Don’t do it!! Or, perhaps you could agree to provide design services only and require then to enter into a separate contract with a licensed general contractor. As I am sure you know, the penalties for unlicensed contractors in California are draconian. As I understand it (and I DO NOT practice law in this field), you could do all the work on the project, get paid, and then the owner could sue you for recovery of the entire fee, and they could prevail on that claim even if your work is 100% perfect simply because you weren’t licensed. This provision is intended to a punitive consequence of performing contractor work without a license. (Please dont rely on this description; that’s just my vague recollection.) Everyone thinks that no owner would actually do that but it just takes one tiny dispute to blow up for you to lose a LOT of money.
Alternatively, you could become a licensed general contractor and perform the work legally.
PPS. I believe it may also be a crime under California law. I have no idea whatsoever whether the criminal law is enforced, or if so, how vigorously, but honestly, why take the chance.
I just did about one minute of googling and it appears that the homeowner can obtain a refund of not just fees for service but also payments for materials, too. Please, at the very least, talk to a lawyer before you go down this path so that you can fully understand the risks.
I found the booklet on how to become a licensed contractor and it looks like it could be complicated to get experience approved. Plus you’d have to take a test ;). But if you charge for consulting services only, and don’t actually contract the work itself, it might be a nice way to make a few extra $$. Then you get to tell them all your great ideas and they have to find their own contractor to do the work. Do you need a license to become a designer?
BTW, I’m quite curious which shabby Spanish casa everyone wants. Feel like giving a few clues?
Yes, the contractor lobby is very very strong in California. For example, if a homeowner goes in and tries to get a permit at a City anywhere , the State of California has all these forms that the homeowner has to sign that just scare you to death. You have to acknowledge all this stuff about hiring ANYONE without a license (like the window washer??? for heaven’s sake) and then sign a separate document that states that you, as the homeowner, cannot sell the house with the fully permitted work for at least a year after final inspection. This is a state provision and is not enforced in any way but was added to every permit application throughout the state due to heavy contractor lobbying.
It is ridiculous, you the homeowner need to put in a new water heater and replace some windows in order to sell your house. You do the right thing and go get a permit and now you cannot sell your house??? Or, you the homeowner, personally put in new replacement windows and go get a permit. Three months later you lose your job or have to relocate and you can’t sell your house? Unbelievable.
From this point on I am not going to do any remodel work that involves any liability for the construction. I may provide ‘Design Services’ at a fee or ‘Project Management’ at a fee. With a lot of documents signed by the homeowner that I am not responsible for, or liable for, any construction work performed. Definitely not going to pull a permit in my name in any way. For example, Mr. Friendly Inspector comes into their project and I’m standing there supervising. And I’m obviously not the homeowner! Yikes
The property that the buyers are interested in is located on Guizot and Orchard. They just had a price drop to $1,025,000 but I think it’s market value is somewhere in the $900s
Oh yeah, the tree house as I think of it from the pictures. As far as I can tell, the only Spanish influence is the roof tiles? Wait - the laundry is in the detached garage? Yes, I think the house needs some work.
I think I need to clarify. I meant “Mr Friendly Inspector” as the gentleman I have been dealing with on my project, where I am the homeowner. He probably does not want to see me at someone else’s house ‘acting’ like a contractor. He may not be Mr. Friendly anymore.
cb, the objections from the folks who liked it but aren’t going to make an offer sound fairly minor. In addition, they aren’t anything you can do anything about. So, just sit tight, and I do believe you’ll get an offer reasonably soon. It’s obviously a compliment to your skills that these folks want you involved if they do a remodel.
Long talk with my agent last night. Her opinion is that we should go one more day and see if we have any showings. We did not have any showings yesterday. If there are no more showings today she wants to drop the price to $889k on Friday morning to generate new interest for the weekend. Geez, why didn’t we just price it at that to begin with? I really do not like to keep dropping price. It looks really bad. Buyers will then get an impression that I am desperate to sell. Yes, I am desperate to sell but we don’t want anyone to know that Low ball offers will come in.
I don’t know if I agree, coralbrook. It hasn’t been all that long. Someone should soon offer you what they want to pay so then the negotiations can begin.
In addition, why $889? Why not $899? Then it’s a tad under $900 and you’ll capture all those folks.
I agree with VH. If you want to drop price, don’t drop that much, it will show your desperation. Had you picked the lower number to start with, you might be in contract already. Now drop $35K after a week is not a wise move, try 10K at a time.
Site tight, as you said, all the lower priced homes have been scooped up, so you should be sitting pretty right now. You need to steal, borrow and cheat to get by April no matter what.
House is currently listed at $899-925K so already captures those searching under $900. I do agree that dropping it now could bring out low bidders. If I saw that on a house I was interested in, I would immediately wonder what was wrong with the house to have it drop so quickly. Perhaps maybe just drop the high end of the range if you really feel a need to do something with the price? I know sometimes the house appears at the $925 number on searches/listings so maybe people aren’t seeing the lower end of the range?
When I set my parameters on Realtor.com to a max of $900K, the house does not show up. That said, i still vote against reducing it quite yet. I agree with artloversplus – closing in April is extremely iffy anyway, even if you agreed on a price today. You’re going to have to meet your obligations another way.
