Just pulling up to this house I could see there was a problem with the driveway.
There was a sink hole about 6" deep!
The rest of the driveway was in good condition.
And only 15 years old.
What can cause a driveway to settle 6" in only fifteen years?
And only in one spot?
Well, certainly the driveway's support can be eroded by water.
As it is eroded, sink holes develop.
And that is a lot of sinking!
How can so much water get into one spot and cause such damage?
And shouldn't extending that downspout prevent the problem?
Apparently the problem lies in the configuration of the roof drainage system.
Directly above that sink hole there is a very small gutter. That is less than 1' in width.
It is sitting at the bottom of two steep valleys diverting water directly to it! As it rains hard, water is accelerated two times toward that small gutter.
In addition there is the square footage of rain water on not only the steep roof to the right, but the large roof to the rear. So as it rains hard many gallons of water are accelerated toward that small gutter.
Overflow is unavoidable. Hence the sink hole. 
BUT THAT IS NOT ALL!!
It wasn't enough for this architect to divert that water from only the right side of the house!
You can see that water from half of the main house ALSO is diverted to that small gutter!
This is a huge amount of water when it rains hard!
Look how the water not only runs out of that small downspout, but overflows the gutter onto the roof beside as it tries to drain!
And this will be a continual problem.
I call these kinds of circumstances "architectural flaws." THIS IS POOR DESIGN.
What can be done?
About the only thing that could be improved is to enlarge the gutters to the wider 6" tubes, so they contain more water in their mini reservoirs and not so much is draining at any given moment.
Certainly that very small gutter at the end needs to be enlarged to the 6" width.
Looking around the neighborhood I saw that at least two houses had already done that.
My recommendation: sometimes problems are inherent to the property and not the fault of the homeowner! This homeowner had sone what he could to try to correct this problem by extending the downspout. But the roof drainage design and gutter size are also contributing, and that could use attention too. And hire a home inspector who sees the big picture! It will be worth it!
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