Can you sell a house with a cracked foundation in Illinois?

You don't need to know what a crack means to describe it. Note where it is (a basement wall, the slab, the exterior above grade), which direction it runs (vertical, diagonal, horizontal, or stair-stepped through block joints), roughly how wide it is and whether it's wider at one end, whether it's wet or stained, and whether you've seen it change. Note anything else you've noticed in the house: a wall that seems to lean or bulge inward, doors or windows that stick or won't latch, floors that slope or bounce, gaps opening at trim or between the house and a porch or stoop, water or white mineral residue on the basement walls, a sump pump that runs constantly.

Those are observations, and they're what an engineer, an inspector, and a buyer will all want. What they mean is not a seller's call. Some cracks are the concrete curing; some are the house settling onto its footings years ago and staying put; some are an active problem with water, soil, or load. Telling them apart is a licensed profession in Illinois, and the next section says so.

Illinois licenses structural engineers under the Structural Engineering Practice Act of 1989. The Act defines the practice as the design, analysis, or supervision of the construction, enlargement or alteration of structures, and defines structures as those having as essential features foundations, columns, girders, trusses, arches or beams, where safe design and construction require that loads and stresses be computed. A foundation is the first item on that list. That is why the document a buyer's lender, a buyer's attorney, or a listing buyer wants is a written evaluation from a licensed structural engineer: it answers whether the foundation is doing its job and, if not, what repair the engineer specifies.

A waterproofing or foundation-repair contractor's estimate is a different document. It proposes a fix and a price; it isn't a licensed structural opinion, and a buyer or lender may not accept it in place of one. If you already have an engineer's report, it's now something you know about the house, and the disclosure rules below apply to it. If you don't, you aren't required to get one to sell; a cash buyer may make an offer without it. Ask your attorney before you order anything for a buyer who hasn't asked.

What we won't do is tell you what an engineer will find, what a repair will cost, or how long it takes. Nobody honest can from a description of a crack.

If the Act covers you, you complete every item in the state's disclosure report and deliver it to the buyer before the contract is signed. These are the statements that reach a foundation problem, as the form words them:

• I am aware of material defects in the basement or foundation (including cracks and bulges).
• I am aware of flooding or recurring leakage problems in the crawl space or basement.
• I am aware that the property is located in a floodplain.
• I am aware of material defects in the walls, windows, doors, or floors.
• I am aware of mine subsidence, underground pits, settlement, sliding, upheaval, or other earth stability defects on the premises.

The form defines its own terms. "Aware" means to have actual notice or actual knowledge without any specific investigation or inquiry. "Material defect" means a condition that would have a substantial adverse effect on the value of the residential real property or that would significantly impair the health or safety of future occupants of the residential real property, unless the seller reasonably believes that the condition has been corrected. The Act adds that the seller discloses material defects of which the seller has actual knowledge, is not obligated to make any specific investigation or inquiry to complete the report, and isn't liable for an error the seller had no knowledge of, or that rested on a reasonable belief that a defect had been corrected, or on a licensed engineer's or contractor's information the seller had no reason to doubt.

Put plainly: the crack you can see, the water you've mopped up, and the engineer's report in your drawer are things you know. Whether a given crack is a material defect under that definition is your attorney's question, and the form has an additional information area for explaining any yes. Our guide on what to disclose when selling a house in Illinois walks the whole form. Some sellers, such as a fiduciary administering an estate, are exempt from the report; the exemption covers the form, not the conversation.

Foundation cracks and water travel together: water gets in through them, and water in the soil is one reason they open. If the basement has flooded, leaked, or grown mold, those are separate items on the form and separate conversations with a buyer. Our fire and water damage page covers burst pipes, flooded basements, and the insurance questions that come first, and our guide on selling a house with mold in Illinois covers what the law does and doesn't require about mold. Tell a buyer about the water and the crack together; they'll be looked at together.

We buy houses as they stand, foundation included, and no repairs are required to get a written offer. That's the whole arrangement on our page about selling a house that needs repairs. It starts with the address and what you've observed: where the cracks are, what the basement does in a storm, whether anyone has looked at it, and any report you hold. Then one walk-through of what can be safely seen. If a wall is bowed enough that you'd rather nobody stand near it, say so; we'll look from a distance.

Next comes a written offer: the price, earnest money, who pays which closing costs, and a closing date. The offer reflects the work ahead as we see it from the walk-through, not an engineer's number, because we won't pretend to have one. Review it with your attorney. At closing you sign, the proceeds are paid, and the foundation is ours to deal with.

The trade-off is honest and simple. A cash offer on a house with a known foundation problem is below what the same house would list for after an engineer's repair, and it's one written number against a repair whose scope you don't know yet. If you'd rather know the scope first, get the engineer's letter and list it; we'd rather you choose with your eyes open.