03 Mar My house has major foundation issues, AND we need to go through probate!
This house was a doozie! Another local investor power couple brought this one to us, as it didn’t fit their buying criteria at the time. These friends of ours purchase homes the same way we do, often directly from sellers, then fix them up to keep as rentals or to “flip” to a homeowner. They thought we might have interest in this property, and we did! A purchase agreement was made, however the homeowner had unfortunately passed, and their family had to go through probate in order to gain the legal right to sell the home. Luckily, we can almost always adjust our time-line for purchasing a home, so we were okay with allowing the probate process to proceed, and we would close on the property when it was allowable. It ended up taking well over a year! This is why we always suggest to our family, friends, and anyone who will listen that they have a trust set up (or some form of legal form of protecting the ownership of the house in the event they pass away or become otherwise incapacitated) to prevent the need to go through the probate process. Going through probate court can take a long time, and there are significant costs involved. There is also often a taxing emotional component in many situations. Setting yourself and your loved ones up to avoid this predicament is worth doing ahead of time! With that said, this family was able to procure the ability to sell the house, so as soon as they were granted permission through the courts, we closed. This also means that the house sat vacant during this entire time. We were admittedly concerned about the foundation issues that we knew existed getting worse during this time. We were happy to learn that they hadn’t. Still, we had quite the problem to address. Though this was a gorgeous brick Bungalow in Lincoln Park, its foundation was faltering. After consulting with a foundation specialist, it was decided that the proper fix would be to install I-beams on all of the basement walls. These I-beams are made of steel, and once installed prevent the walls from further movement. We also installed an interior drain around the entire perimeter of the basement, to prevent any water intrusion.
Foundation issues can be scary, and costly. This is why we often come across homeowners who are looking to sell just based on this issue alone. If the damage is too bad, mortgage companies may not agree to lend to a buyer, and therefore the seller can’t sell to a traditional buyer who is looking to purchase the home with a mortgage. The seller is placed in a bad position if they can’t, or don’t want to foot the bill to repair the foundation problem, as the cost of doing so can be as high as tens of thousands of dollars. Sometimes, foundation problems can even cause the rest of the home to have structural issues. With this home, we are not entirely certain what caused the foundation issue, though we guess it may have been due to the clay dirt surrounding it. This is a common occurrence around the Downriver area, and is not the fault of any homeowner. It’s always frustrating to be faced with an expensive problem, when it isn’t even your fault! Throughout the years, we have had to repair different types of foundation issues, and we are lucky enough to be able to work with some fantastic foundation specialists. Because of this, we are able to buy homes that have extreme foundation problems, so that the seller doesn’t have to do it, but they can still sell their home.
After addressing the foundation issue, clearing out a lot of miscellaneous items that were left with the home, and remodeling the entire interior of the house, we welcomed a wonderful family as our new tenants.
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