Repointing brick foundations

Hi all - we are in the process of selling an older property (1960s/hardiplank/3BR). Of course we are spending a little bit of cash getting some cosmetics done and fixing leaks etc. On the weekend a brickie had a look under the house as he is considering buying and advised that the brick foundations at the front and back need repointing - there is a slight drop in one corner of the house but that is the only indication internally of any issue. Externally the brick work looks ok.

This guy immediately put in an offer $30K under what we are asking (says he can repair himself). Now obviously there needs to be some work done but does anybody know from experience how much it could cost? If it's something reasonable then we can get the work done ASAP. If it is 5 figure plus then should we take what is offered?

We were already in the process of getting an inspection done to see what the full scale of what is down there. As we want to sell reasonably quickly we need to know time as well.

Any advice appreciated as I haven't come across this before.

 

Repointing, also known as tuckpointing, is more decorative than structural. Accepting a low ball offer depends on how desperate you are to sell.

 

Obviously anyone with smarts is gunna throw a lowball offer (bait) and see what happens.

I'd get an independant inspection/quote on his concerns (if its required), weigh up all "little bit of cash getting some cosmetics done and fixing leaks etc" (including the time it will take you to organise/do/meet tradies at site etc) and counter offer for the quick sale.

 

For that price you could get a whole house repointed.

I would be surprised if there was more than a couple of grand in it unless you have to rebuild the piers.

 

We had already booked a pre-sale inspection and that will happen tomorrow. The bad thing about this is we had a couple on site having their third look, knowing that we were working on the house (even as far as having them choose a paint scheme!) - they got spooked by this guy and pulled out.

As Scott said above, I think what he was getting at is there might be a pier or two dropped or out of whack around the brick foundations - the cost of having that done is what concerns me as I have no idea.

Anyway, if he is playing games we'll know via the report.