That soil looks unstable. There is a photo out there of another house with a deck perched on the top of what looks like a landslide. Yikes. I’ll take CB’s hill over that mess!!
I think there might be issues in buyer’s minds with the slope behind my house, but in reality its very solid and not that steep. It just looks steep because of the balcony and decks raised above the slope.
Good news! Agent brought a set of buyers through today for 2nd showing.
Some friends from the neighborhood came over and were floored with the views. They have no idea why it wouldn’t sell fast. Hoping our sunset Open House might help.
CB, I want your house so badly!! 
The views would be a huge deal for me. Mr. says that I am a sucker for myriads of lights. True! Fingers crossed for the sunset open house and the second set of buyers.
I’m amazed that buyers are ignoring the views. If I was looking for a house, all I care about is views. As I age, I don’t care about a giant master suite or a big yard to take care of. All i want is some gorgeous comfy, cozy outdoor space and I want views to look at all day. Just today I was watching a bunch of kite surfers in Mission Bay. With binoculars it would have been really interesting.
Do you have a telescope you can stage? Wasn’t there one at the hoarder house?
Yes, I just took my telescope over to stage this week.
It will. Be patient. It’s only been on the market for – what? Three weeks?
On Friday it will be 3 weeks.
Today we are still doing work at the project to get ready for the Sunset Open House. We have to make one final dump run with a bunch of stuff that we have been hiding along the side of the house. Then we are going to try to load up my truck and haul everything we don’t need anymore back to my storage garage. And maybe we will finally get the garage painted up inside!
On Tuesday I consolidated a bunch of old paint into one 5 gal bucket so that I can try to take it to the ‘recycle’ place. Today I need to go through all the paint and label it and get it into small containers for the buyers so that they have paint, clearly marked, for touchup in the future. There were 11 different colors and types of paint used in the house. Three colors for exterior, one color for front door, 7 colors interior (two were custom mixes that I did on the spot).
Giving the owners touch up paint is a very thoughtful idea.
We had a very successful piggy back Sunset Open House. A lot of people came off the Open House signs. My agent placed one Open House sign right next to every one of the signs put out for the big party. A lot of agents from the brokerage having the Open House came down. They said that the Sunset Open House was planned before the house ever went into contract and she didn’t want to cancel at the last minute so they just went through with it.
We have had one set of buyers come through with an agent three times now. My agent followed up to let him know that there was a Sunset Open House in case the buyers wanted to come through in the evening (or, at least, that was the excuse she used to follow up!). According to the agent they are seriously considering the house, but they are also looking for something at lower cost that they can fix up themselves.
There was also a lady at the Open House who stayed for over 2 hours. She came to the original Open House a couple of weeks ago, works nearby, and thought she would just ‘drive’ the neighborhood and was surprised that there was an Open House. She wants to put a kitchen downstairs so I spent some time brainstorming with her on the best way to approach the issue of running a kitchen drain over to the new sewage pump. All kinds of people want to put in a kitchen downstairs and rent it out, but they don’t seem to have thinking caps when it comes to having to run a big drain line. They all want to put it on the family room wall against the bedroom - that’s not going to happen! You would have to tear up brand new flooring and cut a large concrete trench across the whole room towards the crawlspace, and then punch a hole through the stem wall. In my opinion, cutting another drain hole through the stem wall is not a smart idea.
My idea is to actually punch some space into the crawlspace in the open area between staircase and bathroom and build a long countertop with upper cabinets ‘into’ the crawlspace so that it is easy to drain to the sump pump. There is all kinds of extra space in bathroom for a stackable washer and dryer.
But, unfortunately, this lady has to sell her ‘bungalow’ in Oceanside before she can purchase this house. She really wants the house but I’m pretty sure it’s not going to work out.
“…but they are also looking for something at lower cost that they can fix up themselves.”
Unless they have done it in the past and can handle a massive a remodeling job, they would be better off with a pre-remodeled home. Or a project manager with a team of trusted professionals (hint, hint…)
p. All kinds of people want to put in a kitchen downstairs and rent it out, but they don’t seem to have thinking caps when it comes to having to run a big drain line. They all want to put it on the family room wall against the bedroom - that’s not going to happen! You would have to tear up brand new flooring and cut a large concrete trench across the whole room towards the crawlspace, and then punch a hole through the stem wall. In my opinion, cutting another drain hole through the stem wall is not a smart idea.
Just let them imagine …smile and nod and sell the house.
Not a good idea for you to (a) spend time, or (b) provide discouraging information. Dragonmom is absolutely correct. Don’t let all your knowledge and expertise talk them out of doing what they want. Just say, “That’s a great idea!” and smile and nod.
I’d also encourage you not to sign any contract in which you would agree to do any work related to installing a kitchen downstairs. You don’t want to be in that position.
Seller should avoid to talk to any buyer directly, that is why you pay for a broker.
Yeah, I can imagine the lawsuit: “But she SAID I could put a kitchen down there!” “She SAID I could rent it out!” “She misled me!” Even though you didn’t say or do any such thing.
It strikes me that the people who want to rent it out are people who can’t actually afford the house. THey want a sparkling new house in Point Loma with those views, but no can do. When they find themselves in financial trouble because they can’t afford to cheaply add a kitchen or they can’t get permission to rent, or they can’t do so without adding another parking space, I can see them trying to get a settlement out of you.
Don’t talk to them!
Good advice… I will stay out of it altogether. The guy that wanted to trade some downtown condos wanted to hire me to do the kitchen renovations. I don’t want to get into the business of doing that type of stuff.
Why are you at all of the Open Houses? I would let my agent handle those as well. That would keep you out of these discussions.
I have not been to the daytime Open Houses on the weekends (just cleaning everything up to the minute they start). But, because this was a night Open House, my agent asked if I could be there for safety. I actually did not arrive until the last hour of the Open House.
We just want to make sure you’re behaving, coralbrook.