Spoke Too Soon?

We had the inspection of the house yesterday, and I believe that went well. We also had the foundation inspected per a suggestion from an architect. That did not go so well. The house is tilted to one corner by about 3-4 inches. This is not good for many reasons, but the main question is if the house is still moving or if it is done settling.

The house had the foundation repaired in 2005, andd the seller disclosed that report to us. That particular report said that the house was originally built on a slant and that adding some piers to one side should stabilize the house. But, after a little more digging we found another report from 2001 that showed significant settling due to lack of rain the previous year. The 2005 report looked as though the house moved back up, probably due to rehydration of the soils. Sellers are not required to disclose reports, inspections, etc. any farther back than 4 years, so that's probably why they didn't give us the 2001 report.

The foundation guy yesterday recommend that we hire a structural engineer to look at the house and try to determine if it's still moving and what the repair recommendation is. He seemed to think it would need a full outer and inner repair which can cost as much as $30,000. Yes THIRTY THOUSAND!!! So, our realtor, Jeff, was at a total loss of what to do as of yesterday. Paul is not sure he wants to spend the money to hire a structural engineer when he's going to most likely tell us what we already know - that the house needs major repair (who knows, he could also tell us it's fine). But, the other question is if it's stable enough to add a second story, but at this point that is secondary.

So, we will probably ask the sellers to agree to get a struc. engineer and then if they determine a repair is needed that they agree to pay for most of it, but that we will pay for some of it. We are hoping they will work with us - they will now have to disclose the foundation report to any further buyers, and most of them would probably see this problem as too big and ugly. And, if we end up not purchasing the house it will be the 3rd deal to fall through, which would make it look bad to future buyers. We are in a unique position because we don't care if they have to rip up all the floors, etc. since we plan to remodel.

I'm totally stressed. I"m grinding my teeth and can't concentrate at school. I love this house and the lot - it is so perfect for us in many ways. But, we are also not going to buy this house for the current price on the table if a $30K repair is looming over it. We'll have to make a decision on what to do today, but at least we got all that taken care of in Day 1 of the option period!! I guess if it's meant to be it will work out some how.