Flip This House #5

Parent Cafe
2861

Solar panels are a plus. However, those solar panels could be for pool heating only (still a plus). They may not be photo electric panels for electricity generation, just water heating panels

For some crazy reason, having chickens in the back yard is some kind of fad right now in the general neighborhood. I have a lot of friends in the Wooded Area who have chickens. I went over to one of their houses the other day and all the chickens were gone. Turns out chickens only live/last a couple of years? and they have decided not to get more.

2862

What an awesome comp, cb!!! And I didn’t even like their kitchen all that much. Yours will be better!

2863

The kitchen vaulting looks so beautiful and complex. I love seeing the bottom the stairs rising above it.

2864

Thank goodness I never got the time to go in and do the final order of kitchen cabinets. I wanted to wait until the walls were done and the vaulting was complete. I would have made a huge mistake because the ceiling soffit over the refrigerator and oven area had to be dropped to match the versalam beam that was put into the north wall. The beam is set with height at 87" - not a normal 96" high ceiling. I would have made a huge mistake with the upper cabinets. They cannot be full height and I need to do some careful analysis to purchase the right height for uppers in that area.

2865

Amazing progress! The bathroom tiles look FINE! You are really going to have a stunning house!

2866

The comp house has the non-counter depth fridge. I don’t care for that, at the price!

2867

I doubt anyone is going to notice the poop tile. I think it looks fine.

2868

Your house is going to be so much nicer than the one on Newport Ave! I’m sure you’ll get more than your initial target price of $1.6 to $1.7 mil. if that one went for 1,720,000!

2869

Agree…the comp house fridge should have been either recessed more…or counter depth.

Also, the Big Lots stools,at the breakfast bar look cheap. I know…we got them for DD at Big Lots.

I will say…I do like the pool and patio areas. It’s hard to tell the view situation from the pics since none of the views are pictures from the inside out…and your will be able to be!

2870

Thinking about the pool at the Newport house - one good thunderstorm day like we had in January, and that pool is going to be in the BBQ and living room! Our (much larger) pool has overflowed onto the concrete deck where we have drains. But that pool will just go over the edge and down the steps onto the wood deck.

2871

Now you just have to finish before that comp gets too old to use. :wink:

2872

I’ve had chickens live to be seven. But most of them don’t. I must say, although I enjoy my free range chickens, mine have several acres to roam. Don’t get the appeal of chickens in a little coop right next to the porch.

2873

The Newell house flip with awful kitchen design that i have been watching since the Liberace House flip finally sold. Sold for $923,000 way below original asking price. I’m going to do some analysis tonight and throw out my estimate of his loss on that one.

2874

A $1.7 million house with a chicken coop? Oh, good grief! It looks like the coop is facing out on to the street? In our “nanny county” livestock is strictly prohibited in a residential neighborhood. Not that lots of folks haven’t tried…

2875

“poop” tile looks fine, house looks amazing! I may have to do a drive-by to see for myself…don’t panic if you see a crazy lady slowly driving back and forth! :slight_smile: Maybe I should ask first if you need coffee or doughnuts… :wink:

P.S. I live north of this flip and, believe me, lots of people are getting chickens…I know several people in a North County gated community with coops in the backyards of their $3-4 million homes! :frowning:

2876

One of our neighbors have chickens. The lots here are about 7000 square feet, so very cozy. I’m glad they’re down the block and not right next door! There are wild stray ducks in the neighborhood too. We live in the suburbs and there are people who feed ducks and birds, as well as stray cats. :((

2877

Chicken craze! This too shall pass… Seattle was a-squawk about chickens a few years ago. Urbanites did not realize that chickens needed to be fed, and chicken manure had a rather unpleasant smell. :wink:

Actually, it is a good thing that stray cats are being fed. They have fewer incentives to kill wild birds (although there are probably very few native HI birds in your neighborhood - they have been squeezed out by the armies of sparrows).

2878

Here’s my analysis of the Newell St sale:

3230 Newell St 92106
4/3 2164 sq ft but 4th bedroom is an open loft area with no closet (if I remember correctly when I walked through it)

Steep cliff behind house with minimal patio in back. No yard
Stairs up from garage to house. I think there are only exterior stairs from driveway
Horrible tile
Horrible kitchen design

Committed to purchase 1/2015 (which means he committed a deposit and tied up funds waiting for owner to move out or something before closing escrow)
Purchased 6/5/2015 $833,000
Purchase transaction costs $2,500
Total purchase cost $835,500

Loan $275,000 at probably 10% carrying cost for 13.5 months = $31,000
Property taxes, utilities, insurance and other carrying cost = $17,400

Remodel Cost (guessing he went cheap) about $60,000

TOTAL COST $944,000

SALE PRICE = $923,000
Less Buyer Agent Commission and transaction costs = $25,000

LOSS = $46,000

He should have realized he had a loss on his hands and priced it down immediately. Property has been listed 9 times in last 13 months, starting 8/11/2015 at $1,049,000. He did not drop price until the end of 2015 to a range $995,000 to $1,095,000. Did not drop price to $945,000 until 5/15/2016

He should have dropped price immediately after 21 days on market with no interest. He should have dropped below $1 mil right then. If no interest in next 21 days, should have dropped to $975k and then $950k. Instead he wasted 10 months trying to chase a number that was unrealistic. He could’ve saved about $15,000 to $20,000 in carrying costs by just getting price right as quickly as possible

2879

Good analysis, cb. Sounds like you are right. Pricing it correctly from the get-go is the most important thing.

2880

There were two critical issues with the house that were not fixable. The flipper paid too much for the house, which is the biggest mistake that someone could make (been there, done that!). Cliff behind house with dark cramped patio in back and stairs up to front of house (same as my Hoarder House issue). Then, to top it off he had a horrible kitchen design and horrible tile choices.

I think he felt that the tremendous view over harbor entrance would balance out the situation, but the views were really only good from front balcony which was not really accessible except outside front door. No view from main living areas.