Hello, we’re looking at a home in the Chicago area. We like the home but are bothered by the fact that the basement has two sump pits and the sump pump seems to run every fifteen minutes even though there hasn’t been any rain for a few days. This pit drains into a corner of the backyard where it pools up and looks a mess: the owners have been trying to get the park district to allow them to connect their sump output to the storm drain (its against the usual rules so they need an exemption). The realtor seems to suggest that that is the only solution but wouldn’t a network of french drains that spread out the water in the soil solve the issue? In fact, the whole backyard, which is why extends about 25 feet behind the home seems to have bad soil with little grass and just weeds. According to the realtor, the basement flooded once a long time ago (but they cannot answer when exactly exactly) and they’re not sure if french drains were ever installed (home is 20 years old). The basement itself looked dry and super clean. Its unfinished so you can tell there’s no damage. Assuming the pumps run, things should be fine but the water pooling in the backyard makes it unusable. How difficult would this problem be to fix and/or should we pass on this home for it? PS: the home is adjacent to a large park which used to be a bog. Neighbors acknowledge high water table but don’t seem to have issues with water.