I am getting ready to put my house on the market. I had two agents out to look at my house and they pretty much agreed on everything including sell price. The only difference they had was in regards to my basement wall. There is a crack that is horizontal across the wall as well as a few horizontal cracks. This is only on one wall, the other three walls were repaired before I bought this house as a foreclosure, so no disclosure on what the previous owners did.
One of the agents is not concerned about the wall, states I just need to disclose to the buyers that there is some foundation issues and some leakage, he doesn't see there being any problems.
The other agent is very focused on the wall. Stated that a lender might not lend a buyer money due to the wall. And I might need to fix the wall before I can sell it. He stated I should get a structural engineer or an appraiser out to see the foundation.
I am started to get a little worried. One thinks the wall will be no problem and the other thinks I will not be able to sell because of the wall.
Should I get an appraisal or have a structural engineer out to look at the foundation? Should I have the home inspected? Should I just list the house and disclose the foundation problem? I'm kind of at a loss since one is very concerned and one isn't concerned at all.
Thanks for any advice you can give me.

If it were up to me I would go with the Realtor who wanted you to check with a Structural Engineer. He appears to me to be the most honest of the two. If you don't disclose and they come back later it could cost you more. It will also reduce the amount of people willing to purchase since not everyone will want the house with the problems. Some will be able to look past that but not all. Just my humble opinion.

How long have you owned it?

Has the wall been a "problem" at any time during your tenure?

I don't think an Appraiser's thoughts will benefit you one iota.

I think you should disclose that there was a crack and it was repaired by the prior Owner; then stop worrying about it.

List it with the Agent who is comfortable marketing it the way it is. If it's a problem for some prospective Buyer, then they just won't buy it. You only need one (1) Buyer.

You're not hiding anything . . . . and don't let them make a giant ravine out of a little crack.

The horizontal crack has gotten a little bigger and the wall has moved in a bit-per my dad. I haven't noticed a thing and I have not noticed any differences in the upstairs.

If I had a structural engineer come out what is the approximate cost?

I'm just afraid I will get to the end stages of selling and then the lender will not sign off on the deal because of the foundation.

Thanks for the help.

I don't know what the going rate for a structural engineer consult will be in your neck of the woods, but my general experience is that it will run you several hundred dollars minimum for a basic inspection. I wouldn't count on an appraiser to have the knowledge to tell you anything useful.

More often than not, cracks are relatively superficial. Here in earthquake country, nearly every house is filled with various cracks in various walls. That being said...when you list the house, and the buyer does their home inspection, guess what their inspector is going to say? "Hey, there's a crack in the wall, you should have it looked at by a structural engineer."

I think it's always better, as a seller, to be prepared with an answer. You never know how worried your buyer is going to be; I've seen buyers freak out at even the most minor, expected defects. If it turns out to be no big deal, you have the report you can show to the buyer to prove it. If it turns out to be a problem, it may well be a deal-killer...and better to have that fixed ahead of time, or know to adjust the price downward accordingly, than to lose an escrow and have to go back to square one.

So would getting an estimate from a foundation repair company work just as well as a structural engineer? Or should I just foot the bill for the engineer? And would there be any problem waiting for the offer and the lender saying I need a structural engineer to actual have one come out to take a look?

I would think that a foundation repair company will presume that you do have a problem, and that you need them to make that repair.

If they are in the repair business, then there will be a problem . . . . you can count on it!

An analysis by an engineer should be just that; an objective statement of whether there is a problem or not. He/she should not have any reason to tell you that there is a problem if there isn't.

Do you see a difference ?

So how hong have you owned the home; and has the foundation been a "problem" for you ?

My buyers backed out of a deal when a crack was discovered during the home inspection. The inspector said it was due to frost, and the home owner got it fixed by a contractor (contractor charged about $1,000). my buyers were too freaked out and did not want to buy the house.

The next offer on that house - buyer bought the house. Crack issue was solved for them... (and I have no idea if it was disclosed about the previous issue and recent repair, since I didn't have the buyers...)

At any rate, this could potentially scare off a buyer - it would be good to have it repaired FIRST if possible - than have it come up as an inspection issue and possibly kill the deal.

Not giving legal advice, of course...

Appraisers these days make a note of obvious problems in a house. They might or might not see the crack. If they do then the loan might not go through. I had a loan denied over a 12 inch hole in the sheet rock the appraiser made a note of.

The buyer's home inspector is going to see the crack and the buyer is going to want to have it fixed (if they don't run away)so go ahead and fix it before a buyer or their inspector ever sees it.

Around here, an engineer is going to cost you a minimum of $1,000 so you might want to go straight to the repair people for estimates.

Thanks for all the replies. I have had the house for 5 years-no problems that I have noticed due to the foundation.

I hope it can stay that way.

Just to put your situation in perspective, and because your "crack" reminded me of a property I now remember fondly, I thought I'd tell you about a Listing I once took for a small house that had a crack on the south side of the basement, the side facing the sun.

It was only a modest little $35,000 1950s ranch on 2 acres with a brook and a nice mountain view; but there was something strange about that foundation.

In the fall of the year I put an angle finder on the vertical wall of the basement, and found that it had somehow changed from what was presumedly 90° when it was built to what was then only about 84°.

As the house sat vacant, and without heat that Winter, I watched as the sun warmed the soil in front of the house during the days, and then the frosts would come at night to re-freeze and expand the ground outside . . . . alternatively freezing and thawing the soil and slowly pushing that foundation wall in and to the north. Frost is powerful.

By the time Spring came, that wall was then leaning inboard at an angle of 78° and it started to worry me that some of my Buyers might one day be crushed under that wall . . . . or under the house if the foundation slipped out from under the sills.

In the end, the Buyers had to get a back hoe to excavate the front yard and remove all of the soil built up on the outside of that wall; jack the house a few inches to get work space; get a bulldozer to carefully pull the wall back into a vertical position; pour concrete buttresses on the inside of the basement; and install French drain tiles around the outside to quickly draw away most of the water that tended to collect around that foundation.

All's well and good now. Many Buyers were frightened away from that house because "it was moving" . . . . but another wanted that lot and that view and he dealt with the issue. It only took one Buyer . . . . and he was able to deal with it. Someone requiring a mortgage maybe would have been prevented from making that purchase decision.

Hopefully, your "issue" isn't anywhere near that severe and the corrective measures already taken by past Owners had the effect of stabilizing the foundation in it's present position and condition. You're not hiding anything. Emphasize the reasons for buying it, not the reasons to pass it by.

Just hang a Justin Beiber poster over the crack, no one will give it a second thought. Warning though, the buyer may ask for the poster so don't get attached.

"The horizontal crack has gotten a little bigger and the wall has moved in a bit-per my dad."

That is not normal.Get it looked at.

Call around for a structural engineer to determine price.If they aren't very expensive go with that choice (few hundred versus over 1k).If they are really expensive and you can't afford it call a foundation company out for a repair estimate.

no legal advice