$tructural & a Field Trip

Yikes.
Our general inspector was pretty optimistic about the condition of the foundation. The sellers' disclosures didn't mention anything about problems with the foundation. Our agent didn't see anything wrong (not that she's an engineer or a contractor, but she's seen a lot of foundations).
But the guy who came out to give us a bid for the earthquake retrofit....
he saw $10,000 worth of rotated foundation and drainage problems.
That's on top of the $10-12k it will take to actually do the retrofit.
Mr. EBB is completely freaked out. We're submitting all the paperwork from our inspections and bids to the sellers with the news that we want $15k in credits toward closing costs. I hope they'll dislike that less than the news that they were living in a house with a foundation that one of the best structural contractors in the East Bay called "failed." Not to mention that they'll have to disclose that to any future buyers....

After the fun of the foundation, Mr. EBB dropped me off at the Oakland City Permit office. Our agent told us we could research the permit history of the house, which we wanted to do so we'd know when the owners prior to the sellers put on the addition. And as someone interested in land use and local government, I volunteered for that project. I did not have high expectations--Oakland does not have a reputation for running like butter, and I don't know of many local governments whose bureaucrats are known for their efficiency.
Imagine my surprise at the lovely experience I had. I received a little sticker at the Visitor's desk and headed up to the Permit office. The man at the information desk gave me a number, and not a minute later my number was called. The woman behind the counter asked for the address of the property, and in short order I was holding a printout of all the permits filed for the property since the mid-1980s. She asked if I wanted to see the permits on microfiche from the 60s and 70s, so I spent a couple minutes fiddling with the knobs on the microfiche machine. As I was leaving, the info desk man asked if I wanted to know if there had been any complaints filed against the property, and he directed me to another counter. A minute later, I was told there weren't any complaints (I didn't think there would be!) and I was out the door. The whole thing took less than half an hour.
So thumbs up for Oakland!