Buy a house with water in basement? (flooring, pool, drains)

[lifelongMOgal]

Don't walk, RUN!

Trickling in, in several places, is not a good sign. In addition to the water you need to consider that conditions for mold are favorable. Don't buy someone else's problem.

[bigmuggle]

Thanks so much for all the replies. Really appreciate the advice! -- Dave

[TKramar]

You have waterfront property, and you don't even have to go outside!`

[nightcrawler]

deal breaker, oh, no, you absolutely do not want water into the basement.....I have relatives that have been getting leakes for the last 50 years........................ugh, trust me it never gets fixed properly.

i would never do it.

[spacelord75]

Not to beat a dead horse, but DON'T! Even if you manage to fix the issue, you will always wonder if it's truly fixed, especially if you finish the basement at some point and wonder what's really happening behind that drywall! Not worth it to me, when there are plenty of other houses out there to choose from.

[dspguy]

When my parents bought their last house, they had the unfortunate discovery of water in the basement after the first torrential rainstorm. We tore up the basement floor and made a big "+" across the floor and dug a trench (deep enough to fit some PVC pipe (probably 1inch thick?) and gravel. We then placed a sump pump at the center and ran an effluent pipe out to the "low side" of the house and out to the street where the other groundwater would go naturally.

Maybe we lucked out, but the basement has never had any water in it in the last 20+ years and has no musty odor which is common with basements with water problems.

However, if you KNOW the house has this problem, I would still steer clear of it. I'm from the NY metro area and I have first-hand experience with how difficult it can be to find a reasonable house for a reasonable price. So, while it may not be easy to find another house, you really should consider walking away.

[M3 Mitch]

Generally, I would not buy a house with water leaking in.

Assuming the location is very attractive, and the price is low enough, and you can get a few bids from reputable local contractors that have successfully fixed this type of problem -

Well I just have one question for you - do you feel lucky? Well, do ya?

Seriously if you are OK with the basement as unfinished, depending on how much water is coming in, provided the location and price make the deal, it *might* be worth doing.

[sacredgrooves]

I am a 20 year residential/commercial inspector and own a moisture mitigation business. If it is coming in multiple locations, the work will be several thousands of dollars to fix correctly. Hopefully it has not suffered structurally due to the intrusion, which could greatly increase the cost. Move on the next one imo.

[bigmuggle]

Thank you all again for your very helpful responses! I really appreciate the help. (We decided to place a bid on the house after having a contractor assess the basement water problems, but we could not agree with the seller on a price. So we are still looking...)

[ravengal]

We have 900 square feet of damp basement that we cannot afford to have waterproofed. If we had to do it again, we would have purchased a more expensive house with a waterproofed basement.