"We'll never be able sell this house!" This is a statement I've heard countless times during my three decade inspection career. It's a harrowing statement agonized by way too many homeowners and often sympathized by their ill-informed Realtors. Based on my personal experience, ninety-plus percent of the time this statement is ridiculous. Why is it often spoken? It's always because of silly little cracks that form in a home's drywall, brick veneer and/or foundation walls. It seems that most folks believe that any crack is a telltale sign of structural failure, and so some type of major (expensive) repair must be performed in order to give a prospective buyer confidence that the cause of the crack(s) has been taken care of via some form of foundation underpinning or structural repair. The saddest thing is that way too many times, expensive structural repairs are implemented without the proper studies to determine if they are really needed. It's usually a complete waste of money-money the homeowners probably did not have to spend.
