I hope you can get your price and move on to the next [ and hopefully less stressful] project !
cb, you need to let your agent deal with this possibe offer. Do not get caught up in “helping” the prospective buyer figure out his vision and what can be done. If he wants to buy it, he buys it as is – not as is plus coralbrook’s expertise.
Cb, if they want the vision, they have to pay a premium for that! CB brand name premium. 
You are all so sweet about the ’ vision’. I’m sure their vision is completely different than mine… probably want to turn it into a contemporary style masterpiece or something. I will refrain from making any comments about the design taste of homes built in Vegas
I had to follow up with the agent today to see if potential buyers wanted to come view the house. He just said ‘I’ve forwarded the information, I’ll let you know if I hear anything back’. I will consider it a dead deal at this point. I did not get my agent involved because I wanted to represent myself to save some commission and I was going to give her a ‘retainer’ flat fee if the transaction ever happened. This agent and his son are slightly slimey. I wouldn’t be surprised that they just let it drop because I didn’t hire them to list the property for the buyers - I only offered the buying agent side of the commission. (Reminder… the son is the one who managed to have multiple typos in 2 sentences when they put this property Active in MLS for 2 hours on the day we closed escrow - that guy is never going to represent me as listing agent. I endure it to buy properties )
Rejected at the Gate
I made it through a couple of hurdles down at the City Building this morning. My plans are officially ‘submitted’ but the City pretty much rejected them right away. Gee… they need the topography laid out on the plans and details about the height of the new 2nd story addition!!!
The 30’ height limit is a really critical issue (which I tried to explain to the draftsman a million times - I even took a full topography into their office so they could get it onto the plans). It is very critical to identify the high point of the lot and the low point of the lot because the 30’ height is measured from the high point of the lot through some complex calculations.
I left the City building absolutely furious and did not hold back in my phone call to the boss because I had asked for topography onto the plans for weeks. Yesterday was the first time I had ever seen anything besides a basic floor plan layout so I didn’t catch their error earlier. When I saw the plans on Monday afternoon I called their office to ask why there was no topography and building height clarified in the plans. “Oh, we didn’t do that on the last ones we prepared”
I hustled back to their office and took the topography in, with the City Technical Bulletin. I explained the whole Technical Bulletin to him AGAIN and made them promise they would have all the pages corrected by tomorrow morning.
I will go out there and pick them up and start all over again at the City. Unfortunately, now I don’t have an ‘appointment’ and I get to wait in line for possibly hours to resubmit.
Meanwhile, Pt Loma area is still on fire. Here’s a couple of interesting properties
4545 Tivoli St 92107 very small, ‘original’ condition. Sold before it ever went on the market for $930k at $790/sq ft. The prices in this little pocket neighborhood are ridiculous!! I just do not get it. This is the neighborhood where everyone is remodeling and building up… blocking each other’s views. No view from this little house
1725 Willow St 92106 is a total rebuild and they actually moved old structures around on the lot. I think they did a good job on the remodel/flip but it has been on the market for about 30 days with no action. $1,295,000 at $608/sq ft.
All I can say is I would be over the moon if i could get $600/sq ft when I finish
The Willow street house is interesting. Sort of modern, but with window boxes and a picket fence. And yet, those things look like plastic - and so does the ceiling beams that they painted white. It’s nice though. Yours will be better! Much more of an authentic mix of old and new with interesting details and a vaulted kitchen.
@coralbrook, I’m glad you blew your stack at the architect. I think it was well-deserved. And now you have the City telling them what you’ve been telling them all along. I think you’ll get what you need this time.
I hope so! Some people need their butts kicked hard so they will start moving them!
I am beyond livid right now… Just sharing to vent. I left engineering office yesterday with very clear instructions that I needed to pick up revisions by 10 am. They were to call me if any issues.
No call, no email. So I spent 30 minutes on hold with City to make new appt for 1pm today. Just called to let them know I was on my way. “Ohh, we haven’t finished demo calcs yet, they are going to take time. I have to leave office for an appointment. I thought we were going to call you when we were done”
Are you kidding me??? Made it very clear I need x sets ready by 12 …no excuses. All I got was “I’ll ask the boss”
No news from potential buyer. Guessing my asking price was out of their range. I assume they thought they could get house for about a million ‘to take it off my hands’
Those engineers are toast.
I like the kitchen and bathrooms in the Willow St place. The other place is so small it’s hard to tell there’s a house in the picture!
ACK - DH was away this weekend, and I skimmed the full thread (bit by bit) hoping to read about a happy ending. Best of luck on the next steps!
Pulled off a miracle and made it to City with two minutes to spare. It turns out the real issue was that their plotter couldn’t print out enough copies by 12 (because they didn’t finish until about 11:45). So I rushed over there. Grabbed 1 copy each of revised sheets off their plotter, rushed to blueprint copy place, got copies and then proceeded to lay everything out on their lobby floor and collated new into old on my hands and knees, flinging crumpled old pages everywhere. Borrowed stapler and rushed out to my truck with 5 new sets.
Drove like a maniac and parked semi illegally (in private lot but didn’t go pay at machine and put ticket on dashboard). Everything is submitted and good and on its way. City says current review time is running 8 business days so I should have review comments back by Monday May 21.
No ticket on car when I rushed back!! Yeah
Oh my gosh . . . . Thank goodness!!!
Fingers crossed for a review that is a total GO!
I will not get so lucky with approval. One of the key issues is whether the new story will be categorized as a 2nd story or 3rd story. If 3 story there is a chance I have to go through a ‘neighborhood notification’ period where I have to pay for postcards sent to everyone in neighborhood. Noone can tell me the exact criteria since everything in my plans ‘exempts’ me from Coastal Commission review (which would take at least a year).
To be exempt you cannot modify more than 50% of exterior. People go through major gyrations to get under 50%, leaving hilarious pieces like old fireplaces sticking up. Our calculations are very conservative giving extra for some windows that are converted to doors, etc. We are sitting at 33% demolished of exterior walls. If you are anywhere between 40% and 50% you have to have a pre approval demolition inspection that holds everything up.
No matter what, the City will come up with a list of corrections. My engineer has promised he can turn them around in 1 week (I’ve heard that before!). That means I might be back to the City for final approval by May 30th.
What all this means is that I think approval is coming a lot sooner than I anticipated, but I could be terribly wrong. At this point I need to really scramble to hit the ground running. And I need to find my final funding for the construction.
Here’s what I have lined up
Finish repair of existing deck portion and dig footing holes for new deck posts, set with rebar, ready for foundation inspection
Haul all recycling to clear back yard
Remove roof tiles and roof plywood off back of house and carefully store
Demolish and haul away all plaster and stucco off back of house
Demolition of driveway and hauling of concrete begins May 30. Special concrete demo and recycle subcontractor is doing this job.
Dig trench to find sewer line under driveway and lay new sewer lines needed for new bathrooms. Need to do this to make sure we set up pass throughs in new stem wall footings.
Grade driveway down 16" and haul dirt away
Start digging trenches and form for new stem walls
We are going to have a concrete foundation sub start this work about June 2nd
Oh geez…here we go!!!
Oh, gosh, cb, I hope this moves as quickly as you’re planning.
Once the dust settles (ha ha – no pun intended --), how will you be dealing with the engineering company that has screwed you? They certainly haven’t done you any favors during this project.
I don’t dare do anything to upset the Engineering Company at this point. I am at their mercy to turn around corrections as fast as possible. There will probably be a long list of issues with structural and I need to have his cooperation to go back in and get them finalized. Sometimes I ask the engineer to be standing ready during my appointment to answer any questions via phone that the City Engineer might have.