Lightered pine used as footers

[SandyR]

My mother's home is a two story 200 year old home in North Carolina.  She owned it for the past 55 years.  It is now for sale and a potential buyer had a home inspection done.  Only one thing was found wrong.  The house has lightered heart pine as some of the footers.

The home is in excellent condition and the footers have never presented any problem with the house. 

The buyers want the footers REMOVED and new ones put in.  We think that this could be a costly and damaging undertaking.  Any suggestions? 
Thank you

[srjones]

Costly and time consuming to say the least. 

How long has the house been in the market?   Unless you're desparate to sell, my suggestion would be to offer a token discount to the buyer or keep it on the market until someone takes your price.  Again, this would also depend on how motivated you are to sell and how hot the housing market is in your area.

If the house has been there 200 years, it will will probably be there another 200.  I wonder, is it eligable for some sort of historic designation?

Just my $.02 worth....

-srj

[Texas Ranger]

Find another buyer, you cannot buy treated timbers as good as the pine.