We went and saw a house yesterday, absolutely beautiful. Nothing seems wrong with it besides a few stains on the carpet and one of the bathrooms had a few missing tiles. Roof is brand new(2025) new WH (2023) checked under the sinks, no leaks. Saw the house was contingent from the 1/7/26 but then dropped and put back on the market by 1/27/26 and 10 thousand less. So I sent a email to my agent and this is how she responded.
"I just spoke with the listing agent. She said that the other buyers walked away due to something that was identified in the sewer scope. Sounds like the line may have dropped near the alleyway at some point and the buyers wanted it fixed, however the City recommended not touching it.
The City said it likely happened back in the 70s when the house was built and hasn't caused any problems and that if you tried to fix it now, it would cause even bigger problems potentially.
The sellers have never had any issues with water draining or sewer backup or anything like that.
She said she may be able to share the video of the sewer scope with us if we are planning to make an offer."
What does this exactly mean? Should we be scared of this? Please help ASAP
What exactly does this mean? Should we walk away?
byu/InspectorStrange9437 inRealEstate
Posted by InspectorStrange9437
6 Comments
You need to talk to the professional who took the video and the town. Reddit has no idea if this is a big deal or not.
It means you need to do your own sewer scope.
But only if you end up going under contract on this house at a price that compensates you for the risk you may be taking.
These are the kinds of things that you deal with when purchasing or living in older homes. There’s no way for us to give you good advice, other than to say if you want to purchase an old home, you’re always going to be dealing with *something* like this.
Hire a professional to look at sewer issue abd they should be able to give you recommendations. Even better, hire 2 professionals! Then you may be able to use it as leverage to negotiate the price. Seller never had problems but doesn’t mean it won’t cause you issues in the future esp the house will be getting older and older.
A known sewer line condition scared off the prior buyers. A “dropped” sewer line that’s been stable for decades can be benign, but it is still a material defect with potential future cost and resale implications.
You shouldn’t walk away automatically, but you also shouldn’t proceed casually. Get the sewer scope video, have it reviewed by an independent sewer specialist (not the city). Then price the worst-case repair into your offer or negotiate a credit.
The city’s advice not to touch it is about risk to public infrastructure, not about protecting your wallet. If the risk can’t be clearly quantified or insured against, or the seller won’t adjust price/terms accordingly, then you walk away
City sewer repairs are very costly. There may not be a problem to date but that doesn’t mean it won’t fail under your ownership. Watch the scope video and get your own professional scope to compare findings.