my house has a cracked foundation and i need to sell soon but dont have the money to fix it first. can i still sell it l

Chuck, you can sell it without fixing it first. Plenty of houses with foundation problems sell every year. The real questions are who buys it and at what price. Start with a structural engineer. A report usually runs a few hundred dollars and tells you whether the crack is cosmetic or structural, and what the repair is likely to cost. That number becomes your negotiating tool. Without it, buyers assume the worst and price the house that way. Then you've got a few paths. Listing it as is on the open market usually brings the highest price, but many lenders won't finance a home with significant structural problems, so your buyers may be cash buyers or people using renovation loans. Selling to an investor is faster and simpler, but you'll usually take a bigger discount. Some sellers also offer a repair credit at closing and let the buyer handle the fix. Whatever you choose, disclose it. Pennsylvania's seller disclosure asks about structural problems, and hiding a known foundation issue is the quickest way to end up in a dispute after closing. I'm not an attorney, so if you're unsure what to disclose, talk to one. A local agent can show you what homes with similar condition issues have sold for in Erie, which will help you pick the path that nets you the most. Mike Fielder, REALTOR® | The Key Home Team of Cummings & Co. Realtors

Anybody will buy anything for the right price. Your price will have to reflect the fact that significant repairs are needed. And you may be limited to cash-only buyers. A badly cracked foundation will not qualify for VA or FHA loans, and might not even qualify for a conventional loan. Unless it's "cracked" but not badly? In my state, hairline cracks are very common. You'd need to get a professional to weigh in on this if there's any doubt.

Chuck, you can certainly sell the property as is, but keep in mind, the value is going to be significantly less than market. Anyone inheriting your problem is going to want fair compensation for doing as such. Keith Jean-Pierre Managing Principal The Dapper Agents Real Estate Operations in ALL 50 States

Yes Chuck, you can sell it with the crack. Houses change hands as-is every day, and nothing forces you to repair first. What you can't do is hide it, so the foundation goes in your seller disclosure and the price reflects it. One thing worth paying for even on a tight budget is a structural engineer's report, because it tells you and every buyer how serious the crack actually is. Without that report, buyers assume the worst and their offers show it. Be aware that buyers using some government-backed loans can have trouble financing a home with a structural defect, so your likely pool is cash buyers, investors, and conventional borrowers. An agent who works Erie can tell you what as-is properties are really bringing in your neighborhood right now. I'm licensed in California, not Pennsylvania, so confirm the disclosure rules and pricing with someone local. Alla Novytska, Realtor®, JohnHart Real Estate, DRE #02254775

Yes—you can sell a home with a cracked foundation, and you generally don't have to repair it before putting the property on the market. The bigger issue is finding a buyer who is comfortable taking on the condition and pricing the home accordingly. Before deciding whether to repair it, I’d recommend getting an evaluation from a qualified structural engineer or foundation professional. A crack can range from relatively minor to a significant structural problem, and having documentation can help buyers understand what they’re actually dealing with. If you’re selling in Pennsylvania, known material defects—including known problems involving the foundation or other structural components—need to be properly disclosed. Depending on the severity, you could consider selling as-is, pricing the property to reflect the needed work, or exploring whether a buyer can finance the property with the condition. Your Realtor can help you compare the likely net proceeds of repairing versus selling as-is. Important disclaimer: This is general real estate information, not legal, structural-engineering, construction, or financial advice. Foundation problems can involve significant safety and financial issues. You should consult a qualified structural engineer and, if necessary, a Pennsylvania real estate attorney regarding the condition and your disclosure obligations before listing the property. — Juan Picos, Realtor

Chuck, yes, you can sell it exactly as it sits, and you probably do not need to come up with the repair money first. But the single most valuable thing you can do before listing is get a licensed structural engineer out there, not a foundation contractor. Shayla is right above about disclosing and about getting an inspection done before you list, so let me take the next step on both. The reason to call an engineer rather than a foundation company is that the engineer has nothing to sell you. A foundation company's free inspection ends in a quote, and buyers and their agents discount that document accordingly, because everybody knows how it was produced. A structural engineer charges a few hundred dollars in most markets and writes a neutral letter that says whether what you have is cosmetic shrinkage cracking, ordinary settlement that has stopped, or active movement that needs work. Buyers, agents, appraisers and lenders all treat that letter as evidence rather than as a sales pitch. If the engineer tells you it is minor, that one letter is worth many times what it cost, because right now every buyer who hears "cracked foundation" is imagining the worst possible version and pricing it that way. On the money problem, here are three ways sellers in your position get the work handled without writing a check. An escrow holdback, sometimes called a repair escrow. The repair is agreed to and funded out of your sale proceeds at closing rather than out of your pocket beforehand. The buyer's lender gets its comfort, the contractor gets paid, and you never front the cash. Not every lender allows it, so this is a conversation your agent should have with the buyer's loan officer early. Contractor financing or payment at closing. Most foundation companies offer financing, and many will agree to be paid through the title company at settlement once they see a signed contract. It costs you nothing to ask. Or simply price it in and sell to a renovation buyer. FHA's 203(k) program is built for exactly this kind of structural work, and Fannie Mae's HomeStyle loan is the conventional version. Both appraise the property subject to completion, meaning the buyer borrows against what the house will be worth after the repair, which is why these buyers can pay you close to retail instead of an investor discount. On structural work the file needs an approved 203(k) consultant involved, which slows things a little but does not stop them. The one thing you should go in knowing: a plain FHA or VA buyer usually cannot close on visible structural damage untouched, because those appraisers flag it and the loan gets conditioned on repair. So your buyer pool is cash buyers, investors, and renovation-loan buyers. That is a smaller pool, not an empty one, and the renovation-loan buyer is the one who pays you the most. Make sure whoever lists it markets to that buyer deliberately instead of just lowering the price and waiting. On disclosure, Pennsylvania is not a state to improvise in. The Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law requires you to give buyers a written Seller's Property Disclosure Statement covering known material defects, structure included, before they sign the agreement of sale, and buyers have up to two years after settlement to come after a seller who knowingly concealed something. Disclose the crack, disclose the history, and attach the engineer's report. Beyond protecting you legally, it does something practical: it replaces the buyer's imagination with a number, and the number is almost always less frightening than what they were picturing. I am a real estate professional and not an attorney or an engineer, so please get the actual report and, if the crack turns out to be significant, a quick conversation with a Pennsylvania real estate attorney about your disclosure language. I work the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the South Bay in Los Angeles, so Erie is well outside my market, but I am glad to help you find an agent up there who has actually sold homes with foundation issues, and I would ask any candidate that question directly in the interview. My name is Zoltan Peresztegi and you are welcome to reach out if you want help reading the engineer's report once you have it. Zoltan

Yes. As long as you disclose any known material defects, you can still sell a home with a cracked foundation (much like a new roof needed, new AC, new plumbing, or major external material defects to a neighborhood). Better to over disclose than not enough so you avoid the possibility of getting sued. The price would have to be reflective of said issues, as one would assume. Hire a strong agent who probably has the right vendor resources to guide you to a sale using facts and figures. I recommend that agent have a pre inspection done with the proper insured GC so that you can also use that in negotiations utilizing accurate estimates. Hope that helps!