Oh goodness. Cb. I thought the story ended with the campaign placard! Yikes. What a creep.
Have you googled this fellow recently? Maybe he’s moved. Or died.
Well, my curiosity got piqued so I checked and it appears that he still owns the house but it has a ‘do not mail’ indicator on the address. This means that he must be working out of town or renting the house because he is not receiving his mail there.
My personal belief is that he used his entire savings to buy the house and then lost his job right after he moved in. The stress must have just made him go bananas. Although it appears that he took a loan on the house right after moving in for about 50% of the purchase so it wasn’t that bad. And, he now has about $120,000 in equity since his purchase in 2010.
How bizarre. The human race continues to surprise me.
coralbrook, that is an incredible story. Wow.
The flipper’s life is soooo glamorous!
Sorry it was so long winded. I just got going and wanted to tell every detail.
Today we have to get the barn door built and it will be the last day for the workers (well, until the Home Inspection and then I might have to fix some things). I am throwing a party for everyone who worked on the project Saturday afternoon. I want to give them a chance to show their friends and family their work because they don’t often get a chance to show off their roof, tile, landscape, electrical, whatever.
That’s so nice, coralbrook. I’d have been proud to have worked on such a nice remodel. You have such good taste, and such care with the work.
Hope all goes well with the barn door.
Terrible story. Did you or your lawyer ever do a search on his name?..this is not the kind of guy who just has a one time break.
I’m hoping the next time @coralbrook posts on this thread, it’s to report an offer.
Well, end of the day on Tuesday now and no written offers. We had three more showings today. Everyone loves the house. Two of the groups stayed a long time (I waited outside hovering over barn door construction). Have no idea why we don’t have offers. Kicking myself that we priced too high. Should have priced lower to get more ‘urgency’.
One couple pulled up in a rental convertible. They didn’t have an agent, they just stopped to pull the flyer. I invited them in. They are from Chicago and have come out here for one week to find a 2nd home. They seemed very interested. Later, when I was driving through the neighborhood I saw them in front of one of the $1mil homes in dated condition. So I guess they might be real buyers.
Today we almost had a disaster. I had this brilliant idea that I needed to change the ‘code’ on the keyless entry pad for the garage door. I always change the codes for my lockbox and garage after the workers are done. So, I read the instructions and stabbed around on the keypad outside the garage. Managed to mess that up and it doesn’t work anymore. No problem, ran upstairs and got one of the car remote controls. Then at the end of the day I asked my carpenter to ‘man’ the garage door opener button and I would reset the keypad. Well, we managed to wipe out both the keypad and all the car remotes. Meanwhile, the garage door is stuck open and there are a lot of valuable tools in there. If we close it, we may never be able to get it open in the morning.
Search the whole house and cannot find the garage door opener manual because it was one of the first things that got installed back in September and it didn’t have a safe home while all the construction was going on. I finally got on my phone and downloaded something from the manufacturer and we were able to get one of the car remotes functioning. Pheww! Crisis averted. Now I have to figure out how to get the keypad working again without messing everything up.
You certainly are living the Roseanne Rosannadanna life now - if it’s not one thing, it’s another. Good luck on the keypad. Like Very Happy, every time I log on to CC, I’m hoping to see a post from you sharing happy news. I’m sure it will happen, just hope it’s soon!
When selling a “higher end” property, you need time. I looked up, for around $1M in SD, you can buy a 3000 sf 5bd house without a view. Obviously, the view is worth X, but not everyone will jump on a market value home just because there is a view. In addition to the major drawback of the stairs.
Does the dated home below you has stairs like yours as well?
I’m not sure I know exactly which one you are talking about. Is it the white one to the left if looking towards the ocean? Or the two story homes across the street?
In San Diego, it’s very difficult to compare a 3,000 sq ft home that is inland to the coastal homes. The coastal areas are high value neighborhoods. In this neighborhood, anything for sale right now that is in the 2,000sq ft range is either way over a million or in terrible condition. There is one home very close that is 2,000 sq ft priced about $1,050,000 but it is horribly dated, dark and dingy on first floor. The redeeming quality is nice family room addition upstairs with views (have to go up the stairs).
The interesting thing about this entire neighborhood is that most single level homes on flat lots do not have a view and have small square footage. The majority of homes have stairs, but in a slightly different way.
Second Story - the homes with a second story have views from the second story and the extra square footage. Most homes have built a master suite on the second story with a deck. So… you have to go up the stairs inside the house to get to the views, no views from the main living area. But, you can bring in groceries, etc. into the main level. Usually these homes have dark and dreary first levels with a poor layout.
Upside Down - an upside down house has main living areas on the top floor and bedrooms down below. This is the latest style of home in the neighborhood. Anything that is new construction or a major remodel has this configuration to take advantage of the views. This style home presents the exact same challenge as my project. Most of them have detached garages. You have to exit the garage and go up a full flight of stairs to enter the house. For some reason this does not seem to bother buyers psychologically, these homes are snapped up. Usually you can enter the bottom level through some means but you still have to carry everything up to your kitchen.
My house has a “garage under”, meaning the garage is at basement level. So we’ve been carrying groceries up a flight of steps for 20+ years. It’s not that big a deal.
Maybe it would be if I was 70 or 80.
But right now the stairs wouldn’t scare me at all.
A bigger issue for me is that the garage is detached, with no other way in except through the overhead door. Nothing anyone can do about that, though.
I agree with your assessment, cb.
All I was saying is that you cannot be panicking because the house is not receiving offers in three days. "higher priced: market rate homes takes time to sell.
CB - what a story! You do lead the glamorous life.
So-- what’s new??
Well, now it’s Wednesday evening and no written offers. It’s officially been a week now. My agent spent some time today contacting some of the agents that came through with buyers to get their feedback. Believe it or not, it’s not the stairs. One buyer issue was master bedroom too small, house too small. Other buyer objected to the airplane noise (obviously from out of town and doesn’t know that our airplane noise is moderate compared to other areas of Point Loma).
We finished building the barn door and it just needs some putty, caulking and final coat of paint and the handle hardware. I loaded a couple of pictures.
Today I needed to work in my office so I stayed away from the project. That lasted about 10 minutes past 8am and then my carpenter called and I had to come help him pick up the @#$#% heavy barn door thing and help hang it and then design where I wanted the cross pieces. That door is so heavy it takes 2 1/2 people to try to carry it around. But once it gets up on the heavy duty wheel glider thingies it is so smooth, you wouldn’t know it weighed more than a feather. The price of that expensive hardware is worth it.
Everything else priced lower went pending this weekend. There is nothing left that is not terribly horrible. Maybe I will be the only thing left to buy and someone will swoop on it!
Very interesting things happened today.
First, the retiring couple that came through the project yesterday showed up again at 10:30am. I was not there. They asked my carpenter if they could have my phone nbr. He wouldn’t give them my phone nbr, but he called me and they used his phone. They are very interested in one of the properties I listed above as a new comparable and wanted to know if I could give them an estimate for remodel. No, it went into contract yesterday.
They then wanted to know all about another one listed as a comparable above - poor condition, superior location. I spent a lot of time on the phone warning them that there would be multiple offers and it’s going to be difficult to get that house. He kept going on about remodeling it and I really couldn’t quite get it through to him that he has to get the house first. But he needed a number to help make their offer and I gave it to him. In the end, they really wanted to talk to me about remodeling and what was doable and not. I think the husband was having a hard time convincing his wife that they could remodel.
So… they came over to my home (lovely retiring couple from San Marino, CA) and I spent an hour with them showing them everything that is on the market and which properties I felt were the best value and could be remodeled really nice. Also I researched who the sellers were and what might be their motivation. I specifically focused on a lovely Spanish home that needs work. They went off with a list of 3 homes to look at and consider and my business card because they want me to remodel (help!!! not again). Dang, I should be a real estate agent!
And then… 4 hours later I get a phone call through my listing agent. This is a woman who lives in Point Loma, came through the home during the Open House and she wants me to help them do a remodel. But guess what home she is considering buying… the Spanish home that needs work!! At this point I cannot believe I am getting all these phone calls to do a remodel. So, I warned her that I was not a contractor, did not have a license, could not pull the permit (she wants to do major work), on and on. Oh, and by the way, I don’t do this normally and I have to make a living for my family so I think you need to understand I might have to charge X as a project management fee. She was OK with the number I threw out. So, now, I have somehow got myself talked into meeting her at the Spanish house to view the interior with their agent.
Yikes!!