Ideas swirling through my head, but I think the main idea is to add the 3 car garage in back and giant master suite on top of it (for the extra square footage) with roof top deck to take advantage of the views. I feel this might be the best compromise to retain the character of original house. But what do I know?? Scrambling to find reasonable architect just to give me all the alternatives. I don’t need the architect to do plans or go through permit process. I don’t even care if they draw it on a napkin
It’s a blessing in disguise that you can’t begin immediately. Let those ideas percolate and it will all come together.
You guys must be better zillowers than I am…all I get is a house not for sale in San Pablo? But, I am fine with the flicker acct pics.
The current lines of the house are pretty nice. I guess my concern…I’ve seen some really dreadful “additions” where the large garage and upstairs rooms really didn’t blend well with the existing house. But my bet is CB will come up,with a “look” that blends it all well. And the new addition doesn’t overpower the existing house,
Ok; i get it now! i got two number mixed up and have been looking at the wrong place - and couldnt understand any of this. I get it now – What a lot!!! so excited to see the progress. Good Luck! Lots of McMansions in that area it looks like.
TempeMom… go back and make sure that you are using the correct zip code in the secret code that was revealed above under ‘AREA’
Just got back from City of San Diego permit office research and County of San Diego building / tax history research. The dang County refused to let me look at anything because I am not the ‘owner’. How in the world does anyone buy a house and do their due diligence on the history??? The guy finally felt sorry for me (I brought in the fully executed contract to try to help the situation). If I asked a specific question, he would be able to confirm or deny. I was focused on making sure that my estimate of beds/baths and square footage matched their records from the original build.
Yes, bedroom wing and all that square footage is original to the house. Besides matching the history, the reason that I think it is original is because the bedroom wing has old white oak flooring and that was prevalent in the homes of that age.
Anyways, I found out all kinds of really good things that are going to be helpful with the budget:
1998 - Roofing permit with new heavy-weight sheathing to support concrete tile roof (I was really worried that some cheapo roofer had just slapped the heavy concrete tiles onto the original roof structure)
2010 - New electric panel upgraded to 125 amps
2010 - new furnace and ducting
2012 - new water heater
Cannot find the permit for the deck, but maybe when I am the ‘owner’ I can go back in there. Probably won’t matter anyway because the deck is going to have to be removed since I doubt that any new owners want to sit out on a deck that stares at a giant wall 
Tempe, the house is not for sale so you won’t find it in Zillow. Just do an address search on Google maps.
I just saw something very interesting. When I first was researching the property to make my offer, the house was valued by Zillow at $918k. Then I went in and ‘added’ water view to the characteristics after I went into contract, just to see what the calculation would do. It went up to $948k. Today, I went back into Zillow because I wanted to look at some lot line stuff from the aerial view and it suddenly is worth $1.08 million. What the hey?? Do you think it’s because there are suddenly 250 views of the property??
I’m going to cling to that number… it gives me $130k equity before I even walk in the door
You’re welcome. At least 10 views by me. And from the Flickr, I love the living room ceiling. Any chance you will keep that?
For the roof deck, is there any availability for a manual dumbwaiter to cart stuff up and down? Especially if it could go down somewhere near the kitchen, even if it’s outside the door.
Yes, I am going to do everything in my power to retain the living room exactly as it is. Want to add wood french doors on the left and right and revamp the fireplace. Will make a decision in future on whether to paint ceiling boards white with dark beams or leave as is.
Yes, dumbwaiter is going through my mind. I would want one if I lived there and was planning any entertaining on the roof. Might even have it go all the way down to new garage so you could unload from car to kitchen and then kitchen to roof!
Way down to the garage? Is the garage going underground? Or is the garage on the same level,as the kitchen?
It’s underground, below Bedroom #3.
Thanks VH! I guess I was thinking of the new three car garage CB was considering…not the current garage!
Even the 3 car garage will end up one level down from main floor because the driveway/natural grade is down lower. Whole thing is going to be tricky
It’s sort of hard to tell the whole terrain from the pics. I see the slope…but really don’t know where things are.
So…folks would be walking up one flight to get to the kitchen with groceries regardless. A dumb waiter would be nice!!
Yes to the dumb waiter!!! I just watched the Fixer Upper show where they turned a barn into a house and put the formal dinning room down stairs and kitchen up stairs. All I could think about was the hassel of carry grocery’s up stairs and trash down and food downstairs and dishishes up stair and the had young kids too.
And sometimes it’s the cute things that make a buyer want a house. I joke that we bought our house because it has a laundry chute from the second floor where the bedrooms are to the basement where the laundry is. I love it.
The tube TV in the second bedroom looks kind of vintage.