During the inspection of the fixer in Olde Carlsbad, it was determined that further investigation was warranted due to the slope in the floor.

A geologic engineer came out with his fancy altimeter and found that there was a 5-inch difference between the foundation height from one side of the house to the other.

Here’s how it looked. When you have seen me do this, I have set the ball down and let it go where it goes.  In this case, the buyer rolled the ball in one direction, only to have it make a U-turn and go the other way…..and it picked up speed:

In the course of the discussion, I asked, “What is the worst you have seen?”

The engineer said, “A nine-inch differential.”

I said, “Ok, so this is kinda in the middle”.

To which I added a solution. Install the popular wood-tile, and have the installer add some extra mortar to help make up the difference. It doesn’t have to get to zero – if it was down to 2-3 inches it wouldn’t be as noticeable.

The buyers asked for a $50,000 reduction in price, and the seller agreed.  It could have been worse – cancelling this sale and finding a new buyer who would pay more than $1,050,000 seemed unlikely.

Our sale closed on Tuesday, a couple of days after this closed nearby:

https://www.compass.com/listing/2992-elmwood-street-carlsbad-ca-92008/881820694284113633/

On the same day we closed, the model-match flipper directly behind us RAISED their list price from $1,299,000 to $1,510,000 and went pending:

https://www.compass.com/listing/1801-ratcliff-road-carlsbad-ca-92008/909359166289330529/

Not only does it appear that the tilt didn’t matter much in this case, it also seems like prices in the area just went up 10% to 20% in a month!

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