I know… but all of these homes are elderly owners, either deceased or moving out. I can bet that they are never crawling around under their houses and have no idea what is going on under the covers.
Yes, I can withdraw an offer at any time. But, it’s not a good thing to do with an agent who I want to try to maintain a good relationship. He could be very close to getting a counter offer or something and then I withdraw. He’s not going to bring me any more opportunities and get egg on his face !
Sis anything ever happen with #7, the one with the elderly owner?
Have never received a call and I check to see if it came on market every day. I think ill drive by tomorrow and see if there is any activity like cleaning it out or something.
I can feel the excitement building. I’m crossing my fingers that you’ll find a good house with loads of potential at a decent price.
Mt Helix house sounds like you could make it a wonderful place. I know a couple of people with nice homes there.
Fingers crossed for you!
The issue with the #13 Mt Helix house is that it is really only a 3bd/2ba 1700 sq ft. All of the comparables in the neighborhood are huge homes with at least 3,000 sq ft. It is impossible to try to figure out what this will sell for because the lot is large, but house is smaller than normal for the neighborhood. I’m really struggling with trying to determine future value - it’s a crap shoot. Just like the Pt Loma house
Because the house is vacant on lockbox, my agent is going to go through it this afternoon for me and give me her opinion. I am stalling submitting an offer until I can figure out future value. I have asked the listing agent (who is technically representing me so they should help) if they can give me some comparables and their opinion of future value.
Today I am meeting a mason at the bottom of the Pt Loma property hill to get a rough estimate for retaining wall. I want to make absolutely sure that I have a good number before I make a big mistake!
It sounds like getting parking for trucks and garbage bins etc will be a lot easier at Mt Helix.
Actually parking at Mt Helix will be a bigger problem. The house in Pt Loma has a large driveway and parking area off the alley in the back that can accommodate dumpster, deliveries, work trucks. Some workers (who don’t have tools/materials that need to come and go) can park out on the upper street and walk down the path to come to work.
The Mt Helix house is down a skinny private road but the driveway and parking area are decent size. Unfortunately the driveway is somewhat steep and it is going to be hard to get dumpster and deliveries down the road and down into driveway. When I went to view it, I parked up on the main street and walked down. Walking back up to main street I commented that “we are going to get some exercise coming up and down this street”. My electrician and tile guys are lazy bums and they are going to insist on parking down in the driveway right next to the house. We could end up with people blocking each other in.
There are now four other offers for Mt Helix house. But, the listing agent is not representing anyone else. I know this gives me an advantage to come in a little lower.
But, I have been working hard on trying to find comparables. I see two potential problems… the house is smaller in size than the comparables in the immediate neighborhood AND I can see that homes priced at about $750,000 (where I need to sell) linger on the market a long time. It is not a First Time Buyer house, it is a ‘move up’ house. These take longer to sell in the La Mesa neighborhood. I think it could take 30-60 days to sell, which increases holding costs and my stress level !! But, it’s probably the same for the Pt Loma house which needs to sell at $1.2mil to $1.3 mil and will be on the market a little longer than normal.
P.S. Those awful flips on Newell and Byron still have not sold even though most of Pt Loma sold in a flurry in December !!!
I have no update back from Sellers or agents. I actually consider this a good thing because that means they are reviewing and considering it very carefully. If they were insulted and want to go out to market, I would have received a rejection right away.
I’m guessing that they asked the listing agent to scramble around and get estimates for retaining wall, foundation work and plumbing repairs. Who knows how long that will take. But this is to my advantage because real estate agents call in high end companies to give estimates to cover their butt. The repair costs will come in much higher than my cost would be.
Of course I will drive by several times today to see if workers/companies are there crawling around 
I just got an update on my offer. The Listing Agent let four agents from their office go through the house yesterday. They have received no other offers. This has been shared with the Sellers.
The Sellers are still reviewing the offer. Listing agent has spent a lot of time with them to help them understand that a No Contingency, No Loan, No Appraisal, No inspections clean offer is in their very best interest, due to the condition of the house. I believe Sellers are leaning towards accepting the offer, but they need to meet with their Mother to review it. Two daughters are trustees of the trust and have signatory power. The meeting with their Mother is a courtesy. I’m guessing that the meeting with Mother is what is holding things up. One daughter lives close to Mom, other daughter is in Texas.
When is the three days up? Can you expect an answer soon? Like today?
I think that is very classy that the daughters are meeting with the mother to review the offer. It is difficult to leave the family home.
Congrats–sounds like you may be owning a house sooner than later. This could be a great opportunity.
Just received a call from agent that they are presenting offers to Sellers at 5pm today. I was hoping to stall making an offer until tomorrow. I instructed agent to draft an offer, but I dropped my offer by $15,000 because I am so concerned about selling it in the future. Once again, I know it is special, but will buyers think it is special?? I’m going through it one more time with my agent today and I can always withdraw my offer up to 5pm.
Meanwhile, I called the listing agent for this property and explained my predicament. I told him that I wanted to be honest that I am making an offer on a property in Mt Helix. There is a rumor that one of the agents who toured yesterday might be making an offer today. I do know that the Listing Agent has a meeting scheduled with the Sellers at 2pm and I will hear some status this afternoon.
I don’t see any workers/estimators at property and the Son appears to have thrown out some derelict plastic patio furniture into the alley.
Very stressful situation…
Is there a good way to make use of the large lot at Mt Helix?
Good luck.
The large lot has some flat areas that would provide some more ‘green space/patio space’ around the pool area. For some reason they have put a wood fence around the pool which gives the illusion that it is the entire back yard. Lots of land behind and to sides of the pool area. Only about 50% of land is flat and really useable. Lot is 1/3 acre sloping down from private road
CB - I can see why you are stressed. When it rains it pours. Hang in there!
Given where you are in each, which property would you prefer? In other words, if you could waive a magic wand and have one of the two offers accepted, which would you choose?