House buying question??

Question

We were looking at a house that the asking price is 40,000. When I called the real estate company they said that the main problem with the house is that there is a foundation leak at the backside of the home it is either under the bathroom or kitchen. About how much would it cost to get this fixed if we were to buy this house. I need quotes ranging from horrible to good conditions. Other wise there are just minor things that we need to do with this home.

Answer 1

Ditto, Run away as fast as you can.

Since you or the agent are not sure where the leak is I am assuming that this is a house on a concrete slab as opposed to a crawl space or basement.

The words "under the bathroom or kitchen" are a clue -- broken water pipe or pipes in the slab. The cure is to jack-hammer out a portion of the slab, repair the broken pipe or pipes and repour  that portion of the slab. Now you have a  house on a slab of questionable structural integretity.

Run FAST !!!!!!!!!

Answer 2

It would be expensive to fix.  Either run away or hire a home inspector to access the condition of not only that problem but the whole house.

Answer 3

Foundation problems are always costly and foundation problems which have resulted in causing a leak are terribly costly. Basically there are two solutions to repairing the leak. Either you take a jack hammer and break through the slab to the broken pipes and fix them or you tunnel under the slab and fix the pipes. Of course you first have to determine where the leak is or tear up/ tunnel under a heck of a lot of slab. Now you have the leak repaired and you have to hire a different company to fix the slab, level it and fix it so it won't do the same thing again. Not always easy or even possible. The house is cheap for a reason. The slab shifted because the people who built it either didn't know what they were doing or knew they'd be gone by the time it started shifting. Don't walk away, RUN.