(FOUNDATION) Advice needed! My mom is about to close on this home...
Angela M
2 years ago
Hi all! So my brother and I are trying to help our mother with the purchase of this little 700 sq ft home so she can finally get out of a very unsafe crime-ridden apartment complex. I found it by chance, while on my own home search, but it was too small for my needs, so I took my mom to see it and she absolutely loved it! It really is perfect for her, so I am hoping that we don't have a deal breaker here.
The property, itself is from 1910, but it was ripped down and rebuilt atop the old foundation. The FHA inspector/appraiser found no major issues apart from a few outlets needing to be covered along with the installation of a hand rail, and actually placed the value higher than we offered, so that was great. The inspector, however, who happens to also be a structural engineer (so his standards may be way higher than usual), found issue with some of the foundation walls.
Attached are photos and a screenshot of part of his report. We tried to get a foundation specialist out there for a second opinion, but they all seem to be basement waterproofing salesman and I don't want my mother being scammed when all she wants is advisement, here. If there are any in the bunch here who may know a thing or two about foundations and older homes, honest feedback is welcome and much appreciated. We are leaning in the direction of moving forward with the sale (especially since the appraisal came in way over what we offered) so worst case scenario, a home equity loan could finance major repairs if need be, down the road. The neighborhood is quiet, safe, and full of people my mom's age and I just don't think we will find a deal like this in this current market again anytime soon; because as property values continue to go up, my mom is being quickly priced out of home ownership possibilities.
On behalf of my mom and myself, thanks in advance for your input!
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Angela M
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoRelated Discussions
Looking for advice to help my Mom, the caregiver
Comments (7)Hi! I'm back for an update. It's been almost a year since I posted this asking for advice and so much has changed. The property that my grandmother owns is now in litigation. One of those 'golden' children is suing because they say it was 'promised' to them. So now grandma even has more of a headache because she has legal fees, depositions and an upcoming trial that she is having to prepare for. Of course her lawyer says that there is no case and that they will not win. However it cannot be sold until litigation is complete. My relationship with my grandmother has gotten much better AND she is actually enjoying spending time with me and my family to give my mom a break. She comes over and sits and watches tv with me and the kids make her feel like a million bucks with all of their coloring and 'gifts' that they make for her. My older daughter enjoys helping to fix grandma's hair and likes to help her open doors and things like that. Smothering my grandma with love has seemed to work in the last few months. Her relationship with my mom has gotten better. She is still pretty mean but she no longer calls the other siblings to complain about my mom. She will snap at my mom but quickly apologizes. She has seen the devotion that my mother has for her and I think that has really changed her. As the weeks and months go on, my grandmother becomes even more confused about things and that is very frustrating for her but she leans on my mom where this time last year she would lash out at my mom. She actually enjoys being around my dad too. Our family dog passed a few months ago and my grandma took it pretty hard. We didn't realize how attached she had become to the dog but she tells us that in the afternoon the dog would go in and sit in her room and watch the kids walking home from school through the window. They bonded which is not something my grandmother is good at. The passing of the dog seemed to bring her closer to my dad which has really surprised us all. She says I love you a lot. She says thank you to my mom. I've caught her calling my mom honey and sweetie which are not names my grandmother ever uses. One sibling has stepped up. Well his wife has stepped up but at least my mom has help now. My parents have been able to travel on three vacations which they had not done in over a year and they were travelers before my grandma moved in. My grandma stays with my uncle and wife for several weeks and actually misses home. That's right she calls it 'home' now. The situation is not perfect but it seems to have gotten better. With her acceptance of how her life his now, she seems to be much happier. She doesn't want to go to a home and so I think with the fear of that happening she has straightened up a bit. She still has those moments but she seems to realize when she has been ugly and shows remorse. She actually sits in the living area with family instea of shutting herself off in to her room. The dr's say she is doing well. She had a scare not that long ago but seems to be much better now. I'm not sure what changed my grandma but she is not the miserable old lady she was last summer. She is a much nicer person who allows her family to love her and help her. Just wanted to give an update....See MoreI am worried about my 90YO Mom.
Comments (27)I'm sorry to hear of your mom's troubles, Clare. And I'm really sorry for you-- when it rains, it pours!! Thank goodness she has settled down a bit and hopefully the thought of "getting out" will keep her doing what she's supposed, or not supposed to do. My mom spent a week in a rehab place this past fall after minor back surgery and surprised us all by almost enjoying it. She lives alone and is fairly self-sufficient so having to be there was not palatable to her. But she made friends fairly quickly and was in quite a good mood when I spoke to her (I live 600 mi away.) Of course, she was ambulatory, but your mom will get to that point soon enough. If I can sound bossy, ask your sister to keep good tabs on what the staff is doing and not doing and make sure that your mom is actually eating. A lot of the times the food isn't too good and patients' conditions can deteriorate if they aren't eating much. And have your sister double-check meds given too. Sorry 'bout that! Are you feeling better today? I wished I lived closer to you so we could meet for coffee. You've had a full plate and need some support! Erin...See MoreNeed advice on buying vacation/future retirement home close to be
Comments (21)To clarify some things about our ideas to buy on Isle of Palms - while we're going to hold off on buying, and may not ever buy on the island itself, the area around it seems to be exactly what we're looking for our retirement years. The island is less than 13 miles to downtown Charleston, and only 20 miles to the Charleston Int'l airport. Even closer than Charleston is Mount Pleasant, about 4 miles away (across the Inter-coastal waterway and a marsh), which has plenty of shopping, restaurants, medical care including a decent hospital. In addition to wanting to live close to the ocean, we want to live near good medical care (this is most important), shopping (I'm not going to stop doing DIY projects on any home I live in until my body gives out - it's my hobby), airports, etc. I love the beach - every vacation we can we go to a beach - we've visited many of the east coast beaches over the years - I never get tired of it. My husband loves salt water fishing. We have a boat that he takes onto the Chesapeake Bay all the time to fish, and we go tubing on the Potomac River with our grown kids and grand kids (who are still very little). We've planned on retiring to as close to the (right) beach as possible for at least 20 years and I think it's safe to say that we're not going to change our mind about that between now and when we actually retire. And I definitely don't want to ever live someplace rural again - did that as child and have family still there - definitely not for me. Even if we were young I don't want to live in a place where there aren't plenty of doctors, including all types of specialists, and I don't want to live someplace, where if one of us was in the hospital, the other would have to drive over an hour back and forth. I'm honestly surprised at how many people I know who retire who don't care about that aspect at all. So - given what we know we want/need, we've been considering all the areas close to the Atlantic between Wilmington NC and Jacksonville FL. A few years ago we visited every place that even seemed to come close to what we want. But when we were looking before our income and savings were a fair amount less than they are now, and housing costs and interest rates were higher, so it limited where we would be able to afford to buy, so we didn't consider some of the areas we could afford now. And this is a retirement place we're talking about - being able to vacation in it before retirement is a bonus. We could wait until we retire to buy, but as I said in the original post, I don't want to miss an opportunity to buy while the prices are low AND the interest rates are low. But I do think we need to slow down and take our time - visit and stay there during different seasons, including the heavy tourist season, and make sure that it's what we want. We may find that living on an island/beach itself is not that great and that we should go back to what we always considered to be our only option - living on the mainland, but close to the beach. People seem to think that prices will be low for a while - I don't want to buy and then see prices drop even lower - and that interest rates will be low for a while too. So I realize that there is no rush - but I still don't want to kick myself years from now for missing any "deals of the century". I know this was long - sorry about that - but I think my first post gave the impression that the whole idea of buying at/near a beach, and this one in particular, was hurried and not thought out. While rushing into it right now is undoubtedly a bad idea, I don't think the concept of buying a home sometime soon for retirement in a few years, if the prices and interest rates are really low now, is a bad idea....See MoreConcerned about my mom
Comments (9)Taking care of an elderly parent is extremely stressful. Add a parent who is losing her mind abilities. Now add in too a parent that abandoned her now caretaker while caretaker needed the parent most in life (caretakers younger years). Your mother is going to need a huge dose of understanding given her situation. She's frustrated, exhausted (both physically and mentally I'd bank), dealing with a woman who turned a back now very much in need of the very people the back was turned on. It has to be taking an enormous strain. I admire your mother for doing what she feels needs to be done, but I think she needs help and a break. Is your mother willing to do either? Home assistance caring for elderly is sometimes available through county/state health departments. Sometimes (depending on needs) it is just a trained person who comes in several times a week, other times it can be more involved. Usually things like just 'babysitting' the client and doing some hands on bathing/dressing ect. All times that give your mother a chance to 'let someone else do it' and also give mother some much needed 'me' time. Perhaps Mom is feeling life is going by without her...yet when you do all get together she's crossed between being too darn tired and/or angry she feels obligated to carry on her usual life with everything else she's trying to deal/cope with. Mom really does need some 'me' time, some date nights (just Dad and her)and maybe just a shoulder to dump on now and then. Caretaking can actually take down the caretaker. Perhaps an adult daycare center a few days/afternoons a week would give Mom another option if home assistance is not available. If Gma is not so much in need of 'babysat' maybe it is just a sense of your mother feels like she is losing control of her life. Things she did do and always enjoyed may just feel like a whole lot of extra work and stress. You do need to consult her before making plans as does Dad. I doubt it is something like she does not want to see you and/or spend time, it may just be a lot more additional pressure. Perhaps you and your husband or you and the kids could offer to take Gma dinner a night a week. Mom and Dad could go for dinner alone and a quiet drive or a movie. Just something simple they need to do as a couple. Yeah, it's different than usual, but it may help release stress/pressure for Mom. It also sounds like Dad and Mom need the 'couple' time. You don't have to pull back from your stepfather (who you consider your father). He's 'Dad'. Always has been. Always will be. Even if something happened between Mom and Dad, it's unrealistic to think you'd just break ties with Dad. You love them both. Your children love them both. Perhaps right now you and Dad just need to work at letting Mom tkae a bit of control over her daily life. There is nothing 'wrong' in being a very close family. I'm in a very close knit family myself. I also knew though when my Mom needed to have time along, assistance with her hard routines (she caregave for her SO the last few years of his life). I just knew when she needed to have lunch and escape or when she needed to have me 'babysit' so she could rest and recharge. IDK, maybe I'm way off, but it might be worth a a shot. Your mom loves you, you know that, but she is going through one of the hardest things in her life (caring for her mother who was never much of a mother). Your Mom's feelings have got to be being torn in half a dozen different directions right now. One of them may be simply fear that she herself will lose her mind and be old and in need of care one day....See More
PROGN Builders L.L.C
2 years agoAngela, this is a common issue in older homes, I see this type of foundation and some are 10 times worst all the time.
The bottle jack issue definitely has to be addressed and as the foundation walls go, they can be reinforced as he mentioned with carbon-fiber straps.
See if you can get some credit and use that to make needed repairs which is not a big deal the foundation wall area is fairly small and it will not require a lot of straps since they installed 4 feet on center.
I do lots of these repairs here are a few examples of what it looks like.
Before
After
A few more examples from different jobs
Good luckAngela M thanked GN Builders L.L.CAngela M
2 years agoAngela M
2 years agoAngela M
2 years agoAngela M
2 years agoAngela M
2 years ago- PRO
GN Builders L.L.C
2 years ago
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Angela MOriginal Author