My question involves real estate located in the State of: California, U.S.
Hello everyone. I'm living in Bay Are, California. I bought a house couple months ago, and after moving in, I found there's serious foundation cracks and settlements in the concrete slab (most of those ares in question were covered with furnitures during staging house). Couple foundation professional came to the house recently for inspection and they both agreed that the foundation has serious settlement issues and need to be fixed as soon as possible, the quote for the foundation repair project is 60K & 70K respectively.
I'm feeling so depressed these days by this, I'm wondering what I can do for this? Here're something about this purchase:
1) The seller didn't disclose anything in the disclosure report, she basically said she was not aware of any foundation issue for the house (it's a trustee sale, the house belonged to her parents, who passed away earlier this year, so she became the seller of the house. I feel like she's pretty familiar with the house during my interactions with her, she grew up there and probably been visiting her parents from time to time thereafter, as I guess, since she lives just a few blocks away from the house). The house was newly repainted right before sale, and there were obviously bunch of paintings & fixes (say, with a piece of wood) trying to cover the cracks on the wall - there's no way she's not aware of the foundation issues. And these cracks, according to foundation professionals, are good indicator of foundation issues. They also found there's a few large cracks in the concrete slab, which resulted in settlement in areas like fireplace, which has to be fixed right now.
2) The seller's inspection report also minimized the foundation issue(please see below), it said "there's no standard or measurement to determine when corrective measures should be taken", however, both of my foundation professionals said the industry standard is 1 inch over 20 feet, beyond that, the settlement has to be fixed as soon as possible. And the worst part of my house has settlement of 2.6 inches over 30 feet.
"The condition of the walls and the ceilings within the building do not reflect any signs of unusual or excessive settlement or structural failure. The lower level floors at several locations have evidence of minor crowning and minor sloping. These conditions appear to be the result of settlement and do not appear to be unusual considering the age of the building. However, we cannot confirm if the conditions have stabilized. Since there is no standard or measurement to determine when corrective measures should be taken, it becomes a personal decision. Please be sure to make your own evaluation to determine if the present level of floor crowning and sloping is acceptable."
3) The seller's agent double ended so she represent both seller and me in this deal, she said she was not aware of any foundation issue with the house. She didn't suggest me to do my own inspection in this purchase, but she helped set up an inspection go-through with seller's inspector, who didn't mention any foundation issues either.
4) The seller's agent (also my agent), called me today, that neither she nor the seller were aware of the foundation issue but she felt so sorry. She asked me to go after inspection company, but also mentioned that it could be very difficult to win. She also said that it's my own responsibility to do my own inspection, which I didn't do. But is she supposed to represent my best interest and suggest me to do during the purchase?
I don't feel it's fair for me to accept this reality and pay the repair project out of my own pocket. Could you guys please suggest, if I want to sue someone, who should I go after? Any suggestion or comment is hugely welcome.
Thanks a lot in advance!
Hello everyone. I'm living in Bay Are, California. I bought a house couple months ago, and after moving in, I found there's serious foundation cracks and settlements in the concrete slab (most of those ares in question were covered with furnitures during staging house). Couple foundation professional came to the house recently for inspection and they both agreed that the foundation has serious settlement issues and need to be fixed as soon as possible, the quote for the foundation repair project is 60K & 70K respectively.
I'm feeling so depressed these days by this, I'm wondering what I can do for this? Here're something about this purchase:
1) The seller didn't disclose anything in the disclosure report, she basically said she was not aware of any foundation issue for the house (it's a trustee sale, the house belonged to her parents, who passed away earlier this year, so she became the seller of the house. I feel like she's pretty familiar with the house during my interactions with her, she grew up there and probably been visiting her parents from time to time thereafter, as I guess, since she lives just a few blocks away from the house). The house was newly repainted right before sale, and there were obviously bunch of paintings & fixes (say, with a piece of wood) trying to cover the cracks on the wall - there's no way she's not aware of the foundation issues. And these cracks, according to foundation professionals, are good indicator of foundation issues. They also found there's a few large cracks in the concrete slab, which resulted in settlement in areas like fireplace, which has to be fixed right now.
2) The seller's inspection report also minimized the foundation issue(please see below), it said "there's no standard or measurement to determine when corrective measures should be taken", however, both of my foundation professionals said the industry standard is 1 inch over 20 feet, beyond that, the settlement has to be fixed as soon as possible. And the worst part of my house has settlement of 2.6 inches over 30 feet.
"The condition of the walls and the ceilings within the building do not reflect any signs of unusual or excessive settlement or structural failure. The lower level floors at several locations have evidence of minor crowning and minor sloping. These conditions appear to be the result of settlement and do not appear to be unusual considering the age of the building. However, we cannot confirm if the conditions have stabilized. Since there is no standard or measurement to determine when corrective measures should be taken, it becomes a personal decision. Please be sure to make your own evaluation to determine if the present level of floor crowning and sloping is acceptable."
3) The seller's agent double ended so she represent both seller and me in this deal, she said she was not aware of any foundation issue with the house. She didn't suggest me to do my own inspection in this purchase, but she helped set up an inspection go-through with seller's inspector, who didn't mention any foundation issues either.
4) The seller's agent (also my agent), called me today, that neither she nor the seller were aware of the foundation issue but she felt so sorry. She asked me to go after inspection company, but also mentioned that it could be very difficult to win. She also said that it's my own responsibility to do my own inspection, which I didn't do. But is she supposed to represent my best interest and suggest me to do during the purchase?
I don't feel it's fair for me to accept this reality and pay the repair project out of my own pocket. Could you guys please suggest, if I want to sue someone, who should I go after? Any suggestion or comment is hugely welcome.
Thanks a lot in advance!
Found Serious Foundation Issue Right After Purchasing the House
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