That’s a pomelo, I believe, not a lemon, to show mature fruit tree. It is a lovely home.
Talking about refrigerators not fitting - they had to line up the picture very carefully in this listing to try and hide the fact that it sticks out like a sore thumb! http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-170003676-3717_Southernwood_Way_San_Diego_CA_92106
That house has been on the market about 24 days. The listing agent is big in the area. He doesn’t drop the price, he cancels/expires the listing and puts up a new listing to make it look like it just went on the market. They started at $1,495,000 and just dropped price $125k. I think it’s a nice house. Do not know why it isn’t selling.
Mature fruit trees are a big deal to a lot of buyers. That house I sold at Christmas a couple of years ago in La Mesa had macadamia nut trees, avocado, lemons, orange, tangerine, grapefruit and other things all over the front yard. It was fun to eat everything and it was a huge selling point. But we didn’t take pictures 
FINAL BUDGET
I know that you all have been waiting to see the final costs. I will just say… way over my original estimate. But I wanted to do everything right and we went overboard under the covers making sure everything was built really well. Not anything a buyer would see. Splurged on a lot of things they might notice such as large baseboards, meticulous woodworking on the trim, aluminum clad windows, walnut floors, etc.
Permits, fees and services = $23,500
Demolition = $15,000
Foundation = $30,000
Framing = $101,000
Plumbing and Electrical = $33,000
Painting = 21,000
Landscape/Decks/Fences = $55,350
Kitchen = $26,000
Bathrooms - $26,000
Other (windows, doors, flooring, stairs, drywall, laundry/pantry cabinetry, roof, stucco, fireplace, etc) = $119,000
Total Spent = @$450,000
Where did my estimates go off? Same places as every project… demolition/trash/hauling!!! Electrical and Plumbing!!! And the cost of paint, paint supplies and painting was too high, could have been managed much better.
But, where I am totally surprised is how much money was spent for landscape, fences, the living room deck, glass railings, big trees and french drains, lighting and front wall/gate. The landscape costs started getting totally out of control. And what do I have to show for it??? 2 large palm trees, some deciduous trees that are barren right now and barely any plants in the front that somehow cost about $1,500. Which are being overrun with weeds right now because of the rains. Noone is going to notice the irrigation, shotcrete on slope, french drains, boring side and back fences or mulch anywhere. This is an area I really have to control better on next project.
FYI, this does not include my huge carrying costs over the last year.
Just tried to search and I think the last time I posted a Budget Update was end of September. At that point I was hoping for $375,000 total cost. I think from that point on I knew I was going to go way over budget and avoided posting any updates
I know you can’t tell us…yet. But please say this was profitable for you!!
Yes, I will survive. It could have been a lot better but I will be happy in the end. Incredible learning experience but may never do this type of giant project again.
We don’t know what your carrying costs are nor do we yet know the final sale price. But I’m hopeful you made enough to justify your year’s worth of effort and TLC on this house.
From post 819:
Maybe that was before you decided to add the top floor. 
Still, you are looking at a profit, after carrying costs and closing costs, of $350K-400K? That’s Not Bad!
And if POTUS pushes his tax cuts through, you’ll take home an extra $50K after taxes. That’s Not Bad Either!
ETA: Of course I am speculating it went for something near asking.
I think the fruit picture house is really nice. (Although I did note that they didn’t show photos of the other 2 BR/BA.) It is hard for me to understand why it is so comparatively cheap, and why it hasn’t sold. Is the location considered less desirable or something?
That second house is just appalling, with all that horrible carpeting, weird fireplaces, and so forth. Carpeting even in the bathrooms! No, just NO!
It is in a slightly less desirable location. Prices go down as you travel north along the peninsula.
Original budget was before I decided to build big addition. Overall the addition was as follows:
500 sq foot garage/stairs
600 sq ft first floor
500 sq foot living area top floor
200 sq foot top floor covered decks
400 sq ft addition to living room deck
So, in the end I built 1800 sq ft, built 400 sq ft deck and completely remodeled existing 1650 sq ft
I missed that Southernwood house. I can guarantee the reason it is not selling is because it is very strange for the neighborhood. Looks and feels exactly like a 1980s tract house and we don’t have any tract houses around here. It doesn’t fit the neighborhood at all. If someone wanted a tract house they could buy a much nicer one inland somewhere for half the cost.
Are all the labor costs (except yours) baked into the line items? .
Congratulations, CB! It looks like the escrow/closing process is going so smoothly and the deal will be final in just over one week! I really hope the net result after all of your hard work is a hefty profit for YOU!
All labor costs included in the categories . Lots of labor in the general category
“It is in a slightly less desirable location. Prices go down as you travel north along the peninsula.”
I can totally believe this… Same thing happens here - move our house to a much smaller, no view lot just a bit south, and it will be the subject of a large bidding war… and priced $1M more. Where is my moving tornado? 
Fingers still crossed for the closing to move like an icebreaker through a thin crust of ice!
Same here. We live on a great street with a private beach on the lake…but our houses and street are across the road to the lake.
Houses ON the lake…worth over a million. Ours…not nearly that much. Maybe not even half that amount.
With kids…we didn’t WANT to be on the lake!!
In general I was shooting for $140/sq ft for the new build. In the end it cost $166/sq ft (including garage which doesn’t count towards the official livable area sq ft but it was expensive to build because of the structural requirements). If we include the two top floor decks into the square footage built (which we should because they are covered roof with expensive glass railings and deck waterproofing), the cost is $150/square foot which is really good cost in this area.
In general it was $150,000 to renovate the existing house and the landscape costs.
I’m counting $300,000 towards the new build, including the staircases that got built in the existing home area.
What is your total carrying cost? Did you get an construction loan?
In all, from an investor point of view, if a project manager/general contractor is paid to manage the project(in the tune of around $100K), there will be perhaps $200~250K left on the table, after all the commissions being paid. Not a bad return, but the project may not have the same level of details as managed by the owner.