Well…at least they hopped right on it!!
Hoping it’s all resolved by tomorrow!!
Good catch, CB. I suspect this is an issue of “the left arm does not know what the right leg is doing.” Definitely don’t want the city to snoop around when you own the place.
I’m just mad that they didn’t send all these documents last week so it could get resolved. The elderly owner is claiming “exempt from disclosures” and property manager has no legal responsibility to disclose anything.
Exempt? How does that work?
That’s garbage, isn’t it? Exempt? I don’t think so!!
Claiming they haven’t lived in the house, it’s a rental. Evidently the elderly husband passed away and he was the one who handled the property management company. Elderly widow claims she knows nothing. Then all kinds of stuff happened at house and tenants actually called City to complain which forced property management company to start calling out all kinds of contractors and abatement. I think the son finally convinced Mom they had to sell the place.
Luckily the broker over the agent didn’t want the liability so they forced the property management company to make a list of history. I was provided the reports concerning water intrusion, drainage and mold. I think these were the tipping point for owner, and the fact tenants were vacated from premises about the beginning of the year. However, I was not provided any information about a ton of other issues, including AC installation issues until this morning.
Hmmm…well since they gave you other issues…it almost seems like they were sort of hoping the others wouldn’t come to the front of the pile of things.
Glad you found out when you did…and hopefully cannget this fixed up ASAP.
I think it’s terrific that you saw this and they’re getting it all taken care of. Congratulations on having such sharp eyes and acute antennae.
So you’ll close next week??
Back to lighting… I have one of those vintage Laurel “mushroom” floor lamps and I love that shape. I think it might be more cleaning and insect friendly to have a smooth shape for your exterior fixture, with no openings, but maybe bugs will get in there anyway. There won’t be cobwebs though.
Now that I think about it, my front porch lantern, that H calls “the eternal flame”, is a gas torch that is probably completely illegal in CA. It’s nice that it generates enough heat to drive away all insects! Our back yard lanterns with their LED bulbs have to have the old moths vacuumed out of them every few months.
Well, the listing agent got all over it. The plumbing company wanted to charge $1,000 to rush out and fix their own issues!!! This is after charging an extra $1,000 on original invoice to pull a $86 permit!!!
The agent couldn’t get anyone to agree to pay the plumber so he told Property Management Co to send out their handyman to fix the electrical and drain issues for about $200. He just sent photos to me so I released to close tomorrow.
He has a call into City Inspector to come by tomorrow and try to close out the permit.
Fingers crossed. If not tomorrow, then Monday, but I’m sure you want to have the weekend to get going.
Fingers crossed.
Escrow Closed
We closed escrow today and recording confirmed. When I arrived at the property today there was a signed off permit stashed in the AC system. City evidently stopped by early and dated final to yesterday. So that issue is solved
My agent and one of my investors stopped by today. She is absolutely in love with the house. Far superior, especially the views and natural light in the house than the photos indicated. She’s really excited and thinks she can get higher than what we were thinking for the sale.
The bad news is my roofer (bless his heart) already came by today and tells me the flat roof needs so many repairs that we need a new roof. He can repair it, but future buyer inspections will state new roof required. Dang…all I really wanted to do was replace the red tile, which he says is in good condition. First thing he said walking up…“that red tile is ugly!!”
I reviewed the big issues with my agent and here’s the decisions:
Replace the grid windows and doors. What we replace with is TBD, but probably some type of aluminum because that matches the style
Replace front door. The front door is thick beefy wood but it is Spanish style. Hopefully I can sell it.
Keep sunken shower, as long as we can make sure there aren’t water intrusion issues under that slab.
Move laundry into house from garage.
Change window style in courtyard
Keep wood french doors in courtyard to save money
I took a bunch of pictures but i will load them later
If your agent is correct and you can get more as a sale price than you anticipated, the cost of the new roof shouldn’t matter that much.
cb, I know you will make it beautiful for as little as possible. You’re a great shopper, and the things you decide to change always make a big difference!
Long time coming but sounds like a great project- congratulations! Overall should be fun and less stressful than the last few projects and let you enjoy it more.
Great news! Sounds like the city was happy to close off this permit thingy, too.
I’m really grateful to the City of La Mesa. Have never heard of an inspector coming out with 2 hours notice to meet with a real estate agent to review what’s wrong. Then he gave the agent his cell nbr and said “call as soon as it get fixed”. He was out early the next morning signing off on a permit card he generated himself. Normally they insist someone has to be present, and original permit card has to be available for signature.
If they are this easy to work with…I just might pull a permit if I can ever figure out what I want to do!!
@coralbrook - congrats on closing escrow. I’m excited to see what you do with this place.
Congratulations, coralbrook! This is going to be fun to watch (they all are, but this is bringing a midcentury! with views!) Thank you for inviting us along.
cb, I am really excited to watch this one. The views looks fabulous and I know the house will be as well once you’re finished. It’s so kind of you to take the time and effort to keep us posted on developments, give us inside access, ask for our opinions, and post photos for us. I am your peanuttiest fan in the peanut gallery! Thanks so very much.