First time homebuyer, found an older home (1930's) that I like and is within budget. Not overly concerned with aesthetic issues that can easily be fixed like updating appliances, paint, etc but more concerned with structural issues.

The house had a foundation repair in the 2010's. The current owners had a structural engineering firm review the work in 2023 and they gave it a clean bill of health. No warranty on previous repairs from what I can tell.

Roof and A/C are ~ 10 years old. Roof was recently inspected and have some shingles replaced.

Is the previous foundation issue/repair a red flag? I would absolutely have a structural engineer inspect the house before purchase. Other than that, any major items I should be aware of when purchasing an older home?

Foundation repair in general is not necessarily a red flag, but one from the 30s would be. I would talk to whoever repaired it and ask what the issue was. Sometimes piers can only do so much. And inspectors can only see so much without ripping up the flooring and looking at the cracks.

Good to know, thanks. It looks like 13 concrete pilings were repaired, the foundation was reset/reshimmed, some drainage was corrected, and some beam was installed. This disclaimer does give me some pause, but this is pretty far outside of my wheelhouse and I don't know how much is normal legalese. "This limited repair plan is intended to provide reasonable repair to improve the performance of the foundation and is not intended to level the foundation".

An inspector will go into the crawl space assuming there is enough room to do so with a pier and beam home. (or at least they absolutely should) and the good news on pier and beam is that costs are MUCH lower to repair then slab.

Maybe I assumed this was a slab foundation. Is it pier and beam?

Do yourself a favor and buy something 1980's or younger. Why? Because houses before 1980s had crap like cast iron sewer pipe under the slab, lack of vapor barriers, and a host of other things you can't fix cost effectively. Don't ask me how I know this.

Pier replacement and shimming is standard on a home of this age. I wouldn't think twice about it as long as there was no glaring issues as you walked around the house.

It's standard to get a option period, usually 7 to 10 days, and during that time get a structural engineer to inspect it. If a problem walk away. Normal part of the process. Well not the engineer but home inspector.

Diggity said:

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you didn't see many slabs in residential prior to WW2

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Not often, but I've seen whole neighborhoods. If this is pier and beam, I wouldn't worry. They can always be shimmed/adjusted every now and then.

Martin Q. Blank said:

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Diggity said:

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you didn't see many slabs in residential prior to WW2

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Not often, but I've seen whole neighborhoods. If this is pier and beam, I wouldn't worry. They can always be shimmed/adjusted every now and then.

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It is pier and beam. Super helpful thread, thanks everyone. All of this is new to me

When buying a P&B house, find an inspector who will also check the foundation / crawl space for wood-destroying insects (e.g. termites).

What's your realtor say?