Thanks for this advice! Who would I call to find even a ballpark estimate? We'd consider making an offer on the house once we have some idea of what this could cost, but I do not think their current asking price accounts for this flaw or for a couple other issues, so want to be more informed.

Pay for a contractor $700 to give an estimate on rebuilding the garage and regarding the lot. Easily 50K. Easily a lot more.

Is it a detached garage? Are you sure the house is any better?

I'm with fori,4"settlement wouldn't usually be confined to just the garage. You need to pay for a professional assessment if you want to know what you are getting into. I've never seen that much settlement without a lot of slab cracks and uneven height from side to side.

I'd assume a house of that vintage in CA would be on a crawl space so the foundation for that might be totally unaffected but I'd sure be looking hard at it (with a professional's eyes).

Can you tell if it actually settled over 50 years or if it just sank recently? Things have been a bit damp lately...

Maybe it hasn't settled, I'm not sure, but it is a very weird issue.

The garage is on a slab foundation, and the house is on a raised foundation. There are cement stairs leading from the garage to the door that connects the garage to the house, and the connection there seems fine.

However, the door that connects the garage to the backyard is 3-4" below grade compared to the poured cement in the backyard (right outside that door). So basically the door opens into the garage, and you have to be really careful to step UP a few inches when walking from garage to backyard or you could trip. The wooden garage door had what appeared to be a ton of painted-over water damage all around the bottom half. The raised cement is literally right next to the outside of the door, like it was poured against the door or the garage settled compared to the patio/walk.

So it sounds like a contractor is the person to bring along to view the house; would we do this before making an offer or after? It seems like before would be a better choice so that we can then make a more educated offer.

You can set any terms you like in a contract but the cost is still on you to have it inspected. You are there looking at it and don't know what to make of it,we are here,can't see it and sure don't know.

I do know sandbags ain't the correct answer! :P

In a hot market, if you don't make an offer quickly, you don't get the house at all. You can make it subject to a home inspection, but you run the risk of your competition snapping up the homes as is with no contingencies.

You run the same risk, but at a slower time frame in an even market. But you are likely to have some degree of reasonable back and forth on the pricing post inspection.

It's only in a VERY slow market where you can take your time and get in professionals before you make an offer. In that type of market, the seller is usually desperate enough to fix things on the front end before it is put on the market.

And you'd better be pre-approved for a mortgage amount before you make any offers. Cash offers, or those with no contingencies, always rank highest.