It will be interesting to see if Sonny Boy’s clients buy one of the other houses. 
It has been a whirlwind today. My agent has convinced the buyers to close a whole week early. We are closing next Wednesday (if I can get repairs done by Monday night). I am drowning in mounds of papers to be signed and I’m hoping my main lender who holds a Trust Deed against property can get his papers notarized and back into escrow by Monday.
This saves me a whole week of carrying costs! I’m very excited about the progress
Meanwhile, we had to send a counter back to the Sonny Boy buyers because their back up offer was so sloppy, I insisted that we had to counter to get all the terms cleaned up. Haven’t received anything back on that, but obviously that backup offer is not going to be needed.
Be sure to tell sonny boy not to have his clients rush into anything else too quickly since you may be having another property on the market in six months or so!
CB, when you first lists this property back in October, did you a goal for the date of closing? It took a little longer to sell than you had hoped, but the speedy closing compensates for that. So I’m wondering if you’re still a little ahead of your goals.
That’s a really good question. I wanted to be closed by Dec 1st and I’m beating that date. Thank you for changing my perspective. 30 days to sell is the longest I’ve ever gone. But, 9 days in escrow is the fastest buyer I’ve ever had!!! So I guess it’s equal to 9 days on market and 30 day financed escrow.
Your welcome
So it still worked out, even though you were worked up (when it didn’t sell as quickly as you had hoped.)
Congratulations! I hope you get some spa time (or whatever your personal equivalent is) during this holiday weekend
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:)>- Hoping for a very, very happy Thanksgiving for CB and her family.
Can’t wait to go shopping with cb on her next project.
Looking forward to hearing the details…and then hearing about Flip 5.
I have just done some loan payoff calculations and general house cleaning on the numbers. It looks like we are going to close 10 days early, and at least 20 days earlier than if I had taken the other offer which was a 30 day escrow.
Ten days of carrying costs is huge for me right now. There are some really big property taxes looming because (for those that understand California property taxes) the tax base of the property when I purchased was $98,000 and the new tax base is $701,000 plus the County will slap me for more taxes for the ‘new construction’. That’s one really big supplemental tax bill which I have already received.
I will save close to $2,000 in carrying costs if I can close 10 days early. That is definitely worth it!
Interesting development on the “Flip or Flop” house in my neighborhood (Minnesota Ave). Evidently it has been taken off the market and they are doing more work on it. If you look on Zillow, Redfin, etc… all the remodel pictures are gone.
Very interesting… keep us updated. Always interested in the reality of their flips. Maybe they are doing something with the concrete floors to make them more appealing? Maybe tiling in the bathrooms instead of bare concrete.
I just researched the Flip or Flop house in Costa Mesa. It looks like (per detailed records) that they took it off the market the very same day that it went on the market, probably right after that Open House they did for TV. I’m not sure what kind of strategy that is ???
Although another site shows that the listing was removed on 11/19. It could be that some of the sites show listing removed when a property goes into contract/pending.
I was working at the project today, clearing all the small decoration things out of the house and cleaning. The buyer’s agent came to do his ‘Visual Inspection’ report. I innocently asked him when the buyers would be moving in. He said something about how they originally were moving from their home in Alpine but their son and his family wanted to stay in Alpine. The true story is that they wanted to purchase a future retirement home/investment that would not decline in value. They are going to rent it out until the future. It is not going to be a vacation rental, just long term rental. I cannot imagine how they are going to get a good return on their money with a rental at this cost, but none of my business.
I did ask him what his buyers were looking for because I always want to learn the criteria buyers are looking for. He said they really wanted 3 things… view view view, open concept and they were actually looking for a fixer to do their own renovation. Evidently, when they walked in they thought the house was exactly their taste and the views sold it. They gave up on the fixer
By the time they are ready to move in, the renters could convert it to a fixer. 
Knowing that they’re going to rent kinda takes the fun out of the sale, IMO. Well – whatever. It’s the same money to you, cb, whether they rent or live there themselves. But still.
But how flattering that the house was what they were envisioning themselves as a flip for future retirement. You really did design for your target market if they want it as a retirement home!
Fascinating to learn how plans change. It’s great that the buyers liked everything as you did it and you likely did a much better and quicker job than any other buyer could have. I’d be very nervous renting to someone unless I set aside a huge reserve from the rental to make repairs after they move out. Hardwood floors would especially make me nervous because there are so many who don’t take proper care of it. I know S has hardwood flooring in part of the condo he rents and the landlady is so lucky S is such a careful tenant.
It’s a bit of an object lesson in keeping emotion out of it. I feel like cb bought into the buyers’ story a little bit, and stuck with their offer even in the face of a higher one in part because they “loved” the place so much. Then the story changed, and now it’s just a rental that will probably get beat to heck.
I feel like she would have been better off to have told the buyers she would take their offer but until everything was signed nothing was locked in stone.
I know a quick close saved some money, and the other buyers may have been a pita, but I wonder how much she left on the table.