We live with our famous red clay in the Raleigh-Cary, NC area. It expands and contracts when it absorbs water or dries out.
This movement can be stressful to a home's foundation. Masonry is meant to be rigid, not flexing and moving.
CRA-A-A-ACK! And a beautiful home is now a beautiful question mark. I like to take a walk around the perimeter of the home and specifically focus on finding signs of cracking. As the agent, I prefer to point them out to my Buyers, so we can talk about them before they make an offer. Why let something so evident pass, to be found by a home inspector?
Fine cracks can be justified as not a problem, and don't have to be a deal-breaker, but Buyers might consider consulting an engineer for advice when they see cracks that are wide enough to insert a pocket knife through the brick:
15 Comments on Cary NC Real Estate Adventures: Red clay, drought, and cracked foundations.
You gotta love the red clay around here!
Relating to the home that you pictured here, I'm wondering if the listing agent even saw this and mentioned it to the Seller? I would think that something this large would've been seen beforehand. Maybe the Seller saw it and will offer to reduce the price of the home.
That's quite the crack. We don't have red clay to deal with, but we do have permafrost. Here when ice lenses recede the cavity leave behind can swallow houses whole. One reasons soils testing is so important.
Oh, come on Mike. This is a house that was sitting on an ice lens that receded. The house literally sank into a hole. The funniest part; notice the REMAX sign on the front door? I can't remember the price but I could never figure out what the daylights they were trying to sell. The land is obviously not worth much and the house, well, I won't even go there.
Cracks in masonry can be a very tricky thing. Some are obviously problems, as is demonstrated in the photos above, but other times they are the result of normal expansion and contraction of the materials that represent no problem. It's always a good idea to have an inspector with expertise make such evaluations. Don't pretend you know a crack is benign to try to make a sale happen. When an agent points out potential problems, and recommends and inspection, it builds a sense of trust in the agent's integrity.
Foundation cracks are common around here - never heard of the pocketknife test before, though. Looks like an expensive foundation repair may be in order. I wonder why the seller didn't fix this BEFORE listing the house?
Musings and meanderings around the North Carolina Triangle area, with pithy stuff about the Raleigh and Wake County area, particularly Cary, and thoughts about the Real Estate industry.
Mike Jaquish Keller Williams Realty, Cary, NC
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You gotta love the red clay around here!
Relating to the home that you pictured here, I'm wondering if the listing agent even saw this and mentioned it to the Seller? I would think that something this large would've been seen beforehand. Maybe the Seller saw it and will offer to reduce the price of the home.