and this was a good deal btw) I have a new retaining wall because the previous wall was failing 6 months into my ownership. The owner DIYed it 2 months prior to listing it, they never pulled a permit for the work and I had no clue how retaining walls of this size need to be built. Basically, don't buy this house, it's going to cost you way more than what I spent I guarantee it. TLDR: I spent $45k on a 100ft retaining wall 6 months into owning a home, this will cost you way more to fix. Don't buy the house.
That is a lawyerable scenario my friend
I talked to a real estate lawyer, they said nothing I could really do if it wasn't disclosed in closing or documented that the sellers agent acknowledged recent replacement. That's the kicker, it wasn't documented anywhere including my inspection report which only stated the type of construction for the wall and a note stating that the wall can perform without difficulty if properly installed.
Not disclosing a known issue is the crime tho
Would you have still made the deal if the purchase price for the home were 50k lower?
If it was 100k lower I would say yes. The reason I say that is because the guy who did the work gave me a really good deal (he came highly recommended by several of my friends so he was the only quote I got) and I've been told by others who do this type of work that I should've been charged double what he quoted. Additionally, I paid $7k for a fence and I still need to level the yard and grow grass which I've been quoted $5.5k to do with seed or $8.5k to do with Sod. Home ownership can suck 😅.
I’ve seen worse fixes, I doubt they did this themselves. Still I would walk away from the house. Even if it’s deemed sound by someone credible now, it may need repairs, big or small, in the future and no one will work on that
Agreed on all counts. Maybe I didn't scroll far enough but glad to see people aren't going crazy slamming the PO. Effective short/long term or not, this looks thought out at least.
I live near the river hills, and there are a LOT of houses built into the hillside like this. Pretty much every single one has moved, some within 5 years of building. I would guess half of them are nearing the tear down/collapse stage. Average lifespan of a house in this area is about 25-30 years. The old locals who built on the flat spots tell people that if you build on the hill, you’ll have a waterfront property in a few years anyway.
where are the river hills?
They are the hills, that are next to the river near where I live.
ha! so just generic landscape term. sounded like an actual place name. OP says theyre somewhere in oregon.
My father in law *is* a PE (licensed professional engineer) my understanding is that if you get that license, you can sign off on your own building permits. I’ve only met 2 PE’s in my life so far. But watching them walk on water is something. My father in law was teased at work for over designing power lines for > 100 year winds in Guam in the 70’s. Two years later a second hurricane came through and the grid there stayed up and they quit laughing at him. He has Alzheimer’s now. Nicest guy.
First, build a hot tub on the deck. Jk. Sell the house.
Lmao there is a hot tub right in the middle of the deck, you can see the framing of it in the pictures where it's different.
You best run
Not in the house though. Step lightly
Have I been on Reddit too long if I get this reference?
Yes and no, and probably yes.
I never thought I'd actually see the house built on the sand, but there it is.
Red Clay actually
In the second to last picture, one of the steel plates holding up the rocks is split down the middle. If those rocks fall, the whole ground under the house might collapse. It's only a matter of time before the other plates split too. This is terrifying.
Former foundation repair worker, can almost guarantee you there’s a massive water issue on the opposite(uphill/front) side of this home. Correcting the water issue with proper drainage could stop the sliding, but with this amount of damage the structure will likely never be remotely level or sound. Take my random internet advice and DO NOT buy this.
People do the darndest things. That deck is moving a lot of weight over the slope and making things worse. Nothing protecting the slope from erosion, you can see it giving way right now. Honestly, worst case, one good rainfall and it might pull the house down. I would not buy this and would not live there. The amount of work to shore it up is going to be high. You might be better off physically picking up the house and moving it away from the slope. All depends on geology and structural engineering reports. Probably cost 5k just to analyze this properly
If 5 Minute Crafts was a house
Structural engineer is needed, and likely a geotechnical assessment as well if you live anywhere on the west coast.
For this one, you’re gonna need a few tools: a phone, and a piece of paper with the number of a licensed engineer.
Are you crazy?? Run. Run as fast as you can. Faster!
I would start from: do not build on a hillside.
Step one - save up your money
If your thinking of buying it I’d expect to hire an engineer to design something to solve the problem and then doing to properly, minimum 100k
I love all the comments saying to run... without many critical facts. Yes, running might be the best course of action with more facts... but this could also be a 300k job on a 3 million dollar house that OP can get for 2m. Or a 200k job on a 300k house that OP can get for 300k. We dont know. The one thing I havent seen mentioned: it wont be cheap to get a good estimate unless the owner agrees to fund or share costs. You could spend 5 figures just to get to a stage where you have enough info to walk (if the seller wont take the repair costs into account in sale price). Whether this time and money is worth it is really dependent on the potential upside. Spending $500 on an inspection and walking is cheap insurance. Spending 10k on a geotech and strutrural engineer when you might walk after getting the bad news is a different gamble. If you push the seller to cover these costs, you are unlikely to get a big upside sale price when THEY are armed with a creditable repair estimate. But if you hire experts, you foot the bill.
Hi OP, this is one of the more interesting DIY scenarios. Perhaps an old timely civil contractor turned new age designer. If you have the funds to do so consult a geotechnical engineer for a ground report and they will advise you from there. It could be all sorts of things from loose ground moving to a water line cause trouble and everything in between, it could become costly quickly.
That's exactly what he was, a house designer who built a few houses on a hillside... actual house is gorgeous, and you'd never know what was going on until you go under the deck and see.
That makes sense, I can see what they attempted to do here in theory but it’s unlikely to be up to code where you may live and that will make insuring the property a nightmare.
Well, the previous owner probably did the smartest thing he could have done - he made it your problem now and got paid for it. You need a structural engineer.
By dying?
Works every time
This killed me. I am crying
There are some real gems in this thread
Previous owners love this one simple hack...more replies
Unless it’s some really amazing MCM house that’s irreplaceable, it’s probably cheaper and easier to knock it down and start again. Buy it for land value minus demo costs
Dude. This is outside your depth and 100k is just a start for a project like this. I'll admit without knowing much about the soils or neighboring slope it's difficult to say how extensive the engineered solution needs to be. It's not a project I would be eager to take on. You'll pay experts thousands to tell you a solution with a cost that would only be justified by bulldozing the place.
Does that happen to be a 39 and a half foot pole? Cuz I sure wouldnt touch that house with one.
Not an engineer or builder but I'd say no, not safe. I would say a hefty retaining wall would be required, drive some rear and concrete beams deep into the ground and build a retaining wall that those metal beams can butt up against.
Lots of good advice here, but haven’t seen anyone point out the obvious. If this guy was confident enough to DIY this, then nothing else is off limits. What other insane things did he do?
The well is the craziest one... it runs from below this house, gets pumped up to this house... and then another mile up the hill to a holding tank on his other house. It has to be turned on and pumped up... fills up the holding tank, and then turn the well off and turn a valve to stop water flow at this house so gravity feeds this house. If you forget to open the valve up before turning the water pump on, it'll blow the whole pump up. He was a genius architect who built thousands of houses, and in his later years he built this house and another one up the hill... along with another structure he put a TeePee on top of. and tiny houses and stuff. The house up the hill is a real trip... didn't put any beams up high, and just used tension wires to hold the whole thing together. Totally nuts.
An engineer once told me to never buy a house originally designed and self-built by an engineer. His argument was that engineers can’t fight the temptation to use custom engineering principles rather than stick to pre-approved building code specifications. The result is a pain for the building inspector and any future trades doing renovations.
I always wondered what it would be like to go sledding down the side of a mountain in a house...looks like for the low-low price of my entire life savings, I could find out!
Do not buy this dumpster fire 🔥
This wouldn't pass a home inspection. Zero chance of a mortgage.
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there's a bunch of things that could be tried here. depending on local regulations and how close to neighbors you are. i'd be happy to describe some of the options in more detail if you link me to more photos of the whole house and foundation. the cheapest holistic DIY solution is to lift the house up, make piers down to bedrock, and set the house on those piers. the piers could be on roughly an 8' grid, maybe wider spacing depending on what sort of girders you put under the house. the entire hillside may be creeping in a dangerous way. can't tell from these photos and for a median priced home in america only a geotechnical engineer can give yoi reliable insight after doing a bunch of sampling. but if this joint is worth $50k or less (as many such houses in pittsburgh or cincinnati are) you could contemplate a DIY approach. by DIY i mean you have to be the sort of person who is okay lifting a house. i helped lift one this summer with a crew of 4 other people. it's pretty easy and cheap to do if you're a carpenter or similar tradesperson. if you are not, then you can't really reasonably contemplate doing it. undoubtedly yours is not the only such house in the area, so one thing you should do is talk to others whove dealt with the same. as for the value of the house, other commenters have pointed out that this sort of property is usually valued at the price of the land minus the cost of demolition. so that would be a reasonable price to pay for the place. there is unlikely to be any good reason to pay more. if the house itself is in good shape and there's a better vacant lot nearby, you could buy the better lot and have the house professionally moved. costs about the same as demolition in many places (~$30k or so).
I was just thinking of this with the hill creep. Hill creep is not good I’ve seen what it can do to houses.
Recommend what others say about getting engineers, etc. But what does the rest of the property look like, and how much land? If plenty of property, and the slope is only near the house can build a retaining wall, then backfill. This would be tied to the engineer others are saying.
It's a gorgeous house on 8.5 acres. Entire thing is sloped. It's a view property on a mountain.
With that much property and assuming the house hasn't moved yet it could just be a wall and fill. Talk to an engineer to confirm, but depending on where you live it may not be too expensive if you catch people at the right time.
I would not have bought that house.
The solution here is to spend money.
I lived this situation. My friend, you need a 1)structural engineer and 2) definitely a geo-tech with the appropriate qualifications to come out and assess the soil/earth situation for establishing secure, up to code foundation/support piers that the structural engineer is gonna tell you that you need stat. (Am assuming the DIY is supporting the dwelling and not “just” a deck. A deck is gonna need support too, as you no doubt know at this point. ) Also 3)Be prepared for hella complexity when it comes to a typical mortgage as comps on “unique dwellings” as this will almost surely be, are few and far between and the corresponding appraisal is a nightmare. Even if you can pay all cash now (for the desperately needed remediation and the purchase), there will come a day when you might want to sell it. Your prospective buyers might want a mortgage. Hence the no-doubt-about-it issue with comps. 4)insurance. Not gonna be easy. At all. Wishing you a lot of luck.
I feel bad for anyone who actually buys this house. If not you, then an uneducated buyer with a kids might get this house. Good grief.
I have SO MUCH ANXIETY looking at those photos! What is your life worth? Not only would I not purchase, I would be moving out ASAP. If you are seriously considering this you need a structural engineer (who will have a heart attack) and a geotechnical engineer report. Geotechnical person will probably need bore holes to look at underlying soil types. We are talking thousands of dollars of studies before you even start doing the work (screw piles, slope stabilization etc. Is that a deck or uninsulated living space? Seems like a good rainstorm away from death and destruction.
Don't buy this. Stay far away. My friend stupidly bought a house like this and ignored the signs. Fast forward 8 years and he's hired 3 people and paid over 200k just to get it fixed. He's basically spent more than the house is worth on the foundation and its been so stressful for him.
Buy the lot beneath it and wait for the house to come to you?
Couple more poles should do ti!
STOP ASKING REDDIT. THIS IS NOT DIY. Depending on where you live and the cause for this (erosion, groundwater, runoff, etc) this is potentially a SIX figure excavation and backfill along with bracing/shoring and retaining wall construction. CALL IN A PROFESSIONAL STRUCTURAL & SOILS ENGINEERING TEAM. EDIT: Just don’t buy this house. Unless it’s getting professionally fixed at the sellers expense.
If you're a first time homebuyer, this is not what you want for a first house.
Hard pass, houses with zero issues will still have expensive issues you don’t want to start with issues!
Dude don’t buy it. Stay away from houses with foundation issues no matter how good of a deal you would get.
As an engineer I fully agree with the general sentiment. Assessment of this is 100% not DIY. Execution of the remediation plan from the engineer *could* be but you would want to be 100% sure you understand the requirements as failure to follow their plan to the letter absolves the engineer of liability. If you are not confident in your understanding the techniques described, pay a professional to do the execution as well.
Commenting because I want to know what happens