Buying a house with "settlement issues"...maybe not such a bad idea?

You should see that black E36 M3 they have in Alabama. It's called the black belt and because of it they built all of the houses on slabs. Hard to build a swimming pool in too.

It's tough to say how bad it is because it looks like it's been repaired /painted in the past.Of the cracks I could find I would say no, you can't fit a quarter in them. This house is going for $180k in a nice part of town, surrounded by 280-450k homes (its the 3rd crappiest house in the area). With a renovation+some new windows I would guess it's a solid 220k/230k house.

Some pics:

Inside: Garage :

Outside:

Also, I don't think the faces were uneven.

coolusername wrote: i once worked for a builder and he piled all his building trash on th the last two lots in the sudivision then buil a couple of houses on top of the trash pile,

I too worked for a builder that dug a big hole in between 4 lots and we filled that hole with all the scraps. I even remember my buddy tossing in his rusty Chevrolet truck doors from his 1973 truck when he bought better ones. Then one day i went to,work after school and it was all covered up.

Update on my case: insurance company, developer and builder finally paid back the purchase price plus some additional funds in mediation BUT funny thing, they didnt want the house back. Client was using the settlement funds to build a new house in the same school district then plans to sell the house at public auction with a lot of disclosures. The house is probably only worth salvage value but I can see someone trying to buy it for cash and living in it.

In reply to Enyar:

Part of me wants to suggest that you trust the engineering report you have in hand, and stop expecting bozos on the Internet to give you an answer you like better.

But part of me also questions that report. If the expansion of the clay is the issue, where is the water coming from? THAT is the question that should be addressed.

If it was the clay, there should be cracks in the floor. Since you didn't show any, I am assuming they are not there.

The cracks you did show (primarily at the top corners of windows and doors) are VERY typical. They are settling cracks, and may have nothing to do with the clay. They could be there from normal settling of the mortar joints the first few years after construction. These are the cracks that modern construction works hard to avoid (different reinforcing techniques, etc), but they are not usually a structural deficiency- generally a cosmetic one.

If the floor is heaving and causing the wall cracks, run away. If not, I would trust your engineer regarding the structural integrity, but might question his knowledge of soils a bit.

Here's a good article to help you understand the different types of cracks (yes, it's from Africa, but still applicable):

http://www.housecheck.co.za/understanding-cracks/

Thanks! Most of the floor is carpeted so we can't really tell the significance. We're getting a mix of feed back ranging between "run run there are sinkholes and nazis everywhere" to "get another engineering report" to "whatever settling is done by now, just buy it".

Right now we're leaning towards the latter. Based on my reading it seems like it's mostly cosmetic issues and whatever damage is done by now. Fill a couple cracks, repaint with the assumption you might need to touch up cracks every few years but I believe I can sleep soundly at night without worrying about the whole thing collapsing on me. Resale is a potential issue but the game plan for that would be to document pictures of all the cracks from X years ago, pictures as they are now, provide an engineering report saying we're not going to die....come buy this house. Worse comes to worst we keep the property as a rental.

All houses crack as they settle. Some even shift seasonally. I say go for it, you should be fine.

I have cracks in my walls that size and I'm 6" to 4' off bedrock depending on the part of the yard you are in. Houses settle. It happens. Not a new occurrence. If the engineering report came back clean, run with it. Honestly, no good engineering company is going to put their name and total BS. Too much on the line for them to do so.

We just talked to the company that did the original report, they said that we shouldn't bother with another. Time to make an offer!