I just previewed a 70 year old house that I want to buy as an investment (fix and flip). The front of the house has a brick facade on a stone foundation and an enclosed front porch. One corner of the brick front and side are broken in a ladder-like formation and are leaning outward with wider gaps at the top than at the bottom. The post supporting the porch cover sits atop this corner and is almost rotted through. The gutter downspout at this corner is missing and the rain water is dripping on the ground and pooling there. In the basement, the stone foundation appears to be settling as there is a gap between the top of the foundation and the mudsill. The floor in this corner is damp but not excessively wet. I know I will need to bring in a professional engineer to give me a full evaluation of the problem and the probable cost to solve it; however, before I incure the cost to do this, I am just looking for a quick read from anyone who has had experience with this sort of problem – is it something that can be corrected without investing a fortune or is this one property I should just pass on? Thanks for the advice, BeeDub
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It could be one of a dozen things, but it sounds most likely to me that the missing downspout is failing to control water which is damaging the foundation at that location and probably has been for several years - thus the rot. Simple maintainance defered causing major repair costs
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