The Five Biggest Reasons Marin County Escrows Fall Apart
Reason No. 2: Foundations
I was holding a listing open once on a multi unit building in Larkspur. A gentleman and his wife walked up the steps, and rather than coming into the house, immediately walked into the basement. They emerged about 10 minutes later. The first thing he said to me was, “There’s only two water heaters, I thought it was a triplex?” I said, “How many buildings do you own?”
Clearly he was an experienced buyer of real estate. An experienced buyer may not check it first, but sooner or later, they get to the foundation, and will spend significant time there. Why? There’s an old cliche about not being able to do anything well without a good foundation, and houses are no different.
If it is failing or settling in any way, it could affect the house significantly on the inside, and may manifest it lots of different ways - cracked walls, the dreaded sloping floor, bumps in the floor, or even, as I recently saw, a distinct curvature in the frame of the building because a corner of the foundation had slid out and down the hill.
None of these are desirable, but they’re not necessarily life threatening either. I have had clients buy homes with some slope in the floor, and after making sure the foundation was stable, live with it. Heck, now that I think about it, my house is the same way!
The deal killer happens when a home needs foundation work. The person who can really tell you what is needed is a licensed structural engineer. Their time is expensive, but sometimes seems cheap compared to repairing a foundation. And that’s the problem.
Quite simply, no one wants to spend money on a foundation, and it is not usually cheap. Buyers are already strapped for cash, and don’t want to spend money on something for which there is no visible benefit. Which is more fun, spending $40,000 on a new kitchen, or to repair a grade beam and sink new piers? (Actually, you may just get the grade beam for that money!)
Sellers don’t want to spend the money either. They’ve been living in the building, everything is fine, and typically don’t agree with the need to repair. Sloped floor? Adds character. Cracks in the wall? Why do you think they make Spackle?
And that’s why foundations are the number two reason escrows fall out in Marin County.
Next: Reason No. 3: Termites
