I vote for you doing YOUR thing with this house @coralbrook . If the woman wants to buy it, she can bid on it like any other potential buyer.
I doubt this potential buyer is going to go deep pockets for the renovations…and really…you already have ideas churning.
Do your ideas…and she can bid on the finished product if she wants to.
There are big advantages to going into contract before the House is finished. It is still going to take time to remodel and finish the project, and the crew would be employed the same amount of time. The advantage to me is I won’t have the 30 to 60 days at the end trying to sell it and wait for escrow to close. There are carrying cost savings, a big chunk of commission savings and I will have cash back sooner to go out and get the next one. So, basically, much faster turnaround time.
The reason she wants to go into contract now is because they need to sell their house and want to have a place to move to. As you all know, trying to buy a house with a big Contingent on Selling does not fly in today’s market. Evidently she is a family and marriage counselor and needs to have an office to keep her practice moving. I’m guessing you can’t meet your emotional clients at the nearby Starbucks while you are between houses:)
So, she thinks this is a perfect solution for her. Lock into contract so they can start selling their house. Get someone else to do all the mold remediation, drainage and remodel work and then move right in and resume her practice. She likes the house because it has the front room with bathroom and separate entrance.
It’s a tough decision
Regarding the effervescent marks on the floor. It definitely is scary. But I already have a full French drain system in the budget and a lot of gutter and drainage work. Plus, it seems to be isolated behind the master bath wall so I’m just hoping it has to do with the bathroom plumbing issues that caused the mold situation. I have piles of receipts from plumbing company about fixing the cause of the plumbing issues. Drains under slab have been scoped and inspected. Supposedly no issues
Coralbrook:
If you agree to sell to this woman, you will have to design the house the way she wants you to. That is a lot of trouble.
If you don’t sell to this woman, Yes, you will have that nerve racking time between putting the house on the market and finally getting the offer you want. And it is a nerve racking time. But you’re in this to make money, not to avoid stress.
Why in the world does the woman think you will save costs and therefore can sell to her at a lower price? You don’t want to sell at a lower price; you want to sell at market price. She might want to buy at a lower price, but that’s not your problem.
I agree with the others that she should wait until you’ve done your magic and then put in an offer like anyone else. You could be gracious and let her look at it first and give her 24 hours to think about it and make a competitive offer, but you really don’t have to.
The fact that you’ve met her and heard her sob story is doing a number on you. You’re a business woman first. You bought this house for your business. Stick to the business of renovating and selling this house at a good profit. Don’t try to please her. That’s not why you’re in business.
I think the buyer thinks that cb will avoid commission and staging costs and who knows what other costs of doing the sale, and expects those savings to go into her pocket.
Your arguments on having a buyer in place near end of project are compelling. I would be tempted to give her some kind of first dibs about 2 weeks before you plan to hit the market, but do it all your way. If she doesn’t meet your price, someone else will, but you may have to wait a bit and that time, as you say, is money. Most importantly, what does your agent think? I trust that you two know the market best.
“The fact that you’ve met her and heard her sob story is doing a number on you. You’re a business woman first. You bought this house for your business. Stick to the business of renovating and selling this house at a good profit. Don’t try to please her. That’s not why you’re in business.”
THIS^^^
KEEP your business hat FIRMLY on your head and do NOT let your kind heart lead you to make a HUGE mistake.Which it WILL be if someone else is dictating design decisions and has you strapped into a contract to boot.
She can wait until the house is fixed up the way YOU want it to be. Remember- you want another “signature” CB house to add to your growing resume of fabulous remodeled homes.
No she can’t, because she has to sell a house first and Cb won’t take a 45-days-to-sell contingency (nor will anyone else) so realistically she gets it now, or not at all.
As for making a mistake, remember this is not Cb’s first rodeo. From a business sense, if the profit is the same it probably makes sense to have a locked-in buyer up front, even if it means not doing her own designs. It’s a business, so in theory Cb shouldn’t care whether she gets to implement her “vision” or not.
Now, we all want to see Cb do her thing, and not someone else’s, and maybe Cb will decide that she’d rather have fun with it and roll the dice at the end, which we all like because it’s fun (although stressful for Cb) to follow the ups and downs, but in the end Cb is in business to make money. There’s a lot of factors to consider. I’m sure she can make a good profit no matter which way she goes.
Why? Cb is not in the remodeling business, she’s in the flipping business. Who is she going to show this off to?
“Evidently she is a family and marriage counselor and needs to have an office to keep her practice moving. I’m guessing you can’t meet your emotional clients at the nearby Starbucks while you are between houses:)”
She can always rent office space. 
"You’re a business woman first. You bought this house for your business. "
Yes, it is a business but there are opportunity costs - on both sides of the decision - money tied up, stress of finding a buyer, etc. vs. the hassle of dealing with renovating with someone else’s tastes in mind that might not mesh with your own vision. But, we all have our price. Come up with a price that is worth it to you factoring in all the moving pieces and how it affects you and your team and present it to her. If she doesn’t like it at that price, she can wait like everyone else. You’re in the driver’s seat here. Nice to have options.
It would not hurt to sit down with her and chat about the style of the house and what CB has in mind for this remodel. Then hear her ideas and what she wants the place to look like… If the woman is a PIA, CB can always say no.
^^^ I think it would be much more difficult to go through that exercise and then say no.
I remember from – Flip #4? #5?? I don’t remember – when CB did get a buyer to commit while she was still renovating, and she vowed never to do that again. CB, maybe go back and re-read that thread to remind yourself.
I don’t have much sympathy for a Marriage and Family therapist working from her home. The liability issues are enormous. As was said above, let her rent an office.
I like the idea of talking to her about your ideas, and hearing hers. Unless you get a lot, and f $$$ upfront, and a contract, why take the risk?
"Who is she going to show this off to? "
uh hello?- future BUYERS who want turn key, recently remodeled homes with great style in the San Diego area.
There are Lots of buyers looking for just that, especially retired or soon to be retired buyers, with more and more arriving every month.
San Diego is a sellers market- look at how many times CB has been out bid in the recent year.
I dont think she needs to worry about finding buyers who will pay a premium for her remodels. Every time she completes a project her reputation goes up. And more investors want “in”.
Its your call obviously, but I would not be afraid to ask a really hi$$ to get a good ROI if you want to be talked into walking away from this flip.
Thank you all for the great advice. As my agent says, is the cost savings and/or increase in net profit worth the large PIA (pain in the butt) factor???
We can still all travel along the journey.
Even if I went with her as a buyer, and had to compromise my vision, I can still take beautiful photos and stick it in the MLS as “sold” when we close escrow. Although it won’t be staged and that’s half the fun!!! Bringing it to life. But, on the other hand we were just having a discussion on how in the world we were going to stage Mid Century because it is a unique style and we don’t think there’s any decently priced staging companies with that type of inventory in San Diego.
You are all so nice, but I am not aware of any huge reputation I have (except maybe a small one in the Point Loma area). It’s really the agents that I am hoping to impress and I don’t know any La Mesa agents. Hordes of people are not rushing to my Open Houses to see my latest projects.
Buyers have no idea who cb is. Investors care only about return, not whether a flip was faithful restoration to some decades-old archetype.
The largest risk is in the design decisions. If I take the remodel down one buyer’s path of what they want, and then something goes wrong, I’m stuck with a house that might be too personal for an easy sell.
Just wondering about this house that the woman wants to sell. Could it be CB’s next flip? If she likes flip#7, and CB thinks her house would be good for flip #8, it might work out. Like one of those rare planetary alignments, lol.
“If I take the remodel down one buyer’s path of what they want, and then something goes wrong, I’m stuck with a house that might be too personal for an easy sell.”
I assume there could be some way to write a contract that covers you for that? If she walks away as a buyer, she still owes you X amount? Is that possible?
From previous flips it seems like there’s a strong likelihood of surprises and issues that delay the project. If the potential buyer will sell her current home, she’d have definite expectations of when they could take possession. She sounds fairly intensive, shall we say, in her approach to you. What happens when you hit the inevitable roadblocks? And if this is their retirement home, they will be more interested in personal preferences than resale potential adding to the risk in the design decisions. You will need to protect yourself.