If the mess was repaired and cleaned up correctly, there should be NO musty smell. If repaired correctly, then it will be like it never happened.

The folks next door bought their place twenty years ago under similar circumstances. They had a contractor assess the cleanup and repairs, bought the house a huge discount, and effected the repairs themselves. (IIRC the bank required the plumbing to be repaired prior to closing.)

They have had no problems since and got a really great price when buying.

EDIT: I had nearly forgotten. My wife bought us a house many years ago in Charleston, SC. It had been vacant and vandalized. Toilet had overflowed and brought down the ceiling in the dining room below. Repaired by seller, we got a pretty good price when we bought.

daughter lives in house where house was empty (corporate relocation), had several days freezing weather, pipes burst. Repaired correctly, she has been there for 20+ years. Key is "repaired correctly", i.e. sheetrock removed, insulation removed/replaced, sheetrock replaced, etc. House is on poured concrete foundation. I suspect that most of the downstairs sustained water damage.

I agree with NCRE, why does it still smell musty?

The musty smell is the big question for us. 10 months ago, no musty smell. Two days ago, distinct musty smell, with a large dehumidifier running in the basement. Hard to believe that that's not connected to the pipes bursting.

I'd rather have bought it in its 'unrepaired' state, where you could make sure everything that had been wet was treated for mold or torn out. I'd pass on this one.

I had a somewhat "minor" flood in my basement. It left about 2 inches of water covering the entire basement floor for a few hours. Prior to the flood my new construction home's basement had no musty smell. None. After the flood, it still to this day ( ~ 3 years later) has a hint of that smell remaining. All of the flood damage has been fixed. But I don't think the concrete floor was ever sealed, and I think the smell has seeped into the concrete.

My brother as a teenager left the front door to my father's place open. My dad heard a loud explosion one night. Water filled the downstairs rapidly. Apparently it was a huge mess. But everything was cleaned up and repaired with no musty smell.

The musty smell and dehumidifier running would really bother me. I would only consider purchasing it if it could be evaluated by at least one contractor prior to purchase to ensure the problem is repaired and there is no mold. Also, was anything done to prevent this from happening again?

A basement can smell musty and feel damp during hot humid months but not in cooler or winter months. I have such a basement but its a 100+ yr old house, the smell isn't really all tHAT bad... and the minute the humidity comes down it smells fine again.

If weather is NOT humid but still the basement smells and the dehumidifier is running I would definitely think twice about it. What I'm not understanding - if its an unfinished concrete basement (ie without drywall) then what is down there that could've gotten soaked and hasnt dried out? It seems like this should be something that could be figured out -WHAT exactly is smelling? Once you know WHAT is smelling then how to fix it should be obvious.

If it cant be figured out.... then Id probably not want to bother with it.

Unfinished basements always smell musty to me in summer. The humidity (in areas that have basements) condenses on the cool below-grade surfaces and creates mustiness.

The smell probably isn't too uncommon after a pipe burst, but its possible some water has seaped into the concrete. Getting rid of the smell completely will be hard without taking the floor back up and seeing what state it's in.

The musty smell could just be the basement. When pipes freeze, it ruins the upper floors, there are no heating pipes running along the basement walls, the damages are upstairs, not in an unfinished basement. If the house is vacant and closed up and a dehumidifier was not running, it will smell musty. Ordinarily, you wouldnt smell it in the winter, (December) because there is no humidity like in the summer.