Or some of the stuff their buyers are smoking.
@thumper1, I disagree about your concern. I think cb has a realistic idea of what the retaining wall business might cost. Yes, it could go over, and so could anything else in the house, but cb is conservative when she estimates the costs. Besides, in a property that will probably sell for $1.2 or $1.3 million, she’s got room for some overruns. If she can get the house for the right price!
How do we know the homes actually sell for the price stated on the show? I believe one of the objectives of the show is to encourage other people to flip homes which would result in more sales at Lowe’s, etc. And based on what I know about information being fudged on the House Hunters show, I just assume it’s done on all their shows.
I watched the Flip or Flop episode last night too. The is in my neighborhood and I think it was sold several months if not a year ago. I think that during the 4 month time period between when they bought it and when it sold the prices of houses really took off (and inventory in this area was very low). Now for that price you would get even less. I really liked the way they opened the house and LOVED the bathroom. It seems the seller (or the daughter) on this episode contacted them. I have noticed a lot of ads popping up on my Yahoo home page for Tarek and Christina wanting to buy your house. So maybe now that the auctions have become harder this is how they are getting some of their houses. By the way, the house in Costa Mesa on Minnesota (cement floors & reclaimed wood) is still for sale. They dropped the price another $25K last week.
Do they offer a cashback to the buyers to keep the sale price high enough to make it look like it was not a flop? 
tx5athome
keep your eye on that one. When it sells, let us know the address and I can research what it really sold for and how long it was on the market and/or how long they had to hold it. There used to be a show Flipping San Diego and I watched their transactions very carefully. One thing I discovered is that they buy the houses and then sit on them a long time before bringing back out to market. My assumption is that they hold the house for awhile until they get all their permits/designs/contractors/materials lined up AND until they can schedule filming the show in an efficient time frame.
Believe me, Christina is not there every day working. She only goes when they are filming and then they stage her putting her hands on a piece of tile or something.
I am staying very engaged with this offer because it is critical to see how my competition operates. The other offer came in with a contractor yesterday and inspected the house for about 25 minutes. They have not heard back from him at all yet today.
Meanwhile, the agent says I have until 5pm today to accept the Counter Offer. I will not be accepting it, but I might go back in with same offer. Going to make my decision at 4:45pm today.
Totally agree…you should not increase your offer on this property.
Oops, just looked and Flip or Flop house on Minnesota Ave in Costa Mesa now says “sale pending”.
Yes, that sounds good on paper… but then I look at what people are paying for those small old cracker boxes on regular lots with no view (see Alhambra above) and keep thinking about what I might be able to get for larger home, larger lot and superior views
Obviously I am having a hard time letting go!
tx5athome
Can you see the exact date that they bought it? And date that it first came back out to market?
OK, from Zillow: House was bought for 525K on 6/17/15, listed for sale for 789,500 on 10/28 (the on-air open house was 10/29 and my husband saw them filming Tarek getting in and out of the car), reduced to 774K on 12/12 and reduced to 749,900 on 1/5/16. Now today it says sale pending.
I’ll walk the neighborhood this weekend and find the house from last night’s episode.
Coralbrook, agree that if you counter, you should go back with your same offer. Good luck!
As of 4pm today, the other investor has not returned a Counter Offer. We both have until 5pm. The other agents that represent the other offer are not in the office (can you tell that I am Snoopy??). My agent is holding my counter offer all drawn up and we are playing a game of chicken to see if the other guy comes back at the last minute.
The agent feels, even if I am the only offer coming back, they will still hold out for full asking price. The next steps are that the Sellers truly believe that they should clean the house and paint it. Total waste of money. Anyone coming through that house could care less whether it is painted. The kitchen is so utterly horrendous (years of coated grease) that a coat of paint doesn’t help. Anyone buying that house has to replumb and rewire, which means opening up floors and walls. Why are they bothering? They are in la la land.
Also, I found out that all the other agents from their office who went through on Tuesday have responded that their buyers are not interested because it needs way too much work. This means there are pent up buyers out there, but they want move in ready condition.
Make sure you don’t leave your offer open too long, in case something more attractive comes your way while the sellers are playing games to get the highest price, IN SPITE of all the problems with the house.
I cannot even fathom those prices. And I live near D.C.!! LOL.
I countered back at my original price but accepting all their other conditions. Escrow to be 30 days so they can gently extract the brother out of the house. As of 6pm the other offer has not come back in. So, I am in the driver’s seat right now. I personally know that the other guy is pretty maxed out right now trying to sell his new spec build at $2.2 million (ridiculous price).
But, here is the reason I continue to pursue this opportunity. I just had a long talk with my agent. The houses listed below just came out that are supporting a ridiculously high price for this opportunity if I can get it to a 4 bdrm/3 ba house with at least 2,500 useable space. Right now the property has 1700 legal sqft, but there is another 500 square feet under the house that is being used as storage and bonus room (but horrifyingly dark and dingy). So, if I can scrounge up enough money to add another bedroom and bath with permits, this thing will get high dollar.
1763 Santa Barbara 92107 4/2.5 2400 sq ft, average size lot, views from one room upstairs. Listing description is horrible, no photos. Asking $1,070,000 and it will probably sell fast
4467 Tivoli 92107 4/2.5 with really only about 1400 sq ft in main house and 400 sq ft in guest house (that has the 4th bedroom and 2nd full bath). Superior location (arguable because this house has better privacy), probably same view quality (although they didn’t include any view photos which is weird), smaller lot. Sold $1,235,000 pretty quick.
cb, hang in there.
This is looking very positive for you, IMO. The listing agent needs to do her job and convince this family that this is the best offer they’re gonna get. Because it is.
I don’t understand why the listing agent can’t tell them to save their $$$ and not paint or clean. You’re offering to take possession as is, correct? They’re idiots if they spend anything to try to make it pretty.
I think the current owners think a paint job and cleaning will fetch thousands and thousands more in money.
But it sounds like this one needs to be totally gutted…so really…they ARE wasting money by doing anything.