Selling house with known foundation cracks - disclose everything?

Posted by anxious_seller on January 18, 2026 at 7:45 PM

getting ready to sell my house. theres a vertical crack in the basement wall thats been there since we bought the place 8 years ago. we had it looked at when we bought and the inspector said it was cosmetic/normal shrinkage. hasnt changed since then. do i need to disclose this? our realtor says yes but im worried itll scare buyers off. the crack is patched and painted over so you cant really see it unless you look close

8 Comments

realtor_rick Jan 18 at 8:30 PM

Your realtor is right. In most states you legally have to disclose known foundation issues, even cosmetic ones. The good news is you have documentation from 8 years ago saying its cosmetic AND you can show it hasnt moved. Thats actually a selling point in a weird way - you already did your homework and monitored it.

anxious_seller Jan 18 at 9:05 PM

i dont have the original inspection report anymore. we moved a few times and it got lost. is that a problem?

realtor_rick Jan 18 at 9:25 PM

not ideal but not a dealbreaker. you can note that you had it inspected at purchase and it was deemed cosmetic. buyers will get their own inspection anyway. the key is being upfront about what you know

home_buyer_2023 Jan 19 at 8:45 AM

as someone who recently bought a house with disclosed foundation cracks, i can tell you honesty actually helps. we appreciated that the seller told us about the cracks and what had been done. it made us trust them more on everything else. houses that try to hide stuff make buyers paranoid

legalEagle_Larry Jan 19 at 11:10 AM

Not legal advice but general info: failure to disclose known defects can come back to bite you even after closing. If a buyer discovers the crack and can prove you knew about it and didnt disclose, you could be looking at a lawsuit. Disclosure protects you as much as the buyer.

anxious_seller Jan 19 at 12:30 PM

yeah definitely dont want that. guess ill just be upfront about it

sold_last_year Jan 20 at 2:15 PM

we disclosed a similar situation. hairline crack that had been stable for years. not a single buyer mentioned it as a concern during negotiations. their inspectors saw it and didnt flag it as an issue either. if its truly cosmetic it probably wont hurt your sale

worried_buyer_2020 Jan 21 at 9:55 AM

from a buyers perspective: undisclosed issues discovered during inspection kill deals. disclosed issues with explanations usually just get factored in. hiding it is worse than being honest