[quote=Hobie] I’d be surprised if this issue was isolated to this particular lot. [/quote]
It is not. This is a common issue in this particular area.

[quote=Hobie] Thinking the owner knows more than they are telling you. Not good for you.
[/quote]
No one is trying to hide anything here. The owner and the owner’s realtor openly admit that the lot has extensive settling.

[quote=Hobie] Without finding out the underlying cause… [/quote]
The issue is simple. The houses were built in the 60’s on fill dirt that was not properly compacted. One side of the street where the dirt was scrapped doesn’t have any issues. The other side of the street where the dirt that was scraped was pushed to, all the houses have settling issues.

[quote=Hobie] People know what is going on at that site. Otherwise it would have sold by now.[/quote]

Indeed, the only reason that it hasn’t sold is that after considering the costs and risks of the remodel the current price is too high. However there is good reason to believe the price will be lowered. So I’m trying to do a calculation that says at X price it becomes viable. But to do that calculation I need to estimate the cost of the remodel more accurately. Thus I’m looking for suggestions about how to accurately estimate the costs. I realize that this isn’t something easily done, and probably has lots of, “well just depends” added to it. My current thinking is to get a builder who has done this kind of work on hillsides and get them to give me some estimates. Bringing in a geologist/soils engineer would probably help tighten up the estimate. But I’m fishing for other good suggestions at the same time.