You're in for trouble if you don't have a solid foundation under your home. While you may be more interested in picking out paint colors and choosing flooring for your new home, our REALTORS® advise taking a closer look at your foundation before you put your home on the market. If you don't, you could find yourself trying to sell a costly problem that will turn prospective buyers away.

Spotting Signs of Foundation Problems

• Look for cracked concrete and masonry. Soils that expand and contract can cause pressure to build up. As it does, it can cause cracks in masonry, bricks, tiles, etc.
• Look for leans. If the chimney looks like it was built in Pisa, that's a sure sign the foundation beneath it's unstable. Similarly, put a framing level on interior walls. If the bubble isn't plumb, it's possibly because the foundation has shifted.
• Scratch the surface. Take a screwdriver and probe the foundation around the perimeter of the home. If you can chip it, crack it, or break it away, it's a sign that poor-quality concrete was used. 
• Shine a light in the basement and crawl space. Are there supports in place? Are they straight or leaning? Are the walls bulging and cracked? If it looks like a problem, it probably is, and you should trust your gut.
• Open all doors and windows. As foundation problems worsen, the problem will extend to the windows and doors, and these will stick and become difficult to open and close.  
• Check for level floors. Foundation problems can cause the flooring to bend and buckle. If items roll across the floor without any force applied, it's a good bet the foundation and not the framing is the cause.    

Hiring a Foundation Expert

While you can sell a home with foundation problems so long as it is disclosed to the buyer, it's best to repair the problem before you put the home on the market. Doing so will not only help reduce your legal liability, it will make the home more appealing to prospective buyers looking at your home and comparing it to other Nassau County homes for sale and Suffolk County homes for sale.

But, that doesn't mean you should hire just any contractor to do the work. Indeed, foundation repair requires specialized skills, training, and expertise to perform. If the work is done right, the problem will be permanently resolved. If the repairs are done wrong or the company cuts corners as a matter of practice, you could be selling a dangerous lemon to the next owner.

Always thoroughly review the foundation repair company's background and experience. Then, as you whittle through options, eliminate those with questionable backgrounds and insufficient experience required to perform the work properly.

The good news is that while it is costly to repair a failing foundation, the work won't take long. Most foundation repair companies can complete the job in one to three days. Thus, while significant, it's not a problem that will keep you from putting the home on the market for long.    

Looking to sell or buy a home? Contact us for more information.