During the inspection of the fixer in Olde Carlsbad, it was determined that further investigation was warranted due to the slope in the floor.
A geologic engineer came out with his fancy altimeter and found that there was a 5-inch difference between the foundation height from one side of the house to the other.
Here’s how it looked. When you have seen me do this, I have set the ball down and let it go where it goes. In this case, the buyer rolled the ball in one direction, only to have it make a U-turn and go the other way…..and it picked up speed:
In the course of the discussion, I asked, “What is the worst you have seen?”
The engineer said, “A nine-inch differential.”
I said, “Ok, so this is kinda in the middle”.
To which I added a solution. Install the popular wood-tile, and have the installer add some extra mortar to help make up the difference. It doesn’t have to get to zero – if it was down to 2-3 inches it wouldn’t be as noticeable.
The buyers asked for a $50,000 reduction in price, and the seller agreed. It could have been worse – cancelling this sale and finding a new buyer who would pay more than $1,050,000 seemed unlikely.
Our sale closed on Tuesday, a couple of days after this closed nearby:
https://www.compass.com/listing/2992-elmwood-street-carlsbad-ca-92008/881820694284113633/
On the same day we closed, the model-match flipper directly behind us RAISED their list price from $1,299,000 to $1,510,000 and went pending:
https://www.compass.com/listing/1801-ratcliff-road-carlsbad-ca-92008/909359166289330529/
Not only does it appear that the tilt didn’t matter much in this case, it also seems like prices in the area just went up 10% to 20% in a month!
In 1995 we used tilt to get a deep deep discount on our primary residence purchase. My being a structural engineer got us a once in a lifetime bargain because I knew the difference.
ain’t nothing price won’t fix. The issue being know the right price. Get good help.
Most houses have some settling. With almost everyone buying their forever house, they don’t get too concerned about the impact on resale.
Our list was $879,000, mostly based on the flipper behind us paying $900,000 in July. Other flipper offers on ours came in at $900,000 – $952,000 so if the tilt would have blown out the other retail buyers, then it could have cost the seller another $100k if they didn’t take the $1.05M.
it’s only a problem if there is no solution.
A good realtor should have lots of solutions.
get the best help.