Sunday, October 2, 2011

Foundation Repairs

Foundation repairsFoundation Repairs and the 203k Loan

For many home-buyers foundation repairs can be a deal breaker. You would probably say, “If it wasn’t for those foundation problems I might have really considered that property”. Well before scratching the property off your list you might want to do some further investigations on how bad it is and what the foundation repair cost will be because luckily, the FHA 203k loan can handle it.

Many Home-buyers, Homeowners, Real Estate Agents and even Lenders might not be aware that the FHA 203k is even an option and could possibly save the deal. A few months ago on a Real Estate blog I read about a Real Estate agent who had a transaction involving foundation issues. It was discovered during the home inspection that the house was leaning forward. That then led to a foundation inspection. The deal was not looking promising, until the agent thought of the 203k loan as an option. If the sellers would agree to lower the price to offset the cost of the foundation repair then the deal could be saved. After figuring out a solution she mentioned it to her lender. The Lender, who worked with the Agent told her, “The 203k doesn't allow foundation repairs”.  

After sharing her story on the Real Estate blog the Agent asked for suggestions from other Real Estate professionals. Luckily some knew enough to know that the information her Lender gave her might not be correct. So, after getting feedback and doing some further research the agent found out that foundation repairs could be handled through the Standard (full) 203k Loan which involves an FHA 203k Consultant. Now just for clarification, there is another type of 203K Loan which is called a 203K Streamline, but the 203K Streamline does not cover foundation work and only a Standard 203K does. So her lender had misled her. Now assuming the lender could do 203k loans, the lender either didn’t know about the Standard 203K Loan or could only do the Streamline version. In any case it is important to work with professionals who know their stuff.  

If you have ever walked through a property or currently own a home and have noticed cracks on interior walls, flooring seems to be off, large trees planted close to the house, things don't open and close properly such as windows or doors, cracks on the garage floor then these could be signs of a bigger problem related to the house foundation. The foundation repairs cost will vary depending on the different foundation repair methods and the extent of those repairs. The good news is that it will take some homebuyers out of the running for that property but you on the other hand have the 203k loan at your disposable to keep the deal in play if you still chose to.    

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