<p>
Oh sure, they were trying to “protect” Walter, because neighbors typically have $600K sitting around they are willing to use to make sure someone doesn’t get a raw deal. I’m sure the profit they could get flipping it never crossed their minds.</p>
<p>Give me a break. </p>
<p>Sorry this happened, cb. When will you know if the city is going to come down on you? </p>
<p>Maybe they will make your neighbor clean up his dirty.</p>
<p>Yes, I did spend a lot of time with the neighbor across the street who wanted to make sure that I knew that a lot of people were ‘upset’ that I scammed the purchase. I told him the whole story, emphasized that I helped fix the car and sell the car and made sure the money went to Walter. Emphasized that I went through the whole house and returned all personal items to the Estate Administrator. No, I never met Walter. No, I did not know the Listing Agent or Estate Administrator. Yes the Estate Administrator went out of his way to insist that the property get listed on the MLS for fair market transaction and was definitely watching out carefully for Walter. And YES, the Listing Agent was not particularly ethical and I experienced all the same issues trying to buy the house as they did.</p>
<p>I assumed that he would spread the news, whether he believed me or not.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that I shared this tidbit. After we closed escrow I met the Estate Administrator at the house to open the garage and view the car. When I arrived, there were numerous neighbors surrounding the Estate Administrator telling him that they wanted to know where Walter is?, how can they reach him?, is he all right? and they wanted to visit him. The Estate Administrator explained that he was not at liberty to say where Walter was living or give out his phone number. He promised that he would let Walter know that they are inquiring. He told them that Walter was coming on Tuesday to get his possessions and they might want to visit him then.</p>
<p>I shared with the neighbor that Walter had decided that he never wanted to return to the property and did not want to see it again. (I didn’t share that Walter mentioned that they had never ever stopped by to look in on him).</p>
<p>According to the Estate Administrator, when he talked to Walter he stated that not one neighbor had ever stopped by to visit or was friendly with him. He had no desire to contact them. He then decided he never wanted to come back to the house and did not show up on Tuesday. On that Tuesday I spent a lot of time out in front on the sidewalk and no one ever came to ask if Walter was coming, probably because I was part of the enemy conspiracy.</p>
<p>I also emphasized to the neighbor that it had to be an All Cash deal and the Listing Agent did not want to deal with any inspection or contingency requirements. He murmured that ‘Mary’ had been looking a long time and definitely had cash (I think this is the same Mary that finally called law enforcement to go in after Walter).</p>
<p>This whole freaking thing is turning into one of the most dramatic Flip This House shows on TV!!! </p>
<p>Keep your head down. Do what the city tells you to do. Remember the point is to make a profit, not friends. And you will.</p>
<p>Oh cb, so sorry for the setback. Hang in there. </p>
<p>So sorry. Any sense of how long it will take to get a permit?</p>
<p>Not sure you are in the frame of mind to think about potential upsides, but getting permits for the shed addition, retaining wall and new deck could potentially open up the possibility of additional buyers.</p>
<p>I just walked away from an absolutely GORGEOUS property with an un-permitted addition. Price was ridiculously low for neighborhood. But I’m way too risk adverse to consider buying a place where a desirable portion of the building is un-permitted. Other buyers must feel the same way b/c this spectacularly beautiful property is still on the market in a hot neighborhood despite the low price. </p>
<p>So, the permits may add value in a way that you weren’t expecting. Still, this unplanned setback is a big bummer and you have my sympathies. </p>
<p>SCHEDULE and BUDGET UPDATE</p>
<p>Here is what I believe the new schedule will be. Waiting for the City is probably going to add 4 weeks to the schedule:</p>
<p>Plans - I have calls out to four draftsman that work with the City a lot. I have not received one call back. It is going to take me days to try and get someone to draw plans. I could go across the street and hire the guy that called the City, but I just do not want to give him any business. There are two ways to go with these plans. I can have them drawn up and take them down to the City myself or I can hire a bigger company (at a higher cost) who will actually push the plans through the City themselves. My estimate is that it is going to take at least 6 business days to get plans ready. That’s hoping I can hire someone on Monday right away.</p>
<p>Permits - Unfortunately I have a double strike against me on this property. I cannot tell if it is located in Coastal Commission zone - I have researched as much as I can but there doesn’t seem to be any maps available on the Internet. If I plan to do an ‘addition’, I may be subject to Coastal Commission review which takes 4 weeks. Also, the house is considered ‘historical’ if built before 1950 or so. I have to go through historical review which takes 2 weeks. And if it is designated ‘historical’ then they want to stick their nose on what type of windows, what type of roof shingles, what colors, etc. </p>
<p>I am considering getting two separate permits. </p>
<p>One is a ‘combination’ permit which allows me to do electrical, plumbing, layout changes, gas lines, windows, roof, etc to the main house. However, there is an issue with the ‘enclosed’ front porch. I have the original 1936 plans and it shows the front portion labeled E C P. To me, that means Enclosed Covered Porch. However, I can see the structure and windows in this area are not 1936 construction. Aluminum sliding windows, cheezy paneling and a different roof structure. However, the original roof shingles are covering this area. Not to mention the safety issue with the 12" landing at top of stairs. This is going to turn into a can of worms.</p>
<p>Then I would submit a separate permit to try to create the small laundry room ‘addition’ between the main house and the Utility Room. In this permit I will try to turn the Utility Room into liveable space with extreme fire coding on the back wall which abuts the property boundary. I have pictures of the original bathroom that was in the shed, but I’m not sure they are going to let me put a bathroom in there.</p>
<p>The first permit will allow me to start getting inspections and moving along in the main house. I can see several more issues in the main house - the gas meter is located near my kitchen window, although it has been there for 80 years. If I have to move that gas meter I can add a whole other layer of frustration.</p>
<p>Minimum time to get just the first permit approved is 2 weeks.</p>
<p>ORIGINAL COMPLETION DATE: About December 1
NEW COMPLETION DATE: About January 1</p>
<p>ORIGINAL BUDGET: $86,500
REVISED BUDGET: $95,000</p>
<p>NEW BUDGET: $110,000!!! Ouch</p>
<p>cb, even with the new timeline and the new budget, you’re still going to make a hefty profit on this one.</p>
<p>And here’s your silver lining: Not putting it on the market in December may be advantageous.</p>
<p>[Just call me Pollyanna. I have been accused, occasionally, about having my head up my you-know-what, but really – this will all turn out OK. Right now you’re in shock from having to stop work – but once you get going again it’s going to be fine.]</p>
<p>This is a temporary blip. D e e e e e e e e p breaths. </p>
<p>Thank you VeryHappy, you are always a breath of optimism!! </p>
<p>Me… just falling apart right about now. My head is swimming with all the things that I am going to have to put into this permit process… </p>
<p>we put in all new piers under house… does that mean the City is going to come back and require full earthquake retrofit of this house because I opened a can of worms??? I cannot hide the new piers because they are going to get under house to inspect plumbing and electrical.</p>
<p>How am I going to convince them that the front porch has been enclosed for over 50 years??? What if I have to reverse everything back to original??? I don’t even know what ‘original’ was.</p>
<p>Are they going to let me recess the front door to get a better landing?.. recessing the door puts door opening against a front window. Even worse… are they going to require some really large landing and then my front window sizes have to change?</p>
<p>Did I remember to order the front window with tempered glass? Yikes!!! all the windows are already here, now what do I do? What if they don’t let me enlarge the kitchen window and master bedroom window? What am I going to do with all these windows that already arrived? What if historical committee doesn’t agree with the style of windows I ordered? </p>
<p>and on and on and on</p>
<p>I need some kind of massive Chill Pill right now. Keep going out for walks to try to de stress but I cannot even sleep, my head is exploding with scary problems.</p>
<p>Hugs, coral!! So sorry this happened.
I suggest you talk to the planning department before you do much of anything else. They are often very nice people. AND plans do not ever have to be professional! That is not a requirement of law. They just have to be legible and measurements correctly indicated.
If you get a planner on your side a little bit, they will help a lot. If you have to go through planning commissions and historical departments, talk the chairperson of those committees and see what they say they want. I have learned from being on a town committee that there is a big human element in their decisions, so don’t despair. </p>
<p>You’re imagining the worst for everything, and that’s not likely to happen.</p>
<p>But you know what? If it does, you will cope. You’ll do what they want you to do, you’ll get the proper inspections, and you’ll still make a profit. Because this house is that good.</p>
<p>ETA: You have pictures on your Flickr account posted as of a certain day. In other words, you have proof of what was there when you bought the house. They are not going to make you put the house back to the “original,” whatever that was. </p>
<p>It sounds like you may have a challenging week. Keep in mind that the labor breathing you learned years ago can be helful in any stressful situation… in through the nose, out through the mouth 
Good Luck! </p>
<p>Sending good thoughts, CoralBrook. And a pox on the neighbor. Two.</p>
<p>The City of San Diego does not really have a local Planning Commission. Everything is run by the City Building Department. I believe that smaller cities like La Jolla or Rancho Santa Fe have ‘planning commissions’ with citizens on the commission. Since this is just a remodeling permit (no major changes to size, shape or exterior of house) then I am just submitting a permit through the process. The only person that I can meet and try to work with is the actual building inspector or the person at the desk that does the original plan review. </p>
<p>I never get a chance to meet anyone on historical, it’s just City employees - the plans go into a black hole somewhere and get reviewed for a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>I was able to confirm that the neighbor has filed a complaint for ‘gutting the house’ without a permit. City of San Diego has a website where citizens can look up code violations by street address. Complaint was filed on Oct 9</p>
<p>@coralbrook: You’ll just deal with it, whatever it turns out to be. You have no choice right now. So, you’ll draw up plans, get the permit(s), pay whatever fines you need to pay, and re-do whatever work needs to be redone – hopefully none. It is what it is. One foot in front of the other. This is not the worst thing that could happen to you. Not the best, either, I’ll grant you, but this is not the worst thing in the world. </p>
<p>Doesn’t this neighbor understand that HIS property value goes up when you remodel and sell???</p>
<p>Also, you have pictures that the porch was enclosed from prior to your purchase. You have pics that the house was hoarder ish. I would show those (and possibly get an affidavit from the Estate Admin) to the inspector. </p>
<p>I’m wondering how many other neighborhood renovations were properly permitted and inspected… I see lots of rooftop solar on the satellite photos, I wonder if they all had the proper building and electrical permits pulled?</p>
<p>Hmm.</p>
<p>Serenity prayer.</p>
<p>I’m not a praying person by any stretch of the imagination, but now is the time to know the difference between what you can control and what you can’t. </p>