Now this is a flip:
[Flipper Cindy Crawford buys for $6M, sells for $13.3M](Before and after: Flipper Cindy Crawford buys house for $6M, sells for $13.3M)
Couple more years, cb will be doing these. 
Wow. That house is magnificent.
You’d need a small amry of housekeepers and maintenance people to keep it nice. It would take a lot of maintennace and upkeep. It’s WAY too much houes for me and H. You could probably have a good-sized clan or multigenerational family live there, but lots of steps.
I wish. There is a lot less competition at the high end of the flipping game, and really good profits to be made. It would be so much fun with such a large budget to work with!
That house is location, location, location
The problem of a high end house is that you will never know when it will sell in a flipping. You need deep pocket to buy it and carry it for a long time.
Yes, you are correct. It takes a lot longer to sell a high price home.
In our market in San Diego, homes between $400k and $550k are selling like hot cakes. It is the sweet spot. But very very difficult to find a distressed home with enough margin to flip at that price range. During the recession homes priced higher lingered on the market forever because the only buyers out in the market were first time buyers. The ‘move up’ buyers were sticking in their homes.
I moved up to the next price range because the competition is too stiff to buy something to flip in the entry level price range. I’m betting on the fact that I think the ‘move up’ and empty nester buyers are starting to hit the market. Although there were a lot of smart empty nesters with full cash out buying their retirement home during the recession.
BUDGET UPDATE
The bleeding continues! All of the receipts and payments have come in for the retaining wall and it was just way too expensive.
SPENT TO DATE $77,400
Retaining Wall = $7,000 (this has eaten up all of my landscape budget and we haven’t even started the front curb appeal or the driveway patio)
Electric = $3,364 and still have to rewire downstairs. The staircase area upstairs is rewired but waiting for framing to set the switches, etc. But we are within budget so far
Plumbing = $5,375 and we still have to set in the sump pump and do the finish plumbing in the bathroom. Once again, we will be way over budget in this area
Flooring = $7,200 to install the new oak floors, sand and refinish everything upstairs. Does not include any costs for staircase or downstairs area yet
Demolition/Dump Fees = $3,000 and finally staying in budget for this area. But, I have no idea how many more dump runs it is going to take to finish the job!!
Roofing = $6,572 and came in below budget that I set at $7,500
Kitchen = $9,000 spent so far. I still need to pay for countertop, appliance installation and sink but then we should be done with this budget. Does not include cost to open up walls, plumbing and electrical. We are going to have to do some fancy island venting for the kitchen sink because San Diego doesn’t allow island air vents anymore so we have to run vents all around the place
The rest is materials and labor cost for framing, drywall, painting, tile install and some tools I decided to buy rather than rent.
I’m still on target for $115,000 to complete the job but my big question mark at this point is the cost to put in new decking and new railing upstairs. I have been researching the glass panel railing and I need to get the materials ordered because they could have a long lead time. My biggest concern is how in the heck is someone going to get up there safely and replace all that railing??? I am planning to pull off the metal railing up there and re use it to rail off the retaining wall area. I see a lot of expensive scaffolding around this house to fix upper deck and do the exterior painting.
cb, I know it’s early, but do you have any idea what your listing price will be?
My listing agent believes that we can list at about $950,000 based on the new square footage of 2,500sq ft. But, I’m watching a lovely house in same price range on the upper street (less view) linger on the market a long time and I cannot figure out why it is not selling.
We will have a limited buyer pool because of the 1 car garage situation, although all houses on this street only have one car garage (well, except for the $3million dollar house with basketball court and swimming pool near by).
a view is worth a lot of money!
Coralbrook, the fact that your house has been taken down to studs in the most important areas and given a complete redo should work greatly in your favor.
Has the house that has lingered undergone a similar redo? Do you want to post a link to its listing?
2668 Poinsettia, 92106
http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/condo,apartment_duplex,mobile,land_type/16965275_zpid/32.747669,-117.222563,32.745156,-117.227338_rect/17_zm/1_sch/0_mmm/1_rs/?view=map
I think it is a lovely home with character, but I think it has no views. There is an apartment building in front of it
Started at $950,000 and dropped to $935,000. It has been on the market for about 4 months
About the Poinsettia house, the fact that it’s a Spanish Revival may be a deterrent, among other reasons. While it’s not uncommon in the area, it’s not a “neutral” house that would appeal to a wide audience.
IMO, you have many advantages over this house.
Well, I spotted a BIG problem right away- you HAVE to walk down a flight of stairs in order to get to the main part of the house. And that means walking UP a flight of stairs to go to bed. That will turn off a lot of people, including older couples and those who eventually want a nice home they can safely live or retire in. For nearly 1Mil- I’d sure say furgedaboudit!
Interesting. Nice house, but I think yours will be better. The very modern cabinets, the views, the deck. I think you’ll be able to get in the neighborhood of $1 mil.
I think that’s a very pretty house and seems like it is very well priced; I’m surprised it hasn’t sold. But the spectacular views at your place put it in a whole other category. From the little bit I could see in the pictures of the Poinsettia house, the views seem to be directly obstructed by very prominent utility lines. Your unobstructed views are a huge selling point!!
I think getting the downstairs patio to read as desirable outdoor space instead of a driveway will be tremendously important. People care about the ability to dine outside; that really will be a nice place for a table.
I took a look at that Poinsettia house online earlier and think the biggest problem is the property layout on the lot. There’s an alley running behind the house that I think provides access to the two parking spaces - and no garage at all. Apparently it was in the front on the street side but was turned into living space. You can see the concrete pad in the back yard at a slightly lower level. So you either enter the house from the street and go down a set of steps to the front patio, then another set to the lower level of the house. Or you enter through the alley and back patios. I’ve driven by that block and it looks like it could be a busy street, if others use it as a back way to the shopping district like I do. Both you and our realtor warned us off Poinsettia for that reason. 
And there has to be a reason why there’s so much fencing blocking views around the yard. It looks like there are ocean views from the dining room and kitchen but they only show those views from well inside the house - what else do you actually see from the windows?
I find the interior of the house charming and like the Spanish touches of tiles and arched doorways, etc. The patios are attractive, there are wood floors, a lovely fireplace, and an updated kitchen. So I think the problem with selling has to be how the house is placed and what you actually see outside.
Also…
But it’s in the airplane noise zone and has not been through the Quiet Zone program.
It now says “off market”, have you noticed? Sometimes that means that it sold. At least that’s how it works in my neighborhood…
It is still active for sale. I think Zillow is wrong.
There are plenty of $900k houses in zip code with no views and crazy alley or access issues that sell fast. It might be lack of Quiet Home update.
I really don’t see that house as anywhere near like yours. You have a MUCH better view out many of the windows and people can walk right from the garage to the front door without steps. You have also renovated extensively. The other home looks original and I think the bright yellow/orange may also be a turn-off. The style is not as sleek, moderna and neutral as yours.