Posted on Feb 8, 2018
If my house is financed by VA and I have suddenly had bad foundation damage, is there a way to get the VA to assist?
23.5K
356
110
33
33
0
I have a Vet in our program over $20k quotes to repair and lawyers say thousands to fight. He is young and trying hard in our program to better himself. I’ve never financed through VA but assume if the closing documents listed no damage and now some is showing up he should have some sort of assistance. Just want to point him in the right direction.
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 42
VA didn't finance your loan. They just backed up the 20% you'd normally have to chip in as a down payment. So their "exposure" is small. Going to bat for you isn't in their Charter. The lender, who footed the entire bill, is the one having the most risk. In general, most sales agreements have a lot of words about "good faith", i.e. as far as I know, stuff is OK. When something happens that wallops OK, then you do the normal drill of checking out your homeowners policy. You also look to see if all the "good faith" stuff was true in that would a "reasonable person standard" in a similar situation doing a sale act the same way the players did. Same question points to the RE Agent, Title Company, and inspection outfit. Look to see if all the permits were in order on original construction. Many times a foundation bust (settlement, etc.) has to do with the water table changing or frequently a neighbor uphill does some landscape or drainage changes which pushes a lot of water underground to your property and weakening the substrate. Happens a lot in coastal California. Standby to see the various players scatter. Unfortunately, many of these issues wind up in a civil tort case. Foundations are a tricky thing people take for granted. The real "what caused it" is often clouded by people spouting theories designed to point the finger elsewhere. Sorry you have thing to deal with. Nobody deserves it.
Oh, I'll add as a Civil Engineer, this stuff is fixable, but at a cost. Foundation stabilization usually involves jacking, injection grouting and maybe bentonite injection as well. The big thing is stopping whatever is causing the settlement, lest you do a fix only to have a repeat.
Oh, I'll add as a Civil Engineer, this stuff is fixable, but at a cost. Foundation stabilization usually involves jacking, injection grouting and maybe bentonite injection as well. The big thing is stopping whatever is causing the settlement, lest you do a fix only to have a repeat.
(25)
(0)
PO2 Kevin Parker
I just watched a Property Brothers show where one of the Brothers was redoing a house he bought for himself and his bride. They had to do everything your last paragraph described. The house is in California.
(1)
(0)
SSG Tammy Joy Partridge
Shouldn't the home not have passed the VA home inspection prior to purchase with VA certificate? This is a shame this happened.
(0)
(0)
RP Members, Friends, and Connections need your assistance and thoughts on this question posted by SSgt Terry Jenkins Click on the link and give us your feedback:
https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/if-my-house-is-financed-by-va-and-i-have-suddenly-had-bad-foundation-damage-is-there-a-way-to-get-the-va-to-assist
Dustin Beardslee Gary Eulenfeld Cpl Rick Rabenold GySgt Tony Pantoja CPO Lou OliverTSgt Jeff Sukeforth PO3 (Join to see) MSG Robert LeeLCDR (Join to see) MSG Charles Turner CPL Chris Jacob PV2 (Join to see) SPC John Geary 1SG Leon Espe MSG Louis Alexander PVT Iven Clark Jr.
https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/if-my-house-is-financed-by-va-and-i-have-suddenly-had-bad-foundation-damage-is-there-a-way-to-get-the-va-to-assist
Dustin Beardslee Gary Eulenfeld Cpl Rick Rabenold GySgt Tony Pantoja CPO Lou OliverTSgt Jeff Sukeforth PO3 (Join to see) MSG Robert LeeLCDR (Join to see) MSG Charles Turner CPL Chris Jacob PV2 (Join to see) SPC John Geary 1SG Leon Espe MSG Louis Alexander PVT Iven Clark Jr.
If my house is financed by VA and I have suddenly had bad foundation damage, is there a way to...
I have a Vet in our program over $20k quotes to repair and lawyers say thousands to fight. He is young and trying hard in our program to better himself. I’ve never financed through VA but assume if the closing documents listed no damage and now some is showing up he should have some sort of assistance. Just want to point him in the right direction.
(23)
(0)
Sgt John H.
Good Info COL Mikel J. Burroughs . We had so many issues with the VA process years ago that we just went around it...
(7)
(0)
Lt Col Charlie Brown
We make sure we have an inspector recommended by the agent representing us do an inspection, even if the other side has done one. To answer the question, the VA will not help with this.
(8)
(0)
PO1 Kevin Dougherty
Hopefully you had a full inspection done by a licensed home inspector. If so you may have some recourse there. I know when we had our's done, (I have spent 35+ years working in the trades, but still paid for an inspection, and he did actually spot a couple of problems I missed), his work was guaranteed, a we were covered for anything that came up for a year. The only other hope would be if you could prove the previous owners knew, or should have known about the problem and did not disclose, you may have a case against them. Last but not least talk to the actual lender, they may have some answers for you. Good luck brother.
(3)
(0)
SSgt James Tadlock
Foundation problems. Have to call someone like Ram Jack. I have had 3 or 4 VA loans with no problems except one house had plumbing problems and damaging water leaks. I was in a class settlement on it but never got anything. I would call VA about the problem and seek help. I think that they would give at least some advice on it.
(2)
(0)
Thanks everyone, please keep the advice coming. I am getting smarter by the minute. My plan is to work with this soldier and prepare him and then make a few calls on his behalf and see if I can throw some weight around. At a minimum the bank should be able to help him better on the loan for the repairs. With a little pushing and maybe a lot of Vets calling and perhaps a congressman and media leak I can get some attention put on this where someone will help. There is power in numbers. One of the things I have noticed in doing this program is that with all of the Veteran programs in the world Veterans still feel alone. I will make a call to the bank and let them know I will point an army towards them if they don't step up. First I have to prepare for battle, understand the enemy and then attack with a vengeance. I set out to train Veterans in IT but that is just 25% of who they are the other 75% needs to be addressed as well. How can a guy worry about job and learning new skills when he goes to bed at night worried if his house with collapse on his daughter.
(17)
(0)
LTC Wayne Brandon
It's great that you are willing to take your time to assist this young man. This is a good work, Terry!
(2)
(0)
SSgt James Tadlock
Surely need to find what caused the problem and have it corrected after the foundation repair. Could be something that a "French Drain" could handle.
(0)
(0)
Lt Col Dan Nicholson
Your efforts to help a young troop are admirable, Terry - but I think you are spinning your wheels and fighting a losing battle on his behalf.
(0)
(0)
Read This Next