Morality Advice: Property has (at least) $40k worth of foundation work needed

State: California

City: Sacramento

My wife and I are looking for homes to buy and were very interested in one home we came across. Everything looked good, except our home inspector found damage to the foundation outside and a foundation repair in the hallway. My wife and I decided to contact a foundation company for a foundation measurement.

Here is where the story gets odd. Because there was a gap between when inspections needed to be finished and when the foundation company would be able to schedule we requested an extension on inspection time, assuming this would be no problem. The seller refused to sign it. Our agent explained that we would be walking away. One day after the 3 days left he signed and we had an inspector come in to measure the foundation.

What we found was that the foundation was likely cracked straight across the house. The Master bedroom was 2" below level, and the far corner of the house across from the master (the living room) was also sinking a similar amount. It would take around $40k to fully repair the foundation.

This, along with a few other major repairs were sticking points. Because we are using a VA loan we can't take credits. The VA loan only pays the exact amount of the house, so we couldn't get credits to apply.

So we stated that the foundation would need to be professionally repaired. The seller refused. He claimed that his buddy came in and said there wasn't an issue. Obviously there was since his buddy was nobody and two professionals had come in and stated there was an issue.

We walked, whatever. We've already found a new place.

Here is the morality issue. The realtor now has information that major repairs and structural damage need to be repaired, and is obligated to release this information to any further prospective buyers. We just found out that the seller has changed realtor companies to hide the damage to the home in hopes the next buyer won't be as through as we were. Because it's a new company they wouldn't have the reports that the previous company did.

Would it be illegal or immoral to contact the new realtor company and explain what the seller is doing? My wife and I have been considering doing so but just aren't sure if we should/could/would be allowed to.

Any advice?

submitted by /u/thematgreen
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/ei03bc/morality_advice_property_has_at_least_40k_worth/